HUDDERSFIELD band Evile have achieved chart success with their new album – and even ranked higher than their heroes Metallica!

Their latest album, Enter The Grave, entered the BBC Rock Album chart at number 33 in the first week of its release – a place above Metallica and two spots ahead of Rage Against The Machine.

Metallica have been a big influence on Evile – along with acts including Sepultura and Slayer – since the band was formed by singer Matt Drake and drummer Ben Carter.

They formed the band to play some of their favourite 80s thrash songs and, after going through a few guitarists and bass players, they recruited Matt’s brother Ol Drake on lead guitar and found bassist Mike Alexander through an ad in a guitar shop.

They’ve certainly come a long way since then, building up a big following of fans in Huddersfield, then nationally.

Despite still being unsigned, they were picked to headline the second stage of Bloodstock Open Air 2006 and opened the main stage of that year’s Damnation Festival in Manchester.

It was in 2006 they were picked up by Earache Records – the home of metal legends Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Municipal Waste and Carcass – and have enjoyed increasing success ever since.

Enter The Grave has been released on Earache Records in the UK, Europe, America and Japan and is available via the internet at www.hmv.co.uk, www.virginmegastores.co.uk, www.play.com and www.amazon.co.uk.

It was recorded at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen with Danish producer Flemming Rasmussen, who helped create classic albums such as Metallica’s Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets.

Evile release the album by playing to a crowd of 200 people at Virgin Megastores in Manchester’s Arndale centre and it has received rave reviews, with Kerrang! Magazine giving it four out of five ‘K’s and saying Evile are ‘carrying the whole genre’s revival on their shoulders’. Metal-Revolution.com gave them 100 out of 100 and Metal-Mayhem.co.uk rated the album 10 out of 10, saying they were ‘the most exciting band in the UK at the moment’.

Following their chart success, Evile are heading out with American thrashers Sanctity on their UK tour, which will see them visit Josephs Well in Leeds on October 26, Sheffield Corporation on October 28 and Manchester Roadhouse on November 1.

For more details, visit www.evile.co.uk.