Evoker – Evil Torment (Love Hate Relationship Death Metal)
Though the creeping beast grave cover by Skaðvaldur is cool, I was completely disinterested in Evoker’s new EP, Evil Torment, when I started to listen. Ugh…more death metal…I thought, and let it churn and grumble in the background as I did other things, barely paying attention…at first. But somehow it began to chew away at wall surrounding me, built by the disease of years of being a pompous critic who’s “heard it all.” Slowly those little maggots and worms made space in the mortar and before I could realize it the whole goddamn thing collapsed on me and I was like “this is actually pretty cool, woah.”
Those words came a little late, because by the time I spoke them maggots were crawling through my teeth and my body was crushed by the bricks of my critic wall. This is not to say that Evil Torment is the most amazing hunk of death metal ever of all time. Evoker have an approached that will most likely pass by you at first and then dig past your preconceptions into your sad little tomb to shake up your bones a tad. The real key is the riff delivery. Slightly unorthodox, messy, and also leaning black, Evoker present a curious approach that may be entirely by accident or a taste of where they’re going. There’s a darker presence to their style and a tasteful usage of dissonance one sees all too infrequently in death metal. Evil Torment still leaves some things to be desired, but the twists and turns it provides are enough to develop at least the desire to listen further, which is never a negative, always a positive. It’s a love/hate relationship, basically.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Evoker – Evil Torment
Blood Harvest Records
Cover Art: Skaðvaldur
4 / 5
