Medevil is a heavy metal band from Canada formed in 2014, releasing two albums to date – ‘Conductor Of Storms’ (2016) and ‘Mirror In The Darkness’ (2023).
With a darker mood than the band’s debut album, Medevil‘s new offering is fifty-five minutes of doom-heavy riffing, plenty of foot-stomping, and an aggressive throat-lacerating roar of a vocal performance! And every so often, the band plant their cumulative feet firmly on the monitor, powering on with traditional metal flair – think a blend of Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Metal Church, and you should get some idea of the Medevil sound. The album opens with the heavy-hitting stomper ‘Dead Before Birth’ – and a heaviness that puts many of the heaviest things on Earth in the shade! The band are aggressive, howling and scowling the lyrics with the utmost menace, ‘Dead Before Birth’ a crushing crescendo of heavy metal.
Picking up the tempo and energy, Medevil plants one foot on the monitor for the traditional metaller ‘Among Thieves’, the band much more boisterous than ‘Dead Before Birth’ – the headbangers of the world waking up to this one, their heads rocking back and forth in rhythmic unison. A varied opening one-two becomes a one-two-three with the industrial-tinged ‘Play For Me’ setting a sinister vibe with an overbearing attitude and menace-laden feel – the band hitting hard at a slow meandering pace. And by stark contrast, the energy burst for ‘The Signal’ is incredible – for the first forty seconds, anyway! And then the band’s root slow and menacing style takes over, plodding forth with enough force to crack pavements and crumble walls – Medevil blending elements of doom metal with a progressive nature to create a fairly unique sound. And if you were looking for an all out head banging feast of heavy metal, you’re definitely looking in the wrong place!
Medevil are slow and steady heavy metallers, taking their time and enjoying every single minute, oozing reined-in power and pace with a heaviness heavy enough to smash concrete! ‘Smoke And Mirrors’ is a sub-two minute atmospheric and chilling instrumental that leads to the even more chilling ‘Weight Of The Crown’ – breaking into a heavy foot stomp that shudders the ground! The band are in a devilish mood here, delivering a doom-led and scary stroll of metal that may send some listeners diving for cover behind the sofa!
The bullish metal on the show is hitting the senses hard with deadly accuracy, the band driving a steam roller over and through anything and anyone that stands in their way. The title song, ‘Mirror In The Darkness’, is a doom metal-driven swagger of phenomenally melodious intent – until the one minute mark when a sudden change of pace sees, or rather hears, ‘Mirror In The Darkness’ (the song) break out into a gallop, with the iconic sound of old school heavy metal filling the air! The band may be over three and a half thousand miles and four decades away from metal’s evolution in the heart of the UK, but boy, do they know how to pay homage to when and where it all began!
Returning the progressive nature of earlier, ‘Gateways’ is a heavy-hitting slice of mid-tempo heaviness that pounds the ears with every twang and thump – changing gears, tempo and vocal style across its two and a half minute run time! And maintaining the album’s exploratory mode, Medevil deliver ‘Veiled’ at the lightest – or the softest – end of the metal scale. Different sounding to anything else heard up to this point, the band are stretching their musical horizons further than ever before. And at nine and a half minutes in length, the final song, ‘No Peace In Rest’ is the longest song on offer and returns the band’s trademark heaviness to the fore. And for many metalheads, it’s a welcome return – along with the scowling vocals to impart a menacing feel once more!
Medevil has delivered a varied and engaging album of metal styles, opening up its music to a vast audience.
Overall, a heavy onslaught of aggressive and menacing metal with moments of progressive diversion and musical exploration.
TRACKLIST
Dead Before Birth
Among Thieves
Pray For Me
The Signal
Smoke And Mirrors
Weight Of The Crown
Mirror In The Darkness
Gateways
Veiled
No Peace In Rest
Medevil: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: self-released
Category: Album
Country: Canada
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
