Bristol metalcore youngsters Evita grace us with their debut full length "Minutes and Miles", released through Basick records, who seem to keep finding some very good English metal bands, indeed. After the release of their debut EP "Like an Ocean We Rise Again" in 2007 Evita have toured constantly, building their name and tightening their sound. I first heard of Evita when the EP came out and was very impressed with the production and sound, but was then disappointed when seeing them live. This has since changed and 18 months has been ample time for the lads to utilise all their potential.

"Minutes and Miles" encompasses 10 tracks, each as strong as each other, with pumping metalcore style riffs and screaming. The verses tend to be more driving than the choruses, which revert to a more melodic base with harmony vocals and more straightforward guitar riffs. The sound is a cross between Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying and a British metal act like Bullet For My Valentine. Tracks like ‘Willing to Wake’ and ‘Vona’ are great examples of the variation between the singing and screaming sides of Evita and also shows off their melodic ability.

The production on "Minutes and Miles" does a lot for the sound. It’s big, powerful and dynamic. The problem with a lot of unsigned bands is that they may have good songs but usually they have really bad recordings, which can diminish the listening value. Evita have always had really good sounding recordings and I believe that that has helped them massively in the increase of their popularity. The first EP is definitively well worth checking out as is the track ‘The Elysium Fields’, which does not feature on either of these two releases.