### Evadne: The shortest way

#### 29/11/11 || gk

Spain’s Evadne get their name from Greek mythology and “The Shortest Way” is the band’s second album. The band has again gone for the self released path like they did with their debut. “The Shortest Way” is overall a bit inconsistent. The first four songs just drift past, content to play it safe and derivative and there wasn’t a single note that stuck in my head through that time but then song number five, “All I Will Leave Behind” starts with some clean and melodic female vocals and an almost tranquil feel before ending 10 minutes later with a heavy death metal part and the song is seamless in its transitions. This mid album epic seems to signal a huge improvement in songwriting as the remaining three songs are really good. The band mix and match influences from My Dying Bride, Swallow the Sun and Funeral and create songs that are engaging. “Gloomy Garden” is a case in point with its effortless melding of soft and heavy as the band shift through various tempos and moods and create another memorable doom metal song. Fan of doom and the bands mentioned above would do well to check out “The Shortest Way” and if Evadne had trimmed some of the earlier songs off this album and released it as a 4 song EP then this could have been really special. As it stands, the good just about manages to balance out the boring.

6/10 and wishing those first four songs had been left out.