The Chalice of Ages

Looking at the name of this band - a Dismember track title as spelled on their 1988 demo - and the cover art, you would probably think that this is some generic Swedish death metal worship. That... could not be further from the truth. There is none of the typical reliance on D-beat rhythms and no grimy pounding riffs influenced by Autopsy and crust punk, and the production is thankfully about as far from a Sunlight Studio imitation as one could get. Curiously enough, having been in love with this album for a very long time, I actually think it sounds very much like it could have been written in mid-90s Sweden, despite not having much of a superficial resemblance to classic Swedeath. I like to think that it's the vibe of this album - or rather, the range of musical influences and the overall approach to songwriting, but maybe it's the production. It's very polished - though not at all lifeless - and dense, but also very spacious, which is not something old school death metallers usually go for, but it does sound a bit like something Peter Tägtgren could have done back in the day. Or maybe Dan Swanö, though I don't think there's anything that could define "the Unisound sound". Either way, it doesn't matter. I don't completely adore it with my entire being like the production on, for instance, Bolt Thrower's Those Once Loyal, but I still think it's very good and suits the music very well, contributing a lot to the album's epic and solemn atmosphere, which is quite unique for death metal and even death/doom - I can't even think of anything else in a comparable style that would sound nearly as grandiose. Come to think of it, I wouldn't change a thing about it if I could, since a rawer, grittier, more traditionally old-school production would've only taken away from this unique feeling and made this album sound much more ordinary.

The music here is quite epic in and of itself though. This album is anything but hasty, with the bulk of it being stately mid-tempo death metal with dense chugging riffs and similarly dense, grooving drumming. Bolt Thrower is a very obvious influence, especially in the deep but intelligible and passionate vocals, as well as Scott Ellis' drumwork being especially reminiscent of Martin Kearns on Those Once Loyal. However, I think an even closer comparison could be made to Amorphis' The Karelian Isthmus and Demigod's Slumber of Sullen Eyes, as this album has a lot of melody to it, and Bolt Thrower's more melodic riffs always have this very oppressive and sweltering tone to them, feeling like a slow march on a scorching summer day somewhere in the Middle East or southern Europe - possibly due to utilizing the Phrygian scale, but I'm not an expert on that. The first minute of "Infinity Blights the Flesh" and some riffs in "Embers of a Dying World" are about as Bolt Thrower-esque as one could get and have that smothering heavy feeling to them too, but on the rest of the album it's pretty much absent, much like in Amorphis and Demigod's case, despite both of the Finnish bands also having a lot of Bolt Thrower in their sound. I hear some Demigod-isms in the guitar work in general, especially the leads when they're not melodic, and the little bit with blast beats in the middle of "Rites of Desecration" - the most Demigod-esque track on here - sounds like a very deliberate and unsubtle homage to the verse riff of Slumber of Sullen Eyes' title track. There is quite a bit of influence from Dismember - their slower moments, anyway - and probably God Macabre's more measured and occasionally doomy brand of Swedeath, as well as some pretty Swedish thrashy moments with D-beats in "The Monument" and "Carrion". The part with spoken word and clean guitars in "Acherontic Epitaph" sounds incredibly Swedish, too, though the only band I can readily remember doing that is Utumno on their Across the Horizon EP, whose very specific style (which I wouldn't even call death metal, but that's a story for another day) didn't seem to have any other influence on The Chalice of Ages.

