Evoken’s seventh album Mendacium is scheduled to be released after a 7-year-long wait. Though there are some popular Death/Doom bands out there, the big difference with Evoken is how they incorporate the Funeral element into their sound. Funeral doom has been around for ages, and Evoken is the American response to what Disembowelment, Thergothon, Esoteric, and other bands were doing in some other places in the world. For starters, songs on the album are on the longer side, ranging between nine and nearly eleven minutes—something that accustomed listeners are already expecting. Besides the length, and talking more about the sound, we know what we are getting ourselves into: deep, dark sounds. Rounding in at over 62 minutes and 44 seconds of playing time, Mendacium flows in some sort of a prayer liturgy, divided, in my opinion, into three parts.

The album starts with ‘Matins’ and ‘Lauds’ as the first part of the evocation, and a bridge follows it in ‘Prime’. Deep down cavernous sounds, the combination of growling and clear voices characteristic to Evoken is present. ‘Tercer’, ‘Sext’, and ‘None’ are the second distinguishable division, followed by ‘Vesper’, which is also an instrumental bridge between what could be the second part of the album and the last song, ‘Compline’, which is the most death metal song of the album—faster, more comprised of growling, but keeping the tone of the cavernous singing. Evoken remains one of the leading exponents of this very particular genre. I think that, regarding all the doom metal subgenres, it is the hardest one to get into due to its specific nature. Even when the technicality is there, it’s not overwhelming, and the depth falls more into the darkness evocative of its pure intention.

Tracklisting
‘Matins’, ‘Lauds’, ‘Prime’, ‘Terce’, ‘Sext’, ‘None’, ‘Vesper’, ‘Compline’

Release Date: October 16th, 2025
Profound Lore
Reviewed By: Angelica Ramirez
Review Score: 8