### Evig Natt: Darkland

#### 18/10/10 || GardensTale

I have no idea what the fuck Evig Natt means. It sounds like “Forever Wet” in Dutch. Whatever. Too-vague-a-title aside, this actually pleasantly surprised me. I doubt I’ll be spinning it a lot; I have better things to listen to. But I wasn’t hurrying to finish the review to I could turn off the album, and that’s more than most label-sents can say.

Evig Natt like their symphonics. Don’t expect harsh aggression here; these are Evil God Summoners, not Angry Babykillers. The tempo is kept at a pretty steady midpace, and the drummer doesn’t really need to put in a whole lot of technicality or speed, or effort really. They’re not the highlight of the album in any case.

The vocal department is more pleasant. Female vocals that manage to not annoy to great extents. Sometimes they don’t seem to work consistently work, but in terms of atmosphere they get their point across. The male growls are better, a kind of snarling spitting grunt that’s hateful enough and conveys enough expression and decent range for its type. Easily one of the better things on here.

Guitars are fairly ambient and don’t hold very massive substance, but hey, with symphonic metal that can’t choose between death and gothic, what would you expect? Don’t expect no Gorefest bulldozers would be a good start. A fair share of acoustics to accommodate the gayer parts is only logical, and Evig Natt does sadly have its gayer acoustic parts.

Because that is the biggest problem with this recording: Evig Natt do everything by the book. The good parts and the bad parts. Symphonic Gothic/Death for dummies, if you will. The good parts are in the vocal work, some of the better songwriting, and managing to keep the symphonics from being annoying. On the other hand, the elements of the genre that are bound to become irritating haven’t been changed. Over-reliance on the female vocals and too strong a need to be oh so dark and brooding, resulting in gay acoustic sections, are just two examples. What it boils down to is basically this: in this genre, Evig Natt are really quite decent. They just don’t do anything that hasn’t been done before.

I said at the start this album surprised me pleasantly. Well, it did, in the fashion that label-sent albums are usually not even competent. Evig Natt are certainly as much as competent; they’re just nothing beyond it. So why should you pick this up?

I have no idea.

P.S. Just found out the band’s name means Eternal Light. Considering the chick isn’t half-bad looking, I prefer Forever Wet.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Black Bards Entertainment
- Website: www.evignatt.com
- Band
- Oskar: vocals
- Kirsten: vocals
- Stein: bass
- Harald: drums
- Ruben: guitars

- Tracklist
- 01. Darkland
- 02. Evig natt
- 03. Until the end
- 04. I die again
- 05. Sjelelaus
- 06. The wanderer
- 07. Withered Garden
- 08. My sin
- 09. Epitaph