Artist: Evilcult
Country: Brazil
Label: Awakening Records
Formats: CD
Year: 2025
After an EP and two full-length albums, Evilcult is slowly starting to be an established name in the Speed/Thrash/Black Metal scene. Maybe that is not too difficult, as that scene isn’t that big to begin with, but that doesn’t take anything away from what Evilcult really is. The Brazilians do follow the path of bands like Cruel Force and contemporaries Power From Hell: blasting some easy-come-easy-go Black/Speed Metal that sounds both comfortably familiar and pretty fresh at the same time.
‘Triumph Of Evil’ is the third long player and feels very much like a logical continuation of what the band already offered us before. On their previous album, ‘The Devil Is Always Looking For Souls’ (2023) the band started to give their penchant for classic Heavy Metal a slightly more prominent place. And while most of Evilcult’s cornerstone are still firmly in place, that trend has been stretched a little further with this new album. That means that ‘Triumph Of Evil’ sounds a little more melodic and, consequently, a little less sharp around the edges. On several tracks, like the closing ‘Endless Night’ for instance, the degree of (melodic) Heavy Metal is even higher than anything else. To such an extent that it almost leans to classic 80’s Hard Rock.
Nothing wrong with that, and it works remarkably well, but you may need to recalibrate your expectations a bit. Perhaps ‘Triumph Of Evil’ can best be described as the missing link between Cruel Force’s second and third album; whereas the band started as hard-hitting Thrash-induced Black/Speed Metal band, with their last album, one that has been in the works for twelve years, they returned significantly mellower. Mellower, not less interesting or less good. ‘Triumph Of Evil’ could have been an album that would’ve made a near-perfect fit in between. Near-perfect, because Evilcult is a good band and delivers solid albums, yet not (yet) on par with Cruel Force.
Still, if you happen to like such bands as Nocturnal, Desaster, Power From Hell, Diabolic Night, Cruel Force, Hellish Crossfire, Whipstriker etc. you can blindly buy this one as well. You’ll have a guaranteed good time with ‘Triumph Of Evil’, same as with the band’s previous output. No high-flyer, but some good fun is assured.
