Rockin’ Engine is a heavy metal band from Canada formed in 2015, releasing their debut album ‘Midnight Road Rage’ in 2019, followed by two E.P.’s – ‘The Wretched And The Damned’ (2020) and ‘Altered By Evil’ (2023).
Both E.P.’s have seen the band grow and evolve their sound, moving in a more brutally aggressive thrash metal direction! The bands new release ‘Altered By Evil’, takes the listener into an imaginary world of monsters and evil spirits – an atmosphere of dark, creepy horror rising high in the air. I almost didn’t recognise the band, their sound was so much different from what I remember! But change is a good thing, right? Only if it improves on what was – and the band sure as hell has! The new E.P. launches with a scary speech by a vulgar clown welcoming listeners to the impending carnival:
“ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up for the spectacle you’ve all been waiting for, as tonight we celebrate the wretched and the damned, get ready to experience the most frightening night of all, hide your kids, whether big or small, brace yourselves and open your eyes people, welcome to the carnival of evil.”
And then BOOM! ‘Carnival Of Evil’ explodes with all the ferocity of a thousand incendiary devices, the band hammering hard with an emphatic wall of sound! The aggressive stance when the vocals kick in is vicious, Rockin’ Engine‘s lead singer Steve O Leff spitting venom with menacing intent. The in your face attitude is going to surprise many of the band’s fans – but in a very good way! So, how do you follow such a barnstorming start? By increasing the tension, menace, and intensity, the band does just that with the mid-tempo thunder of ‘Day Of Wrath’. With explosions still going off left, right and fucking centre, the band remain in a mean mood, planting one foot firmly on the monitor and introducing an old-school metal gallop.
With no sign of the bands new found heaviness disappearing any time soon, the E.P. marches on with ‘Libre Ex-Mortis’, echoing the mid-paced style of thrash legends Megadeth. However, Rockin’ Engine does change gear a few times to hurtle forth like a deadly rocket zeroing in on its target! I can’t stress enough how much of a turn the band have made with regard to their musical direction, but I’m not complaining, I think it’s terrific – because the heavier, the better, as far as I’m concerned. And the level of headbang ability is flying off the fucking charts – none more so than for ‘Monsters Under Your Bed’, the best song on offer by the proverbial country mile. The continuation of the E.P.’s incredibly heavy nature blended with an insane melodious intent makes for one helluva great song! ‘Monsters Under Your Bed’ is going to become a crowd favourite for sure – a definite highlight of the E.P. But then again, all six songs on the E.P. are highlights!
An eerie and fairly frightening spoken word passage leads into ‘Psycho Path’, a terrifying mid-tempo storm of foot-stomping heavy metal, with an almighty NWOBHM guitar sound to boot – the overall meld resulting in a glorious groove metal feel! The band’s current fanbase is going to widen dramatically with the release of this E.P. for fans of traditional metal, thrash, groove and a few industrial metallers are all going to come flocking into Rockin’ Engine‘s soundscape. Bringing the album to a close, ‘Room 185’ features a guest vocal performance by Stephane Jomphe, from Canadian death metal band Insurrection. Rockin’ Engine presses the pedal firmly to the metal, flying along the freeway at the fastest speed the E.P. has shown – the final hurrah, a savage barrage of fiery metal.
Overall, a thunderous stampede of thrash led traditional heavy metal, featuring a surprising but not unpleasant level of menace and aggression.
TRACKLIST
Carnival Of Evil
Day Of Wrath
Libre Ex Mortis
Monsters Under Your Bed
Psycho Path
Room 185
Rockin’ Engine: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: self-released
Category: EP
Country: Canada
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
