Band:	Evoken
Album:	Hypnagogia
Style:	Death metal, Funeral doom metal
Release date:	November 09, 2018
A review by:	nikarg

01. The Fear After
02. Valorous Consternation
03. Schadenfreude
04. Too Feign Ebullience
05. Hypnagogia
06. Ceremony Of Bleeding
07. Hypnopompic
08. The Weald Of Perished Men

The light of day fades away, the sky's colour becomes deep red and an owl is sitting on the remains of a destroyed fence, once made of wood and wire. Winter is here and what better way to "celebrate" than a new Evoken album? Prepare to feel utterly devastated after having listened to Hypnagogia in its entirety. There is nothing ebullient about it. Nothing at all.

On the other hand, I don't know how something that sounds so distressing can also provoke such a euphoric feeling. The chords of the violin shoot daggers that rip through your heart. Every note of the synths or the piano is another teardrop in an already full lake of tears. Every strum of the acoustic guitar is a knife twisting in your open wound. And every growl, every riff, every drum beat is so potent that it can rip the sky apart. This is Hypnagogia in a nutshell.

Evoken's new album is full of emotions; their brief blackened death metal blastbeats in "Valorous Consternation" unleash power and rage, their revisit of "Coveting Elysium" off their 2002 demo for the melodic arrangements of "Schadenfreude" summons mournful, soul-wrenching memories and the dissonant ending of "Ceremony Of Bleeding" brings forth anguish and confusion (also the chanting and the gothic touches in the middle of this song will turn a few heads for sure). The "brightest" effort in this band's career is still full of despair.

Hypnagogia is also Evoken's first concept record. It is based around World War I and more specifically tells the story of a dying soldier who writes a journal of his final hours, his thoughts and his feelings. Every subsequent reader of this journal can actually relive the soldier's experiences and emotions, thus descending into a deep despair that eventually leads to suicide. Once gone, that part of the reader's soul containing all the misery increases the journal's strong grip onto the next reader and each time it is read, its power augments.

I can't find better words to describe this work of art. It is a very personal and metaphorical affair that induces new and more powerful feelings with each subsequent listen so every time the first notes of the opener "The Fear After" reach your ears, it means that you're in for an even deeper dive into your inner self.

Funereal. Atmospheric. Soulful. Crushing. Majestic.