Now, a pure death metal record sounding like Bolt Thrower mixed with Demigod and Swedeath would already be decent if done competently, but this album isn't that. The sense of melody that this album has doesn't just come from Bolt Thrower, Amorphis and Dismember, but also Swedish melodic death metal, most prominent in "Carrion", where the intro riff and the thrashy verse riff are straight-up Gothenburg, though I guess Dismember also had some riffs like that. At times the harmonies on this album even remind me of Metallica's ...And Justice for All, of all things. Besides that, "Rites of Desecration", "The Monument" and "Infinity Blights the Flesh" all feature doomy breaks, and "Embers of a Dying World", "The Chalice of Ages" and "As My Soul Gazes Skywards" are straight-up death-doom. And it's not even the kind of ugly, cavernous death/doom that you usually hear combined with death metal, but instead the melodic and somber variety following in the footsteps of the Peaceville Three. Götz Vogelsang has mentioned Paradise Lost in interviews, which is valid, but I also hear an absolutely stupid amount of Anathema here. The closing epic "As My Soul Gazes Skywards", with its sorrowful riffs and harmonized leads, sweet acoustic guitars in the intro and the closing part, and even a spoken-word part that introduces a fucking synth piano which unfortunately only lasts for a few bars (though some subtle keyboards appear later on, or so I think), is something Anathema could've written had they chosen to refine the sound they had on their Crestfallen EP.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't even really call that track just "death/doom", as its rather lively pace makes me think of gothic metal more than anything, and the "this is the pain that sees us through our way" part sounds like it could accommodate female vocals just fine and only be better for it. Even unabashed worshippers of Anathema and My Dying Bride don't often sound like that - for instance, Mourning Beloveth have always been more minimalistic and conservative in their songwriting, and would probably never dare to write something like this, sometimes sounding like "store-brand death/doom" as a result, which is not something I could say about this track. This is some really outstanding doom. It's still quite restrained in terms of melody and emotion, sounding very stoic - actually kind of like the aforementioned Mourning Beloveth in that regard - and nearly as shamelessly grief-stricken as Anathema itself or My Dying Bride, but do mind that this is a gothic death/doom track on an album that's still mostly old-school death metal despite all of its nuances, so it would probably sound out of place if it had more traditional gothic/death/doom tonalities and harmonies, so this restraint makes it fit in with the rest of the tracks. However, it does make me wish Götz and company had explored this doomy side of Deathevokation in a pure death/doom medium that wouldn't restrict their freedom of harmonic and emotional expression like old-school death metal seems to, or maybe pulled a My Dying Bride and combined death metal with the extremes of heart-wrenching tragedy without giving a damn.

Having read all this, you could think that this album ends up being too eclectic for its own good, or maybe a little all over the place like early My Dying Bride, but the songwriting here combines all the varied elements into a very coherent and monolithic style, simultaneously ensuring that the music doesn't sound derivative or unoriginal despite how obvious its influences are. The death metal here rarely goes above a steady medium pace except for just a handful of thrashy and blasting moments, and most of the riffs have as much consonance to them as possible while still staying within the scope of death metal and not going over the top with the melody, and the death/doom parts and melodeath/traditional metal harmonies and solos are never nearly as saccharine as those of Saturnus or In Flames, so the different parts don't end up sounding like they belong on different albums. On top of that, the transitions between the different parts are really smooth and well-executed, and the only parts I'd call abrupt are the aforementioned blasting bit in "Rites of Desecration", another blasting bit in the title track, and the part with the synth piano in "As My Soul Gazes Skywards", though that latter thing is mostly just something I would never expect to hear in a death metal album. However, I don't find it grating and think that it only does good, preventing the tracks from dragging on even a bit.

The songwriting is also what makes this album more than just the sum of its parts. Each riff and groove goes on long enough to develop itself completely, but never so long that it starts overstaying its welcome. It's like the band, in the process of writing this album, spent a whole lot of time trying to find the right amount of times each riff should be repeated and find out the exact point at which each riff would stop sounding awesome and start dragging on, because they always throw in something to shake things up just before that point. Besides, this album never has this thing that is so common in death metal, both old school and modern, where a good riff is repeated for a couple bars and then completely forgotten about. All of the tracks - besides the Antropomorphia cover, which does exactly that - have well-defined structures with repeating elements that make the already good riffs all the more memorable. Think Bolt Thrower - again - except much more ambitious. I guess you could argue that this album lacks the rough edges that make old school death metal so exciting to listen to, but I have no problem with that. While I love rough edges and adventurousness in my death metal, I've never once found this album boring even while listening to it multiple times in a row. It's like Disincarnate's Dreams of a Carrion Kind in that regard - very refined and calculated, but nowhere near sterile or inoffensive. Oh, I should also mention that "Rites of Desecration" acts like a perfect overture for the album, setting the tone for the rest of the album and having a bit of everything besides thrashy up-tempo parts.

