If you’re a fan of dark death doom metal and have never heard Evoken I have only one question to ask; what the fuck is wrong with you? Featuring Craig Pillard of Incantation, Disciples Of Mockery and Womb on bass, Funebrarum guitarist Nick Orlando and rounded out by guitarist/vocalist John Paradiso and drummer Vince Verkay, Evoken are a crushing doom metal outfit heavily inspired by Australian death/doom metallers Disembowelment and Finnish doom legends Thergothon. If you’ve never heard either of those bands, do yourself a favor and seek out their recordings immediately, along with the recordings of Winter! Truly epic material!

A Caress Of The Void is real doom metal, not the weak Black Sabbath-inspired stoner rock bullshit every shitty label tries to pass off as heavy. The material contained on this release is truly crushing, soul sucking, heart wrenching, skull smashing snail’s crawl chugging death metal-fueled doom metal with hauntingly pained vocals and a truly bleak atmosphere.

The guitars are tuned way down, giving the material a very heavy, droning sound. There are a number of tempo changes throughout the songs to keep the material fresh and interesting, but it’s still crushing doom, so don’t be expecting any blazing solos or blast beats on this release. The album does contain some keyboards, but they’re dark and droning as well, which only adds to the bleak and cold atmosphere.

The drumming and bass are perfectly played and help give the material a hard crunchy sound, while the vocals of John Paradiso are on par with those of Craig Pillard when he fronted Incantation in the early 90s.

The songs are all very long, with the shortest track, "Orogeny", clocking in at just over six minutes in length with "Suffer A Martyr’s Trial (Procession At Dusk)" coming in at just under fourteen minutes. The full seven track effort has a running time of just over an hour, and while that may seem like a lot the time seems to fly by while listening to this effort.

A Caress Of The Void is a solid addition to Evoken’s impressive discography and is highly recommended to all fans of death doom metal, especially those who worship Evoken’s earlier recordings, as well as the works of Disembowelment, Thergothon and Winter! These guys make Japan’s Coffins and Portland’s Aldebaran sound like they’re playing power metal by comparison. Fucking incredible stuff! A must own doom record!

Review byTeufel