EP Review: Rockin’ Engine – Altered By Evil (Self Released)

Ottawa, Canada’s Rockin’ Engine returns with their new offering, an EP called ‘Altered by Evil’, a modern horror thrash-inspired record due out on July 7th, 2023. The EP is a tribute to everything the band loves about horror movies and serial killer documentaries.

Kicking off with the Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig – House of 1000 Corpses/The Devil’s Rejects) inspired charismatic number that is Carnival of Evil. Rockin’ Engine deliver a slaughtering of intense thrash metal. It’s fast, it’s heavy, and it ends up being a frenzy of blood and death come the end.

Changing tones for something much more dramatic, but just as thrashy, Day of Wrath uses the story behind Mike Oldfield’s iconic Tubular Bells from The Exorcist as its inspiration. Delivering a dark, sinister, and head-banging beast of a track.

Following that banger, Rockin’ Engine delight in some undead battling with Libre Ex-Mortis. An epic with some power infusions inspired by the comedy-horror, Army of Darkness. The guitar solo will be enough to make you sound the charge.

Before they attempt to give the listener some nightmares with the anthemic Monsters Under Your Bed, delve into the mind of a psychotic killer with the crunching savagery of Psycho Path, and revisit The Overlook Hotel for a manic and terrifying Shining inspired horror tale. One that features exceptional guest vocals from Insurrection’s Steph Jomphe.

Unlike others who choose to combine their love of horror and metal, what makes Rockin’ Engine stand out is they’re not winking at us here. These are tracks inspired by horror, both fiction and non-fiction, and moulded around Rockin’ Engine’s thrash sound. They’ve not adapted their music to fit the horror, it’s the other way around.

Rockin’ Engine – Altered by Evil Track Listing:

1. Carnival Of Evil
2. Day Of Wrath
3. Libre Ex-Mortis
4. Monsters Under Your Bed
5. Psycho Path
6. Room 185 (ft. Steph Jomphe of Insurrection)

Links

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