The only issue I have with this album is the the track "Chunks of Meat", originally performed by the Dutch band Antropomorphia for their decent if unremarkable Necromantic Love Songs EP, released in 1993. It's not bad per se - it's perfectly decent regular midpaced death metal, with decent nasty tremolo riffs, really cool double bass grooves and simple creepy leads (more pronounced than in the original, which is a really nice touch), and Deathevokation's execution of it even sounds better to me than Antropomorphia's, even if it lacks some of the original's grimness, but the thing is that the rest of this album is not regular death metal, so this cover ends up being the one thing that does sound out of place. Though I guess it also spices things up a little, so I feel just pretty indifferent towards it in the end. The track "Morpheus, Son of Hypnos", recorded by Deathevokation for the An Allegiance in Death split with Lie in Ruins, would've fit amazingly well in its place, but I guess it hadn't been written at the time of recording this album. Speaking of minor quibbles, or rather hypothetical ways to make this album even closer to absolute subjective perfection, I'd have chosen less basic cover art for this album, and I feel like some very subtle synths would've sounded really good in tracks other than "As My Soul Gazes Skywards' - Amorphis and Demigod managed to do that really well, after all.

I also don't have much to say about the lyrics, since they're pretty abstract and don't contain any concrete references to anything besides some kind of final war in the distant future, but they're really well-written, and I have a really strong feeling that they were inspired by Warhammer 40,000 - the story of the fall of Cadia, to be more precise, which is coincidentally what this album always made me think of even before I had actually read the lyrics to it. I've never been a fan of Warhammer 40,000, though I read a little about it when I first got into Bolt Thrower's Realm of Chaos, and I don't care much for science fiction in general, so the lyrics, despite being good and suiting the music perfectly, are just not my jam. Though if every single thing on this album was perfect, I'd probably get suspicious, since it's already unreal how good this album is at hitting every right spot in me.

All in all, I am obviously biased, because all of this album's influences - Bolt Thrower, Dismember, Demigod, the Peaceville Three's classic works, Metallica if they did in fact influence this album and I'm not tripping - are among my favorites. However, the way Deathevokation interpret and combine their various influences to form their own style, together with their stellar songwriting, puts them leagues above the legions of other death metallers that are nostalgic for the nineties. Like, sure, this album is mostly Bolt Thrower mixed with the Peaceville Three, but it's much more than just that, not just a laundry list of moments that sound like other bands, which is what most modern traditional death metal tends to be, at least when it's not some creatively impotent and toothless glossy retrograde tomfoolery under a veneer of airy pseudo-intellectual hogwash or, worse, new-age "occult" nonsense worshiped as a poser-annihilating monument of true death metal integrity like Cruciamentum, Venenum or Necros Christos. But I digress. If this album were released in the 90s - 1994-96, maybe - it would be every bit as great as it is for a 2007 album, which is not something I can say for a lot of nostalgic death metal. And even if I think about the 90s, I can't remember any death metal or even much death/doom sounding quite as grandiose as this. There are The Crestfallen and Gothic, but the former doesn't have any straight-up death metal parts and the latter strays pretty far from death/doom, and My Dying Bride's early work is simply too different to be compared to this album. Anyway, I'm yapping too much already. If you like slow death metal and death/doom, I just hope you love The Chalice of Ages as much as I do.

The late 90s and early 2000s were a very difficult period for death metal. The old-school was rapidly losing ground to the rising wave of tech wank and brutal/slam death, solidifying what is arguably the genre’s nadir. While there are releases worth writing about, it was nothing like the pre-1995 era, where things were arguably at their best. Thankfully, the midpoint of the aughts graced us with what came to be known as the OSDM revival, leading to bands looking towards the old-school for inspiration. Among big hitters like Dead Congregation though, there were many equally interesting bands that regrettably got lost in the shuffle. One of them is the topic of today’s review, Deathevokation. The Californian quartet’s debut, The Chalice of Ages, is one of the best death metal albums of the 2000s, and one that was sadly forgotten by time.

