Seven Acts to Apocalypse

It’s hard to find that many really exciting twists in classic doom metal these days, so The Evil coming up with more than one makes them well worth checking out. In the first place, we don’t hear a lot of slow sub-genres coming from Brazil, while the presence of Wagner Antichrist (here featured as Iossif) from Sarcófago shakes up expectations before we’ve even started. However, the presence of vocalist Mistres Wournous truly sets the quartet apart, since her rangy voice augments the bruising riffing with multifarious potential avenues, from epic doom to operatic metal and from psych hauntings to sludgy rumblings. Considering how crushing the Electric Wizard instrumental stylings can be, not to mention how familiar the “seven sins” concept feels, Seven Acts to Apocalypse ends up somehow liberating and spontaneous. The effect may be compared to The Devil’s Blood writing songs for Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard to interpret.

Despite the slightly off-the-cuff nature of the singing, the album works like a constant presence over the course of 43 minutes, breaking down into occasional gloomy passages of suspense and highlighted moments with keyboards, though the main focus remains the overpowering weight of guitar that hugs a few massively effective stoner contours. As instrumental music, it would be a dank session of quite some efficacy, assisted by the monstrous punch of the bass. Through the grandiose play-offs between simple rhythms and operatic call and response, however, it truly becomes a force to be reckoned with and a fuller depiction of the vivid hell that the cover art and lyrics provide. The Evil could go both ways too, either deeper into the underground from where they came or out into the light afforded to their relatively accessible sound, so it is essential to see where they head next.


Originally written for Metalegion #13 - www.metalegion.com