EVOKEN: “MENDACIUM”

(We present Wil Cifer‘s evocative review (couldn’t help that) of Evoken‘s new album Mendacium, which will see release on October 17th via Profound Lore.)

It’s been 7 years since Evoken released the masterfulHypnagogia. It was an album that found the band changing what they felt the funeral doom genre could be, with some riffs that were in equal parts epic and melodic. They are taking another creative shift, though this time it lies in the spacious mix and stark composition choices they are making that give an even darker and more dismal sound here.

It’s not big, the way the cavernous echoes are captured by bands on the more deathly end of the doom spectrum embrace. Instead, the guitar haunts liminal spaces. There are none of the lush layers of sound you expect, but a creepy, sparse emptiness that sonically conveys a loneliness not heard in their previous work. The album is still characterized by great guitar work, it is just handled differently.

Photos by Eva Tusquets

This is not to say they have abandoned all conventional metal in their approach, as “Luads” moves with more of a metal groove before coming to an atmospheric standstill. It is the sense of adventure and experimentation that makes me wonder what artists are talking about when they say they feel like labels or sub-genres are limiting, and try to write it off as gatekeeping. This album calls bullshit on that as funeral doom is something very specific, yet Evoken have created something very different that still carries a mournful enough mood to be buried within the gates of this sub-genre. Here is where the difference between greatness and mediocrity lies.

Another strength displayed in their songwriting is when they have a ten-minute song, it does not feel like a ten-minute song, which is the way to write ten-minute songs. “Terce” has more of a Type O Negative vibe, as the ambience echoes out with a beautiful melancholy, the vocals keeping things rooted in this band’s heavier nature, as they create a gradual build.

One of these ten-minute epics is “Sext”, which sails in on a cold ocean of synth chords, similarly painting another landscape on which the song’s stage is set before being layered with whispered breathy vocals to contrast the growls. At times, this creates a somewhat gothy feel, which I am obviously going to be a fan of. The song is in equal parts creepy and depressing as the tension builds with the guitar melodies, as the drumming shifts under the haze of bubbling sound.

“None” comes alive with the shadows painted by the subtle guitar melodies. The only “classic doom” band you might trace their influences back to is My Dying Bride. The slow sail from the underworld captured here does not follow the dictates of conventional songwriting. The guitars sing from the dark waters, the drums row over. This album could have come from the ’90s, as it captures that area of metal.

Darkly romantic sound colliding with vampiric grandeur, “Compline,” closes the album with a spectral trudge, before they shift into something not unlike the attack of blackened death metal, which might draw comparisons to Incantation, as the band prove themselves willing to dive into any dynamic shift that might convey the darkness. Then they sail back out into ghostly waters before converging back into the more stormy Nordic riff.

The same brand of gloom you expect from this band, but delivered with more longing and colored with isolation. It is one of the most compelling doom albums I’ve heard in some time, which is impressive since I actively hunt the interwebs for this sort of aural depressant daily. Fans of the band have yet to be let down by these guys, and this album is another victory worth celebrating.

https://linktr.ee/evokenmendacium
https://evokenofficial.bandcamp.com/album/mendacium
https://www.evokendoom.net/
https://m.facebook.com/evokenhell/
https://www.instagram.com/evoken_doom_official/