Earlier, I mentioned how modern musicians were inspired by releases from the genre’s best years, and things are no different here. What makes Deathevokation really interesting though is what bands they drew influence from. Throughout this album, one can hear smatterings of Bolt Thrower and Dismember, and even some melodic death/doom, akin to that of Paradise Lost. At a first glance this might seem like me trying to play a game of “This band sounds like…”, but they manage to blend all these styles here so well that they end up creating a wholly unique sound, the likes of which I have never heard in my years of listening to death metal. What’s all the more fascinating is that they managed to combine all these elements in a very natural and creative way, resulting in a cohesive and powerful death metal monolith.

As for the compositions themselves, they slay, to put it bluntly. The band flexes their songwriting mastery through the album’s 8 (discounting the Antropomorphia cover) songs, creating death metal epics that actually live up to the term “epic”. There is no song here that goes below 4,5 minutes, and all of them absolutely make up for their lengths, even the tracks that are north of the 8 minute mark. The compositions are seemingly alive, filled with tons of nuance and subtleties, as one can tell from the subtle melodic lead lines sprinkled throughout tracks like “Rites of Desecration” and “Embers of a Dying World”. It’s an album that begs you to give it multiple listens, because catching all the details and appreciating all the care that went into creating this work is otherwise impossible.

No worries though, The Chalice of Ages isn’t just melodic leads without anything to back them up, even though this album is a case of melodicism being used effectively in a death metal framework. Guitarists Brian Shuff and Götz Vogelsang lay down some crushing riffs upon which the entire experience is built upon. From classic Bolt Thrower tank grooves like those found on “Acherontic Epitaph”, to Dismember-tinged rippers such as “Infinity Blights the Flesh”, these guys are experts at inducing whiplash, and they manage to do that for an hour straight. Drummer Scott Ellis is also helping them in this endeavour, with his pummelling double-bass being a powerful presence that helps propel these riffs into the stratosphere.

As for the Paradise Lost influence I brought up here, it manifests itself in the longer pieces here, which are expertly placed between the rippers and provide a welcome change of pace. Songs like the title track and “As My Soul Gazes Skywards” are brimming with melody and emotion, without sacrificing any energy. The former melds everything we’ve talked about up to this point in an even more flawless manner than the rest of the album, with crushing riffs giving way to powerful leads and vice versa, and the latter… Man, it was undoubtedly meant to be the closer. It is the only instance of acoustics showing up here, and they are absolutely warranted. The track maintains a doom-like crawl that is driven by emotionally resonant lead lines and solos that never devolve into saccharine redundancy, and that is further aided by Götz’s voice. While death metal vocals aren’t known for their ability to stir up emotions in the listener, his presence in here is invaluable, with his powerful growl delivering lyrics about the soul wishing for oblivion after death. It’s a monumental end to what was already a grand album, and it hits the spot every single time.

This album is excellent, no doubt, but it wouldn’t be me reviewing it had I not found something to complain about, that being the production. It feels a touch too crisp for my liking, and although that helps with appreciating the melodic aspects of this album to the fullest, it ever so slightly saps away the grime the riffs could have. The instruments themselves don’t sound bad mind you, the guitars are muscular, the drums thud along, and the bass is all but inaudible (modern production hello?). This cleanliness becomes evident on the cover of Antropomorphia’s “Chunks of Meat”. Playing-wise it’s every bit as good as the original, but it lacks that ghoulish quality of the 1993 original. Nevertheless, it’s a singular blemish in what is otherwise a perfect record, so I’m willing to let that slide.

The Chalice of Ages is a hidden gem. It’s not a term I like using often, but this is one of the few times I consider it to be absolutely warranted. It’s a shame that such a magnificent album was forgotten by the underground, and the fact that it only has 2 reviews on the Metal Archives is an absolute travesty. According to the website the band is active to this day, though they haven’t put anything out since 2009. Part of me prays for the band to come back and bestow upon us a new release, but what they left us with is more than satisfactory, and I suppose the concept of not ruining one’s legacy rings true here.

