Chemikiller
Evilspeak
6.7
Chemikiller main man Ramrod makes no bones about it: He loves Venom and hates Jesus. The band’s (and I use the term loosely, the project is mostly Ramrod) second album, Evilspeak: The Passion of the Antichrist is a collection of fourteen unabashed and unapologetic retro metal anthems that offer little in the way of originality. Or depth. Or technicality. Fun, on the other hand, is where it’s at, and sometimes that’s enough. Aside from the proud, "No Vikings, No corpsepaint, No keyboards, Just black fuckin’ thrash!" credo on the band’s website, little about this project indicates that Ramrod takes this all that seriously, which is just about right. Although it’s probably a safe bet that Chemikiller have a seriously genuine and unshakable passion for the metal of yore, Evilspeak definitely comes across as more beer swillin’ than blood spillin’ metal. For that reason, and because of its unfettered hero worship, this album often comes across as campy and lowbrow. And that’s basically both what I like and don’t like about Evilspeak.
It seems a lot of people these days believe pure old school, true metal songs automatically equate to good metal songs. Chemikiller steps up nicely on the former, and is a little less consistent on the latter, although it’s not from lack of trying, and they’ve definitely gotten several things right. The game plan is built around songs in the key of V, as the mark of Venom seems to be the prevailing influence on Ramrod and Co., and the fervid and steadfast devotees of Cronos and the gang will find much to bang their heads to on this affair. There’s also a tangible Motorhead flavor on some of the material, especially the main riff found on "Spider Queen", one the disc’s true highlights.
Evilspeak doesn’t really do itself any favors out of the gate with a messy intro track ("Intro: Kult Enuff???"), the goofy "Full Metal Jacket" and the even goofier scene-flag waving "United Satanic America", but once the album actually warms up, it kicks into gear nicely. Three-minute sing-alongs like "Stronger Than God" and "Burned at the Stake" are actually quite catchy, and make it hard not to shove criticisms out of the way and simply bang your head. Much of the record employs vocals that are too high in the mix, and ridiculous lyrics with leanings on threadbare satanic themes, and at just under an hour long, Evilspeak is too long, especially for an album in this style, and considering there are several weaker tracks. But it’s also an unwavering assault of beer swilling, original metal, and for that reason alone, it's likely to sink its claws into some listeners. If you find yourself with a few extra bucks, you could do worse than this fistful of metal.
