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2010 marked the 19th anniversary of Sweden's Evocation, although some metalheads who didn't discover them until the late 2000s might be surprised to hear that they have been around that long. Evocation first got together in 1991, but they broke up in 1993 and didn't reunite until 2004, and listeners who discovered them with 2007's Tales from the Tomb or 2008's Dead Calm Chaos may not realize that Evocation came out of the early days of Swedish death metal. Those who banged their heads to the band's 2000s output should have no problem getting into Apocalyptic, which approaches Swedish death metal from a blackened perspective. In extreme metal, the term "blackened death metal" is used to describe death metal that has some type of black metal influence, and on Apocalyptic, that blackening is both vocal and musical. Although this 2010 recording has some Cookie Monster growls, lead singer Thomas Josefsson usually favors the type of abrasive rasp vocals that black metal is known for. The vocal style that Josefsson brings to this 39-minute CD would not be out of place on a Dark Funeral or Emperor album, and there is some blackening in some of the guitar playing as well. And yet, Apocalyptic is not a traditional black metal recording. Evocation came out of Scandinavian death metal, not black metal, and blistering tracks such as "It's All Your Fault," "Psychosis Warfare," "Murder in Passion" and "Sweet Obsession" are clearly the sound of a Swedish death metal band getting blackened, not the sound of straight-ahead black metal. But however one describes Apocalyptic, this is exciting listening. Apocalyptic isn't ultra-melodic, but Evocation do inject melody into some of the material, and it works well for them. Headbangers who like their Swedish death metal on the blackened side will find a lot to appreciate on Apocalyptic. ~ Alex Henderson