Highlights: Rites of Desecration, The Chalice of Ages, Infinity Blights the Flesh, As My Soul Gazes Skywards

This colossal monolith of death metal seemingly came out of nowhere - this is coming from a band who had only previously released a demo and a split. This remains the only full length from Deathevokation the world will ever know and perhaps that's a good thing. There just is no way in hell that they could have topped this. Severing the band's lifespan prematurely, however unfortunate, preserves this bands unwavering excellence, as they become designated to the one great album and they're gone club. In an age where death metal is sounding increasingly modern and quite often sterile, Deathevokation keep their sound classic - this could have easily been recorded in Sweden in the 1990s. Although they provide little in terms of innovating new techniques or pushing the bounds of what can be present in the vast pantheon of death metal, this was never the goal. Good songwriting and execution will trump meandering experimentation for the sake of experimentation every time.

The band was born when Götz Vogelsang, disillusioned with the goregrind band he was playing with, decided to realize a vision of his own, enlisting help from a few friends. This is about as far away from goregrind as you can get within boundaries of death metal without roaming into watered down sugary melodeath territory. While being interviewed, Götz stressed the importance of having a band where a few buddies and himself could have a good time messing around with while having a few beers. Despite this not in the least being a lighthearted affair, it really is something you want to bang your head to while enjoying a nice brew. I'm listening to the album while I review it and beer is certainly my writing companion.

Deathevokation, who are named after a song recorded when Carnage and Dismember where merged as one entity, espouse a very balanced sound – it walks the perfect line between raw and polished, they certainty aren't by-the-book death metal, but they don't drift to far into the realm of experimentation. They give off a vibe of slow burning menace, yet are relatively melodic; they have atmosphere and devastating ass-kicking riffs. They never fall victim to the trap of showmanship – when solos do appear they certainly aren't wankery but are definitely more involved than your standard melodic fare. Everyone exceeds at what they do, but know when to hold back.

I don't mean to oversimplify, but much of this album feels like classic Swedish death metal channelled through mid-era Bolt Thrower with hints of early death/doom. The tempo is often mid-paced, with the occasional divergence in speed. The band does feature a fair bit of melody, but in a subtle manner that builds suspense. You'll never hear a saccharine lead on this record. This is by no means a technical engagement, a complicated riff will never find itself protruding out of the background. It's pretty much what you'd expect from death metal – lots of chugging, power chords and recurring sustained tremolo sections.This is a blessing for the album, as while every riff is to the point, every riff is likewise absolutely top tier. The best riffs are absolutely godly, making the other riffs on the album – which no doubt would be the absolute highlight of your next above average death metal album – look only merely good.

The brooding leads almost give off a Victorian romantic vibe similar to the early work of the Peaceville Three. This adds atmosphere and depth to even out the infectious assault of the riffing. The band takes an economical approach to solos – they are infrequent and only appear when needed. This allows for only the best material to be used. The solos walk the line between being frenzied and melodic – just like the band's approach to riffing (and to some extent songwriting) they might draw somewhat of a parallel to the mighty Bolt Thrower.

The vocals show another example of walking the line between two extremes – while they are not unintelligible and lyrics can be made out if one is paying attention, they are simultaneously deep and full of passion. Sometimes taking the middle approach works out for the better in the end. The songwriting is high with this one – just as damn catchy as the riffs. Make no mistake, this still feels authentic and aggressive, but they sure know how to write the hell out of a song. It isn't quite the same kind of catchy you'd find in a run-of-the-mill melodic death metal track, not existing on ithati high of a level of accessibility, but it's still something that is relatively easy to make out and could successfully be stripped down to a more basic thrash metal song without much hindrance. With their cover of Antropomorphia's fantastic “Chunks Of Meat” they bring the songwriting to the forefront, add a bit of atmosphere, and as much as I love the original, I have to say this is one of those rare cases where the covering band beats the original artist at their own game.

The man behind the kit pulls no punches – no obscure tribal rhythms, no weird time signatures, no left field experimentation – he takes a no bullshit to-the-point approach and fucking delivers. The man knows when it is appropriate to hold back and when to go full out and acts accordingly. His playing is tight, and completely devoid of filler. The drum tone is as great as the playing. Featuring a nice natural tone, it find's itself in the middle ground between polished and raw production values. As for the bass, it supports the sound instead of being an immediately apparent entitiy. The dude obviously knows what he is doing, but his instrument never really treads into the foreground. However, in some ways it is the glue holding everything together, the album would no doubt feel thin and lacking power if it had a weaker tone or was all but inaudible.

