Keyboards cut beneath and between it all, not only thickening the sound but stringing the pieces together. During the opening title track, for instance, creeping expanses of doom lunge into quickened bits of razor-wire vitriol. More than ever, Evoken seem ready to put all the elements of their sound- the textural thickness and the unmitigated forcefulness, the bludgeoning metal and the symphonic scope- to work at once. Atra Mors, then, is a proud, punishing return.ДЄside from the break in productivity that preceded it, the most noteworthy aspect of Atra Mors that separates it not only from the band's back catalog, but also from many of its sometimes more direct peers, is its motion and misdirection. If funeral doom is among the most oppressive forms of music, Evoken have undoubtedly become one of its most ambitious and aggressive practitioners by creating their own, all-involving worlds from the form's dimly lit sounds. Their records tend to supply a sense of seismic upheaval, whether through the rumble of a rhythm section that plods with the heaviest of them before springing into short, crushing bursts or the choking-world roar of frontman John Paradiso. But long albums alone don't make for notable ones rather, Evoken pair that love of length with a near-militaristic obsession with volume, mass, and deliberate movement. Each of the band's five full-lengths- including their first in five years, the enormous and exhausting Atra Mors- trudges well beyond the hour mark, slowly pushing its respective way toward the limits of a compact disc or a two-LP set. Only a fool would ever call an album by New Jersey doom legends Evoken casual.

Evoken a caress of the void rar