It’s been 5 years since Sweden’s Evocation released Illusions of Grandeur in 2012, and frankly I thought the band was done. After transitioning from a  pure, mid range, Swedish death metal band akin to their Cemetery/90s roots, to a more melodeath/Amon Amarth-ish styled band the band has returned with only 3 remaining members from Illusions of Grandeur, and it shows with a bigger, beefier sound and presence.

There definitely seems to be a little more oomph to the band’s sound, albeit still heavily Amon Amarth (i.e “Survival of the Sickest”), God Dethroned (“Modus Operandi”), At The Gates, and Edge of Sanity inspired. I’m detecting a little more lean back to the band’s Tales from the Tomb debut as well as a surprising amount of impressive Bolt Thrower-y rumbles. Just listen  to “Children of Stone” or  go to the  2:10 point of title track or “Sulfur and Blood” and tell me that isn’t a pure Bolt Thrower riffery.

But other wise, there definitely  seems more of a focus of the band’s beginnings with a more of a buzz to the guitars, and more overall brute force heft. The songs are pretty simple but effective, whether is the first groovy single “Condemned to the Grave”, the Dismember-ish hack and slash of “The Coroner” or  pure Swedish death metal romp and canter of “Imperium Fall” and other than the intro or interlude “Blind Obedience” the album is pretty darn brutish from start to finish. Closer “Dark Day Sunrise” ends the album with a really nice, slower, menacing number that could have come from Dead Calm Chaos, and ends the album on a pretty impressive note.

Hardly a game changer, but a much nastier return for Evocation after a couple of safe, nice albums and its nice to see these guys return to the fray successfully.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments