Review of Casket Robbery - Evolution of Evil

Though listed as “brutal death metal” at Metal Archives, Milwaukee’s Casket Robbery are actually nothing of the sort. They are death metal, and while the subject matter of evil through the ages (from Elizabeth Bathory, through Jeffrey Dahmer and beyond) is more ‘brutal’, the music itself is a more refined, tighter and chunky melodic and even thrash based style that imbues Hypocrisy, fellow Americans Fisthammer the chunky Danish metal scene, and other slightly more aggressive melodic death metal/thrash acts.

That said, Evolution of Evil is a pretty standard if acceptable affair. There’s nothing here that really jumps out at me. The production is nice and and tight/chunky. The vocals are an array of nondescript mid range growls rasps and bellows, the subject matter is interesting and the players, most with some experience in more obscure mid west death metal acts, are decent, especially rock solid drummer Greg Mueller.

But there is nothing on these 10 songs that grabs me or makes me want to listen to the effort again. Even the video above is standard metal fare. The focus is on more sturdy, chunky grooves like “Malevolent Milwaukee Massacre” and trundling “Curse of the Night Stalker” (which even has some haunting female backing vocals) than speed like “Undead Living Hell”, “Encroaching Darkness” or “Cyanide Skies”. Most songs have a little of both like “Final Chapter”, “Blood Bathory” or closing piece “The Asylum”, but none of it sticks despite the energy and production. The songs just are ‘there’. Don’t get me wrong though. This is far, far from a ‘bad’ album, simply, it’s just another generic ok-album; one I don’t mind when it’s playing, but one I’m not really craving to listen to again.