EVOKEN „Embrace The Emptiness”

Genre : Funeral Doom Metal

Funeral doom metal bands tend to fall into creative crisis, since there isn't much doubt about what musical elements to incorporate into music given this label. Thundering guitars, extremely slow pace, deep guttural tormented growls are almost mandatory. Expressing utter grief and despair through such limited number of techniques force many bands to try to push the boundaries of heaviness, instrument detunement, aggression and sloooooowness, but in the end only the quantity is altered, not the quality of the music and the result is highly predictable. Most of the time you could buy a funeral doom album (you just pick a CD with highly unimaginative and minimalistic cover artwork) and exactly know what you'll be served during an hour or more of listening. Luckily, there are very talented musicians that succeed in actually exploring the depressive emotion rather than just imitate what's been done many times before. One of these is EVOKEN, an US band that so far has 3 releases (with the fourth one rumored to be in preparations):

1) Shades of Night Descending (self released in 1994, re-released by Adipocere Records in 1996)
2) Embrace The Emptiness (Elegy) 1998
3) Quietus (Avantgarde Music) 2001

The one I'm presenting you here is their second album (some might say it's their debut, since Shades… were a mini CD), “Embrace The Emptiness”. EVOKEN has developed a very special style to which they stick to, and therefore most things that are going to be written here could also describe the music on other two releases. “Shades of Night Descending” had poorest production of the three and most chaotic songwriting, which settled into a perfection on “Embrace The Emptiness”, and though “Quietus” has best production (and, by my opinion, best song EVOKEN ever written – “In Pestilence, Burning”) it isn't overall that beautiful and coherent as “Embrace…”

The most important thing, this is 100% certified doom metal without gothic infuences. Heavy guitars, non-distorted guitars, bass guitar, drums and some keyboards (extremely well used) are all instruments there is. Vocals appear in three forms: most used deep growls, occasional whispering and rare sung clean vocals. What gives EVOKEN a very special vibe is how the aggression and calmness are put together. After some aggressive part, the heavily distorted and slow guitars would retreat into the background not extinguishing entirely, but creating a certain dark ambience and clean picked guitar or piano would enter the scene. The melodies that this undistorted instrument plays are simple (three or four tones in a theme), slow and seemingly dissonant, but the effect they have on listener's mood is remarkable. It seems like some distant, unsettling music is echoing in a vast, empty and unilluminated space and is sometimes backed up with the keyboards that increase the impression of ambience. It is the perfect moment for the aggression to cease (and it does happen) as the outer shield of your soul has been pierced violently and the calm and gentle darkness slowly creeps in through the holes. The feelings of emptiness, loneliness and despair grow inside. The whispering voice would then deepen the emotional abyss you are sucked into. The dark tranquillity (no pun intended) of the scene is supported with the very good drumming.

As for other features, heavy riffs are of the kind expected for death doom metal: dissonant and disturbing power chords. Sometimes there are guitar leads that somewhat remind of early Paradise Lost. Keyboards are used for imitating strings in one of the tracks.

Production on this release is very satisfying. Clean picked interludes and aforementioned calm parts are recorded with a barely perceptible hall effect that increase the atmospheric feeling. The sound is strong and loud enough.

Lyrics for “Embrace The Emptiness” are well fitted for the music and surprisingly, very well written. If you want to check it before buying the album, here's the URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/evoken/embracetheemptiness.html
This review would be incomplete without a little sample to give the taste of EVOKEN's lyrical canvas, so here's what it looks like, a song entitled “Lost Kingdom of Darkness”:

” Darkest are the forgotten valley's where
Ancient forms gather amid the swirling winds…
Their presence felt only within the coldest depths
of the soul, plagued with fearful belief…
The moon casts an eerie glow revealing the vast
desolation where a mighty kingdom once ruled in darkness…
Tragedy has befallen these spirits
Revealed is the truth, all is forever lost
Weary eyes that search the dark side
Sigh of infinite sorrow shattered by the wind”

It is very hard to pick a single song for a favorite in a material that is supposed to blend together and overwhelm the listener. All the songs carry the similar feeling as it is supposed to be. I would pick “Tragedy Eternal” as my favorite, because that is the moment when the intro has ended and the doom begins to work in my mind, and this track has the most beautiful ending of all on this album. As always in this genre, it is important to slowly immerse in the music and listen to the whole album at once to live through the entire experience, as the emotion is most important element and it takes a while for it to appear. I can only tell you that EVOKEN is in no way boring or tedious although this album lasts for about 70 minutes and that there is something new to be discovered on each listen. Pay attention for EVOKEN's new site: www.evoken.com that is as they say heavily under construction and, hopefully, will be a future treasury of info about this extraordinary band.

note: 9/10

Tracklist

1) Intro
2) Tragedy Eternal
3) Chime The Centuries' End
4) Lost Kingdom of Darkness
5) Ascend Into The Maelstrom
6) To Sleep Eternally
7) Curse The Sunrise