Endure the Affliction - Evolve Review

Sometimes the outcome of some Metal hybrids attracts me. Here we have Endure the Affliction with “Evolve” which is a hybrid of Extreme Metal and the cores. It seems to me after listening to the album that the name “Evolve” fits perfectly to the idea the band stands for which is an evolution of the features of the cores mixed with some Extreme Metal features. That, of course, includes guitar solos as they could never have been banished from any kind of Metal music. My guess is that “Evolve” is here to solve this matter for good.

I tend to consider an album as “Evolve” as an EP because though the six tracks it contains the playing time is pretty short. But, whatever, it really doesn’t matter at all. The combination Endure the Affliction deliver is pretty interesting. The cores elements are essentiatlly in the vocals though in some tracks as the opening “Anodyne” the rhythm guitars use the tone the cores love. However, the licks are pretty Death Metal to me. The low toned rhythm guitars show that band wants to show here as an invitation card their foot on the cores – when I say the cores I mean Metalcore, Deathcore and others, got it? Vocals give the final touch on this invitation card as they are combined as clean and harsh. Things change completely in the following track “Devil in the Sky” where the instrumentals go right to Death Metal features and vocals combine both. Neat instrumentals we have here, sirs. Here the band proves my point on mixing the aforementioned influences and some NWOBHM hidden in a lick here and there during the song. My fan only has to pay close attention to them. They are really subtle but they’re there. Believe me. “Identity” mixes influences a little more and the cores win. Instrumentals and vocals are more near them others. On the other hand, last track “2-0-2-0” has a strong Hardcore feeling showing the band’s wish to travel across Extreme Metal harder influences. The song is pretty heavy and fast as they all should be.

The main idea Endure the Affliction here with “Evolve” really got a hold on me. I have some time to call the attention to the bass lines throughout the album. They are very interesting and woth a closer look. It shows that Extreme Metal doesn’t rely only on vocals to get its identity. There is more. Much more. By the way, really nice cover.

Endure the Affliction “Evolve” was self-released on October 15th.

Track Listing: