One year and a half after the Arrival Of The Tyrant-EP, Spanish duo Lurking Evil (drummer Nico ‘Guldur’ Morales and bassist / guitarist / vocalist Orlok) return with their debut full length, The Almighty Hordes Of The Undead. The album lasts for almost forty minutes and consists of twelve titles.
After the instrumental Metal track The Fog, which immediately shows the dark side of the band, Lurking Evil perform fast and energetic Eighties-oriented Black / Thrash Metal of a mostly maniacal and barbaric kind. They pay tribute to the essence of the scene (i.e. the likes of Sodom, Kreator, Bathory, Nifelheim, Venom, Tormentor, Bulldozer, Warlock etc.), yet with an own approach. The mostly short tracks are based on the primal elements: fast yet melodic riffs, intelligent leads, a pounding rhythm section (what a cool bass lines, and what a fabulous drum patterns!), piercing solos and thrashing grunts. On top of this primitive, nihilistic and simplistic soil, they built a recognizable and, still, own-faced wall of sound, made of steel and concrete(web?).
An absolute surplus is the sound of this record. It’s raw, roughly-edged, yet perfectly balanced (the superior mix causes the fine-tuned audible distinction of the individual players, cf. the basses and drums I mentioned before). It lacks over over-cleaned modernism, and truly exhales the atmosphere from the Eighties, yet probably little more decent…