Album Type : Full Length
Date Released: 17/5/2013
Label : Doomentia Records
Doominicanes, album track listing:
1. Blood Curse
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2. Pain and Rapture
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3. Deadspeak
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4. To Praise, to Bless, to Preach
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5. Militis Fidelis Deus
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Bio:
Of course to some remaining
anonymous is a publicity stunt. Just a perverted way to tease people’s
attention and let them rambling on if, yes or no, there’s a so-called ‘famous’
guy hidden behind the mask… But to others, it is truly an act of faith. A way
of underlining on the most plain and honest way that at the end of the day,
only music matters and that as such, true artists that truly believe in its
sheer power just have this urge to give up their individuality and step aside
to let it shine unconditionally. And EVANGELIST is a prime example of such
mentality…
All you need to know about those mysterious lads is that they’re a bunch of experienced musicians coming from Cracow, Poland and the first of their kind in this country. End of story. The rest is up to the music and boy, oh boy, if you hadn’t been exposed just to it yet thanks to their debut album ‘In Partibus Infidelium’, get ready to sweep off your feet. Yes, EVANGELIST doesn’t even pretend hiding where they are coming from. Classic and epic doom with a heavy-metal background à la CANDLEMASS and strong religious themes is the name of the game and right from opening track “Blood Curse”, you know you’re dealing with pros here and not simple imitators.
Not only is ‘Doominicanes’ an extremely well-produced and not only has it more than a hint of the kind of vibe DOOMSWORD and other Italian power metallers have learnt to master on the battlefield and with all its epic buttons pushed to the max (final track “Militis Fidelis Deus” is a 12 minutes+ pure delight!), there’s a religious fervour going allthrough the record that really sets them apart. But a fervour tormented by guilt and suspicion and that gut feeling that the Heaven Above ain’t exactly what’s in store for us. While opening track “Blood Curse” is inspired by biblical stories akin to what REVEREND BIZARRE did with “Wandering Jew” for instance, “Pain and Rapture” is about the ravage of the inquisition and “Militis Fidelis Deus” about the first Crusade, but from a crusader’s point of view. Yes, EVANGELIST may seem to have seen the light and about to walk towards it. But is there, really, something waiting for us on the other side? And will you have the guts to find out?
Review:
It’s always a struggle to convey the
immensity of traditional doom. So easy
to fall back on trusted clichés from the time-worn bag of tricks.
First of all, Evangelist is from Poland and
they play traditional doom. That’s about
all your need to know for now, but I’ll fill in the details as we go along.
I want to talk about muscular vicissitude,
axe-swinging dynamics and diesel-chugging, piston pumping power. But I won’t subject you to that (even though
I just did). I want to perform a brain
implant upon you, whereby I take the spirit of the movie Braveheart and graft
it onto your impressions of this album, whereby ‘Doominicanes’ inspires one to
battle-hewn glory. But I’ll spare you
the psychic surgery (even though it just happened without your consent).
See, traditional doom is a breeding ground
for such predictable imagery for those whose prerogative it is to blab about
it. I’m happy to do it. I love the stuff. But I will admit that the predictability and
mine-field of clichés that writers about this particular brand of metal must
navigate, is only a by-product of the predictable and cliché riddled nature of
the music itself. It’s traditional. Think about it. It’s pretty much guaranteed not to be daring
and new.
So take heed and take warning all ye who
would enter here. This is orthodox
music, dedicated to the one True faith of doom.
Turn back now if you are not interested in hearing another traditional
doom band as you’ve heard it all before.
Go ahead, leave us with your head slung low
O ye wretched heathens of doom.
Are they gone?
Good.
Now it’s just us trad. Doom fans.
Look, you’re fans of the genre, you’re going to dig this album. Why?
Because it’s got everything you’re looking for: slow riffs; deep,
operatic and ultimately epic vocals; powerful drums. Honestly, if you’re looking for something to
come along and change the genre and wipe the slate clean for expectations of
all traditional doom albums for the future … then I honestly don’t know what you’re
still doing here reading this review.
Okay, is that the last of them gone, then?
Excellent.
No, Evangelist are not iconoclastic in their approach to what they do,
they just do it well and without a lot of fuss.
Basically, they are preaching to the converted and so am I with this
review, but here I am, the message is familiar, as is the tune, and I’m
clapping my hands, singing right along and rolling in the aisles because this
is what it’s all about. Themes of death
and religion abound. What more do you
need? Really there are only three things
in life that cut out all the bullshit and grab people’s attention and that’s
Sex, Death and Truth. Religion offers
its version of the truth which is what gives it its stranglehold over the minds
of believers. Nothing else really
matters, just those three things.
Evangelist have the death and truth subjects covered and here they are
playing metal so I guess you can say that covers the Sex angle, so there you
go, they have it covered.
Another review cliché is to compare bands
to other bands. I do it, others here at
Sludgelord do it, everyone who reviews music does it, because it’s the most
obvious thing to do. I won’t do it here,
because I trust you to use your imagination.
The band’s influences should be fairly obvious. You know the ones. Just look over at your CD shelf, it’s the
same one that’s stacked up in the band’s living quarters in Poland.
Look, let’s get down to business. You like traditional doom, I like traditional
doom. I checked this album out on a
recommendation from a buddy a couple weeks back and was
not disappointed. Boom! You should do the same, and it’s okay to
consider me a buddy in spirit. This is
my official recommendation of ‘Doomincanes’ to you. Go check it the fuck out right now!
Words
by : Lucas Klaukien
As ever, show your support to the band by checking them out at the various links. Thanks to Lukas @ Doomentia for hooking us up. You can buy the CD/Vinyl here. DD is available here
