This new release from Evocation has Sweden written all over it.

Listening to the album is like taking a step 18 years back in history to a time when Entombed, Dismember and Evocation set the standards for a new sound in death metal. True to the standards of the day, the cover artwork is even done by Dan Seagraves who did covers for Entombed, Morbid Angel, Benediction and lots of others.

Conveyers of the gritty and rock’n’roll inspired sound, Evocation recorded two demos in 1992 with claimed producer Tomas Skogsberg at the helm and were as a natural consequence of their trendy sound and obvious talent approached by several labels.

What would sound like the starting signal for a glorious career ended in a split-up in 1993 due to the classical ‘musical differences’. The members of Evocation spread and went on to perform in Cemetary, Sundown and Lake of Tears.

In 2004, Breath Of Night Records released the two demos as a full-length CD, thus handing the band the cue to reform and even record new material. A good decision methinks.

The result of their endeavours is a solid album that an old-school fan like myself can say nothing negative of. Evocation has a sure sense of style, and they hit with perfection that mixture of down-tuned, raw brutality and rock melody that the Swedes made popular all those years ago. The 12 songs slip past quickly when you listen to the album.

Just to set scene, there’s an eerie, whispering intro, Eternal Lie, only to lead us into the death metal hammer The Dead. This pretty sets the standard. Hammer songs, plenty of riffs in early nineties style.

The cover of Entombed’s But Life Goes On fits like hand in studded glove on this album. A perfect nod to this band’s peers.

Bang that head that doesn’t bang.