Evilyn emerges from the shadow.
Four years have passed since their debut EP in 2020, and the international band comprising Anthony Lipari (guitar/vocals, Thoren), Alex Weber (bass, Malignancy, Exist, Obscura live) and Robin Stone (drums, Norse, Ashen Horde, Chestcrush) have signed to Transcending Obscurity Records to present Mondestrunken.
Mondestrunken is my first contact with the band (can we talk about a supergroup, given the members’ CVs?), and although I know the principle of the term Avant-garde Death Metal, I’m still amazed at how you can create such a protean and coherent mix. The tracks follow on from each other, and they’re never the same, with eruptions of violence or, on the contrary, much slower and heavier parts, but always with complexity, adding here and there unexpected, dissonant harmonics that revive the machine.
The band called on Jeanne Comateuse (Nightmarer) for mixing and mastering, but also for the unhealthy artwork, which perfectly conveys the album’s chaotic ambience, letting this strange mass move at its own pace. About the sound, while guitars are generally very abrasive and drums very precise, bass has a very Old School rumbling feel, as do the massive vocal parts on these ten shifting, disturbing tracks. Of particular note is the crushing Bloviate, which comes in waves and regularly knocks us out, but also Interwoven, a fairly constant composition that gives the drums a much more aggressive role, not forgetting Eat the Elite, the final track, which is both shorter and more explosive than the others.
Evilyn is clearly driven by madness, and Mondestrunken is irrefutable proof of this! While the musicians are all extremely talented and manage to give coherence to each track, it’s undeniable that they all remain very strange and unpredictable!
75/100
