The essential debut full-length from funeral Doom/Death legends Evoken remastered and available again! A majestic sight of everlasting reign! Evoken are an essential Funeral Doom Metal band. Give “Embrace the Emptiness†a listen and end up being immensely impressed… First, there’s an intro track that portrays what can be found on the rest of the album: light sounding guitar played with the regular Funeral Doom followed by a section of quiet, dark ambient on the second half of the intro. You might be feeling two vibes here. It sounds mournful like most traditional Funeral Doom, but it also sounds deep and void-like like Esoteric’s take on the genre. One might think Evoken found the sweet spot between the two and made something great out of it. Lead guitars exist and do break into solos at least once per song. Production wise, the guitars sound the rawest of all the instruments, but it’s barely noticeable when layered with the keyboards and drums which are well produced. The clean sounding soft guitar is one of the key players here and fits in well at any part of the album, be it melancholic pieces like “Tragedy Eternal†or more menacing ones like “Chime the Centuries Endâ€, though there is much more of the latter than the former. The keyboards also do their part to augment the atmosphere with the presentation on “Chime the Centuries End†making one feel like staring downward into an abyss. It all feels so dark and empty, hence ‘Embrace the Emptiness’. We feel like Evoken issued forth the modern wave of Funeral Doom with the cleaner sound. Though they were a little late bringing out their debut full-length in 1998 when Skepticism and Esoteric already belted out two albums each, Evoken’s “Embrace the Emptiness†is still very inspirational. Put on “Embrace the Emptinessâ€, shade your windows, turn off the light, lie down in bed and let yourself get overwhelmed with emotions. Drift away in your mind and just let the feelings of solitude hit you. An utterly dark album that every fan of Funeral Doom/Death Metal should own. RE-ISSUE. Tracklist: 1 – Intro2 – Tragedy Eternal3 – Chime The Centuries’ End4 – Lost Kingdom Of Darkness5 – Ascend Into The Maelstrom6 – To Sleep Eternally7 – Curse The Sunrise