Götz says that one thing that really bothered him about being in a goregrind band is that the members took no pride in their lyrics, using the first gore-based lines that popped into their heads that they found humorous. Götz's own lyrics no doubt take a more calculated and though out approach. While they do feature familiar themes such as death, end time scenarios, the decay of civilization and madness, they do so in a highly proficient and evocative manner. The man obviously has a strong knack for aphotic imagery:

"As algid Winds blow across the Land, scattering Ash over all that once was
As Civilization is torn to Ruins, Mankind is masked by a Shroud of Dust
A terminal Quietude has set in as Man's last Strongholds have begun to fall
We feed on the Arrogance of Man, We dethrone the Lords of Creation

While creation cries out in Pain, Hope loses all Importance
Nothingness awaits while Man bathes in the Blood of Earth
As Mankind sings It's last Requiem as an Ode to It's own Annihilation
The Peace long spoken of, It has come at Last
The Destruction of Mankind, because We are the Carrion"

Kicking off with a sample of creepy ambiance from Shinjuku Thief's “The Witch Hammer”, little ambient passages are scattered throughout the album, bolstering the atmosphere while allowing room to breathe. These pieces are dark and add to the brooding atmosphere. Beautiful little acoustic guitar sections are also interspersed throughout the album's endurance, increasing the prominence of the romantic early death/doom flavourings. In “Carrion” a solemn melody is introduced by the acoustic guitar and carried over into a catchy riff by the electric.

Götz said that an early Paradise Lost demo was the catalyst for him getting into death metal, and in no section is this variety of influences more apparent than album closer “As My Soul Gazes Skyword”. Starting off with mournful Old World chanting giving way to absolutely majestic classical-inspired acoustic guitar, this ten minute behemoth is the best ending to the album that one could hope for. This could easily fit in on a death/doom album. Featuring many melodic slow-burning riffs and emotive leads as well as a vast, open song structure, this has a very epic air about it. In the middle of the track there is a creepy piano break accompanied by dark, dramatic spoken word. The metal feels even heavier when it comes back in, with a riff playing off the continuing piano line. This song encompasses a vibe that took more of a supporting role throughout the rest of the record.

This release's success lies in the successful balance of many elements. It rests in the middle ground between old school vigour and melody, rawness and a more polished approach, badassery and atmosphere – there is just a perfect amount of all this album needs to be successful. It simultaneously contains tenfold the amount of ass-kicking intensity in it's riffs and emotional depth and atmosphere than your average competent death metal outfit. It's unfortunate they called it quits after a single album, but on the bright side, they'll never fall off the pedestal this album firmly places them on. Stuff like this doesn't come around very often, this goes above and beyond in all respects.

This is a brilliant slab of old school death metal. This sounds like it could be placed in 1992 along all of those other old school death metal bands. Is this just a tribute to the old school death metal sound though? Hell no, this is a band with superior riffing and song writing unlike anything that came out in the 90s. It’s almost like this album has been fermenting and maturing over the years. This album clocks in at just over an hour long, and usually a death metal album that is this long ends with tedium or just loads of riffs that go nowhere, but they make it work. Chalice of Ages doesn’t contain the sweeping melodies of the early Swedes, but it does contain tons of melodies that are made from leads and chunky death metal riffing. There is a cover of Antropomorphia (who the fuck are they?) in the album, yet unless you know the song, you’d think it was another Deathevokation track. Similar to Hail’s cover of Varathron, it compliments the album perfectly.

This has so many brilliant ideas and riffing put together in an atmosphere similar to Fleshcrawl – Descend Into the Absurd. The album slower parts with the atmospheric leads on top of it. The album creates an atmosphere of desolation and death through insanity. The leads in the album add to the desolation with the slight reverb, and make it all come together.

If you’re a fan of old school death metal that is heavily atmospheric yet riffy as fuck, this is the perfect album for you. This is where new death metal should be going.

91/100