EP REVIEW: Eville – ‘BRAT METAL’

Something about the rise of Eville feels…off. They’re getting pushed and have made the rounds on support slots and festival bills this year, though with astoundingly little consequence to glean from any of it. Say what you will about shitty bands on the up, but for the most part, you can see the intention of the machine working behind them. Eville, on the other hand, have been introduced into the same paddock without the preordained fanfare that all of these are seemingly given. When they played 2000trees this summer, their artist bio on the festival website was actually for the thrash band Evile, if you want an example of how uncharacteristically easy their environment has made it for them to slip through the net.

There’s also the likelihood that their made-up genre ‘brat-metal’ has put them here, because that’s just a thing that happens now, apparently. It’s unquestionably a good thing that alternative spaces are becoming more intersectionally inclusive, but there’s also something really mercenary about a tag like ‘brat-metal’, hopping on some popular coattails and semantic stimuli to ensure it gets swept up in the wave. In the case of Eville, they’re really trying to make this work and come off as believable. In practice, this is so far below any bar of likability that it’s flabbergasting the upper strata have found room for it at all. Either there’s a famous dad somewhere or this industry really is cooked beyond belief, because there is no way that this is getting Next Big Thinged off its own merits.

For starters, even after listening, you’ll likely find yourself with no clue of what brat-metal is supposed to entail sonically. In the band’s own words, you’ll find phrases such as “girly-pop” and “brutal metal” cropping up, which…could be conveyed more effectively, let’s say. That their debut EP is also titled BRAT METAL—in all-caps to really get the point across—would infer that Eville are laying down the standard for their supposedly unique sound, rather than delivering four none-too-impressive alt-metal cuts and calling it a day. As a best case scenario, the quicker, harder tempo of BR4T MBL has the feel of an own-brand Hot Milk that’s not terrible. There’s also some nice nu-metal bass roiling and turntable scratching on Bikini Top, though the deadened guitar chugs and an apathy towards impact ensure that lasting appeal is thoroughly ethered. Other highlights are effectively nowhere to be found. This is as cut-and-dry, flavourless and nonplussing as current-gen alt-metal comes, the furthest thing from anything bold or new, or even simply standout.

Judging by the caldera separating the way that Eville perceive themselves and what they actually deliver, one can intuit that they’re trying to be like Scene Queen, but have only ever had her described to them in vagueries. Not only is she inherently easy to map onto brat-metal, but there’s a sense of humour and tongue-in-cheek wit that would serve a far greater purpose. Even Delilah Bon, for the audio arsenic that Evil, Hate Filled Female was, has a larger-than-life character to embody. Eville’s Eva Sheldrake, meanwhile, comes closer to a haughty mean-girl with an ego the size of the moon and a disinterest for anything that isn’t exactly feeding into that. There’s quite literally nothing exciting or stimulating about how she delivers, when songs like No Pictures Please and Bikini Top brag and boast with the vapid affect of a sixth-form popular to whom being ‘bratty’ is to excuse a lack of actual personality. These are songs that carry that timbre of female empowerment, by the way, executed with the brio and panache of an automated phone message.

Put all of that together and the package of BRAT METAL is really unappealing. Not only does it feel as though Eville have burned through their entire repertoire in just four songs, but there’s never an indication of more being a possibility, or that they’d even strive for it. This is such a small, insular thing, stymying its own capability for growth at every turn. Some decently-handled screams only count for so much when there’s no exciting way to use them, or when even a sliver of intensity is sucked up by the void of charisma elsewhere, musical and vocal. It’s one thing for Sheldrake to sleepwalk through the off-the-shelf alt-metal slowdown of Accidents Happen; it’s another entirely to sound so miniscule and struggling for purchase on the awful chorus of BR4T MBL. Meanwhile, there are few musical highlights to speak of when the options default to alt-metal without a lick of personality, or the added electronic skitters and clatters that are becoming just as monotonous and played-out. Oh, and if that weren’t enough, Bikini Top sees fit to gut and flatten itself to a (seemingly deliberate), mind-numbing low…for whatever reason.

And even if there were just a glimpse of a kernel of a good idea to be found on BRAT METAL, what would that amount to in the long run? Eville are currently so far behind even the most obnoxious, performative proprietors of a like-minded style because, like it or not, at least there’s something to grab onto with them. If you’re inclined towards this stuff, there’s better out there for you; if you’re not, you’ll be mystified at how this broke containment in the first place. It’s not ready for the big leagues, not even remotely, and the fact that some of Eville’s defining characteristics are to blame for that sours the whole thing to nuclear levels. This bratmobile has had its tires slashed.

For fans of: the idea of Scene Queen, the thought of Delilah Bon, the concept of Wargasm

‘BRAT METAL’ by Eville is out now.

Words by Luke Nuttall