Album review: EVA UNDER FIRE – Villainous

August 3rd, 2026 by GRTR! HQ

EVA UNDER FIRE - Villainous

Better Noise Music [Release date 10.07.26]

The female-fronted pop metal genre is a fairly crowded space these days. We have – for example – Ad Infinitum (Switzerland), Elysion (Greece) and not forgetting the trailblazers who are sounding as good as ever…Evanescence.

Eva Under Fire may have escaped your radar. This Detroit-based band started out in 2015 and since then have released two albums, the most recent ‘Love, Drugs And Misery’ in 2022.

Whether they can gain share of voice amongst the other contenders is another thing but ‘Villainous’ gives them a damn good shot.

Openers ‘Awakening’, ‘My Own Name’ and ‘Survive My Scars’ set the tone: robust metal guitars, electronica and a great vocal from Amanda Lyberg (partner of guitarist Rob) who has used the stage name of Eva Marie. ‘The Words You Say’ is a particularly good showcase. She’s also a licensed therapist!

What characterises this album is the urgency, it appears that the band are on a mission and you better listen up. It’s pretty much relentless groove throughout. Exhausting, yes, but in spite of the industrial strength riffage an uplifting melody is never far away. Lyrically, according to Eva/Amanda “There’s a lot of hurt, heartbreak, and ferocity”.

Amongst the other highlights the title track (a duet with Maria Brink of In This Moment) ‘Hello Hollow’ and ‘Murder Scene’ but to be honest this is an album fully loaded with pop metal bangers.

It may be a genre that’s a little over-cooked but Eva Under Fire do it better than most.

The band are currently on tour with Five Finger Death Punch in North America. Shamefully they don’t seem to appear on the UK leg of that tour in early 2027.

Therapy? It’s right here. *****

Review by David Randall

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