Evoken - Mendacium

If you’re a fan of doom metal, specifically the funeral side of the genre, then you probably already know about Evoken.  If you don’t, you’re a loser and you need to get off my blog.  Kidding.  Mostly.

These American funeral death/doom legends have been at it since 1994 and “Mendacium,” is their seventh full-length album, in addition to also having a string of demos, a split, one compilation, and a box set.

This is actually a concept album, telling of a fourteenth-century elderly Benedictine monk who can’t leave his cell in the monastery because of an illness.  As he gets worse, he encounters a hideous entity emerging through a tear in reality.  Is the torment of this month from this creature or is it all in his own mind?  

That is some heavy stuff and Evoken matches it with some of the heaviest, darkest, doom I’ve heard in this second half of 2025.  When the band pours it on, “Mendacium,” is as intense and vicious as any death metal album.  But when they slow it down and pour on their infamous crushing atmosphere, few bands can reach such deep levels of void that Evoken live, and thrive, in. 

The production is utterly fantastic.  With a decent pair of headphones, you’ll feel like your trapped in the room with the holy man himself.  The drums have a huge sound, I felt every snare hit, every cymbal crash, every double bass.  The bass and guitars both have a bottomless tone, creating notes that can be dived into, but depths never reached.  And the vocals?  Ghastly and gruesome. In essence, the perfect delivery for the story and mouthpiece of the band. 

There are some obvious psychological aspects to the album’s story and Evoken matches their music with the words.  Much of the album is a descent into the depravity of a weakened mind but one that isn’t fully aware how weak it truly is.  “Mendacium,” is a confident album by confident musicians but represents futility in the face of descending madness through a cold, mournful sound.  

The first song, “Matins,” opens with an ascending wail and spoken words while the guitars slowly come into existence.  I love the trepidation here.  Any doom fan knows what is coming yet there is a nervous energy that permeates the opening notes as the song comes closer into being.  The guitars/bass are heavy yet sparse enough to let the atmosphere shine through the spaces in between.  Being heavy as fuck yet having such an open, expansive sound is hard to do but the band clearly has no issues creating such music.  The keys are subtle, like small drops into a vast ocean.  The ripples are there but there is much more under the surface.  The middle passage kicks up the tempo, a steady rumble that shakes the musical earth of the song before slowing down with a classic funeral doom approach.  

“Terce,” begins with a Gothic embrace but the double bass builds up nicely as it fades to the forefront.  Like waves crashing against rocks, the band hits hard with slabs of concrete and stark drums.  The band is at its best when the more ambient/atmo elements of their sound mix with their heavier elements and this song straight up nails this.  The last quarter of the song is a clean section that leads into a bass drop that, in turn, pushes the song into rager of an ending.  Stunning.

“Sext,” might be my favorite on the album. The keys in the beginning hit me right in the feels—I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be feeling at this point, but it makes me emotional, nonetheless. Anyway, this song has what amounts to a four-minute-long intro—I love stuff like this, total doom.  Then the drums and riffs kick in, riding out a very slow grind but the melody is introduced in the Evoken way, expanding the song while still keeping everything firm and encompassing. The final couple minutes sound so tragic to be, the band at the high of their emotive powers. 

The last track, "Vesper," wastes little time: within a second the sound is fully entrenched into their style while it hangs over the air like a suffocating blanket. The death meal aspect of the band comes out in full swing here, just one crushing riff after another among very powerful drums.  The tempo pulls back after the halfway point, Gothic textures coming alive.  

As with any type of extreme music, doom or other, this album won’t be for everyone.  Funeral doom just isn’t a genre that is easily accessible, nor does it provide catchy moments that will get stuck in your brain.  But if you’re like me and find beauty in the darkness, then “Mendacium,” is surely one of the best doom albums of the year.  An acquired taste so goes acquire and let the doom wash over you.  

Rating: Excellent