Evocation. The Swedish death metal band that was there but missed the Gothenburg movement the first time round and have been working to correct that for the last six or so years. Last year’s Illusions of Grandeur was an absolute cracker that’s still one of the most-played albums in my car and the title track will remain as my ringtone for the foreseeable future. I think the word “reptile” is used in at least three of the songs and it’s a fucking brilliant death metal word. Go on, say it with anger now. See?
Well Evocation are back with an EP of five cover versions, and even after five or ten listens the most obvious question remains “Why would a Swedish death metal band cover death metal songs pretty much as they originally sounded?” Or more accurately, is this a fundamentally pointless exercise? A quick survey of the two people I most respect on this topic got me two answers – “I think it’s cool OK” from Berns in what was a wordy response by his standards, and “Yes. It is. But it’s a thing bands do” from Ryan, which sort of seemed to be saying the same as Berns but more thoughtfully, politely, and with more words.
As usual, Berns and Ryan are correct. These are five great, classic death metal/grindcore songs, very well performed. They will be digital album or vinyl, and the vinyl will obviously be the way to go to get the full impact of what the EP is clearly about – homage to the music, the bands and the fans – the whole scene. ‘Corporal Jigsore Quandary’ by Carcass is already available for streaming and shows you what to expect. Evidently a complex song to reproduce it’s hard to decide if it sounds more like Carcass or more like Evocation, although when heard as part of all five tracks it feels more like the latter because the playing and production is constant across the whole record. What’s in no doubt is that it’s a great song well played, and the same can be said of the other four tracks including Edge of Sanity’s ‘Enigma’ and Bolt Thrower’s ‘… for Victory’.
The most interesting and telling cover is of the world’s shortest song (at 1.316 seconds), ‘You Suffer’, originally by Napalm Death. The cover is slightly longer, the track listing at 4 seconds but sound probably just nudging 2 seconds. I’ll let you guys decide which version is better but it doesn’t really matter. It recalls the environment that created the song in the first place. It reminds us of the boundaries metal and punk were pushing and how youth and the underground were responding to the social upheaval in Thatcher’s mid ‘80s Britain. Above all it celebrates the origins of extreme metal.
I’m not usually a fan of cover versions that don’t significantly reinterpret the original, but in this case it makes perfect sense. It’s not a pointless exercise at all. Grab one of the limited edition vinyls now.
