Evil Monster - Evil Monster II
Released 2021
Rod Standish, Phil Bosley, Ryan Mattie
Genre: Thrash metal
Intro
Dear Rod,
I am very sorry that I have not spoken to you in a long time- I'm just really bad at social skills and communicating with people. If I ever do end up getting the courage to reach out to you, then I will do my best to do so because you are a wonderful human being, and I hope you're doing really great. I am just so bad with reaching out to people, there are members of my family that I miss so fucking much but I just can't reach out to them because I don't really know how to be honest. My anxiety might prevent me from doing that I guess. Anyway yeah, just wanted to apologize for not reaching out to speak with you- you're such a wonderful human being and keep on rocking.
Just realized that you probably don't know who this is. I don't use my name on this blog so I'll give you some hints. I'm the kid that has the Green Day warning tattoo, I bought that Fender Stratocaster and made it into a Billie Joe Armstrong replica guitar, all I've ever wanted to play is Master of Puppets and I literally said to you "Yeah but that'll probably never happen", and you immediately said nope we got this, and like a month and a half later I was cruising. I'm also the kid that's got a wicked downpick, I can't alt pick for shit, and uhhhh... yeah. Good times. I'll throw the picture of us down at the bottom. Face reveal ooo let's go.
Dear listener,
This band is very special to me because the guitarist and vocalist is my former guitar teacher, Rod Standish. He is a great guy and I love his music. He's the one that taught me how to play most of the Metallica songs I know how to play today, and he set the stepping stones to help me succeed in the future. I am eternally grateful to him, and here is my review of their 2nd album- Evil Monster II. The reason I'm reviewing this and not the first album is because I have no idea where I put the first album CD, but I have the 2nd album CD still in it's packaging, and I was able to get details about this album on the back. Anyway what do I think of these songs? Let's get into it.
My biggest apologies to Rod, Phil, and Ryan if I criticize some aspects of this album- I'm just very opinionated and I love you all, I think this album and the work you guys do is great, but I need to be an outside listener and give my thoughts. Much love, let's get into it.
Thoughts & Feelings?
This album makes me feel like I'm in the movie that Michael Jackson was watching during the Thriller music video. I'm in THAT movie, over and over and over again. It's awesome. I don't know man, don't ask me to elaborate any further.
Anyway yeah this album is fucking awesome. I love it so fucking much, I only have one major criticism. NO OFFENSE to you Matt Keighan, but listening to it using my speakers- there is like NO bass. Like bass guitar is fine, I'm talking about the bass of every song. Treble is way too high. That's okay though bro you did a great job regardless of that. That's just my stupid personal take. I had to switch to using headphones, headphones it works great. Just don't expect these songs to fill a hallway.
Also just for anyone wondering- the album image I posted above is a picture of my sealed copy of this album. Couldn't really find the art online so I figured I'd just take an pic of the actual CD album.
Smash or Pass?
In The Blink of An Eye - SMAAAASSSSSSSH. The acoustic ballad intro is literally your standard Metallica album intro and it just works so well. The harmonized solo gives me Ride the Lightning vibes, and that's fucking awesome. Whiplash vibes here as well. Cheeky scream at the beginning, love it so much. I fucking love the tone, I fucking love the riffs, the vocals are amazing. First solo is SO sick. I love all the fucking weird ass sounds Rod throws in there, it's pretty sick, great use of the whammy. Bridge section is so great to hear, I love those palm muted notes mixed in, so nice. 2nd solo is fucking great as well. Rod knows how to craft a solo so perfectly, he never makes it boring and never follows the standard. He does his own thing and it's great.
White Death - SMAAAAAASSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH. I remember liking this one a FUCKING lot. So fucking heavy though holy shit. THIS IS SO FUCKING SICK. Huge Master of Puppets vibes with that pre-verse section. This song is actually so fucking sick. WHITE DEATH. This song is so fucking catchy baby let's go. Honestly if you didn't know this album released in 2021, you'd have thought it released like 90's 80's that kind of thing. It takes heavy inspiration from those old school metal bands like Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, etc. That's amazing, I love to hear it. Then ALL OF A FUCKING SUDDEN- IT FADES OUT AND we get the most Skyrim sounding song you've ever heard. I think it could've been a little better if it didn't fade out- just cut it at White Death and then go into the acoustic but whatever it's not my song- still sounds great. Master of Puppets solo 1 vibes here, love the harmonies it's awesome to hear.
You Die Slow - SMASH. Great ominous bass action at the beginning of this song, love to hear it. Creeping death vibes here, love to hear it. Great use of the wah pedal, absolutely amazing. It's strange- I've only listened to this album a handful of times but I remember every fucking song perfectly. This song is so fucking catchy. Absolutely great. Solo is FUCKING AMAZING. This song is absolutely groovy it's awesome. That ending is absolutely fucking WILD.
Lycanthropic Metamorphosis - SMAAASSSHHH. I had to personally ask Rod what this meant cause I have no idea. He said it's the process of turning into a warewolf which I think is fucking AWESOME. The intro this song is so fucking sick. It's textbook on how to make a cool metal song introduction. Acoustic guitars combined with heavy lead solo guitars that's so sick. Now that I'm listening to the lyrics I'm a fucking IDIOT- it's so god damn obvious. This is such a great fucking song I love it so much. I don't think I like it AS MUCH as White Death but it's still such a great fucking song- it gives me heavy Misfits vibes if the Misfits were metal.
Buried Alive - SMMMMAAASHHH. Off to the fucking races boys, this song is fast and heavy as hell, let's fucking go. This song is so fucking groovy. It's difficult for me to rank this song because I love all of these fucking songs they just have so much charm to me. So many harmonies in songs in this album and they all sound fucking awesome. It's so great. I fucking laughed my ass off at "Screaming would only be a waste of air", absolutely 10/10 lyric. I fucking love that. FUCK this song is sick.
Insanity - SMMMMMMAAASSHHHHHH. YO what the fuck???? The intro of this is one of the sickest shit I've ever heard. This song is heavy and evil as fuck it's awesome. Super grouchy and catchy it's awesome. Jammy as hell. I really don't know what to say about this song. It ascends beyond my comprehension.
The Mountains of Madness - SMASH. Another ominous acoustic ballad to start, gotta love that. Heavy as all fuck. Super jammy super groovy, love to see it. The fucking solos are absolutely great to hear. Bass is very nice, just now realizing this is similar to Orion I believe. Just remembered this is an instrumental track. It's super easy going, reminds me of Call of Ktulu very much. Re-intro to the classical guitar, love to hear that. Honestly this is legit like Call of Ktulu part 2. Amazing.
The Web of Shelob - SMASH. Fucking hell this song is everything you want. It's jammy, it's metal, it's fast as fuck, it gives me so much Metallica vibes it's fucking awesome. So god damn fast and guitar fucking everywhere, that's obviously the main focus and it's amazing. So good. I could even argue this is the best song of the album but I just love the other songs way too much to give this one a medal.
Conclusion
PLEASE give this album / band a chance. I have so much respect for Rod and the boys, this album is awesome. Rod is a great guy and this album is amazing. Give it a shot if you enjoy bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Misfits, it's like a mix of all 4 of these bands. I have a soft spot for this album obviously so it gets high praise from me.
RANK: A
What do you guys think? Am I blinded by the fact that Rod and I had a great connection? Let me know in the comments below you fucking monsters.
- Sharky
(I'm the short one. For the ladies: I'm not actually short, Rod is just fucking huge.)
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