EVILYN – Mondestrunken
August 12, 2024, 3 months ago
(Transcending Obscurity)
Debut full-length here from Evilyn, which appears to be the brainchild of one Anthony Lipari of Thoren, who is joined with two other DM mind-melters, crafting sounds that right outta the gates on awesome opener “Dread” bring to mind Gorguts' Obscura, an album that these three have no doubt spent countless hours worshipping.
So have I, so we're on the same page here, the band grinding weird and sideways, some of the riffing approaching where the slime live but mainly slinking into the labyrinth, “Omission” then offering up a sludge/grind experience that is powerful and moving. Man, it's the year of Transcending Obscurity here, the label putting out several killer DM albums (hello, Replicant, Maere, Crawl, and now Evilyn, and there's a handful more right below these ones as well).
I absolutely love the razor-wire riffing of “Limits” and the jazz-DM (but not like that) wanderings of “Bloviate”. This isn't easy listening, and by the time the confounding “Forgotten” is pounding your earholes as track 8 of 10, you're forgiven for zoning out a bit, but, hey, I zone out a bit near the end of Obscura as well, but it's a good zone out, not one induced from boredom.
Mondestrunken is an excellent piece of DM art, Evilyn hopefully going further down this path as the albums go on; I'll most certainly be along for the ride.
