Evocation - Tales From the Tomb Reissue (Metal Blade Records) By: Mike Sloan

[7/10] Evocation has been on a roll lately, what with their solid 2010 offering Apocalyptic and their recently-released Illusions of Grandeur, the Swedes’ fourth full-length. Re-enter their debut album from 2007 Tales From the Tomb via reissue and the momentum continues to go with Evocation.

Not much, if anything has changed with the reissue and considering it’s only been five years since its initial release, the idea of a reissue is a bit perplexing. Still, the album is a strong one for a debut album from a band who hasn’t exactly been reinventing the wheel. Their music is heavily (see: entirely) influenced by the classic Stockholm/Gothenburg sound; riffs of vintage Entombed/Dismember/Grave/et all are all over Tales From the Tomb. Evocation doesn’t hide the fact they have harnessed the strengths of the classic Swedish death metal bands and turned them into a collection of songs all their own.

Evocation has changed very little musically over the years, as evidenced by how similar the album sounds like Apocalyptic and others. There’s nothing wrong with refusing to stray from a core sound, but you get what you expect from Evocation. They are a solid band who hit all the right notes from a classic era in metal history.

If you are new to Evocation and enjoy the classic sounds of Left Hand Path and Like an Ever Flowing Stream, definitely scoop this little creep up. Virtually nothing on the album hasn’t been played by a hundred other bands already, but Evocation is much better at executing the Stockholm/Gothenburg sound than the overwhelming majority of their peers. Just don’t anticipate hearing anything groundbreaking on this reissue or any other Evocation album.

 www.evocation.se

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