EVOLUCIJA
The World Is Full Of Wrath
If you’re a big fan of symphonic metal, then the fabulous new album “The World Is Full Of Wrath” by Swiss/Serbian band EVOLUCIJA should almost certainly already be on your radar as a must check out when it drops on April 5th. I was both excited and intrigued to check out EVOLUCIJA’s first album release for over six years to see how they have evolved and progressed during that time. With four songs already released as singles, including the incredible “Storm”, I had thoroughly enjoyed everything I heard off the album so far and was keen to listen to the rest.
There are notable high points for me with songs like the reworking of “Pale Rider” which not only shares its name with my favorite Clint Eastwood film, but could itself be an epic movie soundtrack with its rousing overture theme. What an awesome opening track it is with its slow burning intro leading us gently into a deeply fulfilling and rich velvety song which is simply beautiful on the ears. At the opposite end, I would also put the closing track “One Dime” on a par too with its equally appealing cinematic ear candy feel and well worked orchestral arrangements providing the other metaphorical slice of bread to a delicious symphonic metal sandwich.
What about the filling you ask? Well lovely symphonic melodies such as “Inside The Whale”, “Storm” and “Soul For Sale” have an almost upbeat and very modern feel to them. The much lighter and deft high-octane riffs are not only very enjoyable, but will also lift your spirits too. The inclusion of Middle Eastern and pirate metal influences with these tracks further enhances that emotion and is very much in keeping with what is currently in vogue on the metal scene.
Meanwhile tracks such as “The Earth Is Full Of Rats” are on the much heavier side of things with harder thumping bass lines and much darker connotations. Clean male vocals add the perfect opposing force to Ilana Von Arx‘ crystal clear vocals on a couple of the songs, including the dreamy ballad “Shame On You”, where the obligatory guitar solo is both poetic and spot on in its delivery as it cries out in unison.
Elements of folk metal make up integral parts to songs such as “I Am The One” and “Seven Days Of The Weak” as they are blended in neatly with much more traditional heavy metal and symphonic arrangements to give an authentic retro listening experience to the listener. Add to all that an excellent cover of the 90s Cranberries classic “Zombie”, which is more than worthy of a mention on its own right, and you complete a top-drawer album which is sure to greatly please the symphonic metal fraternity.
“The world Is Full Of Wrath” is in my opinion some mighty fine work and EVOLUCIJA are indeed progressing nicely along the music evolutionary scale. “The world Is Full Of Wrath” ticks a lot of boxes for EVOLUCIJA and though it never strays too far off the path of what those ever-fickle symphonic metal fans will love, it is undoubtedly a very solid composition with a few sprinkles of gold dust making it an album that is well worth checking out.
Mark Waight