"Dead Calm Chaos" picks up the scraps left by the Swedish hurricane known as Evocation and the storm's original gust of ravenous death metal titled "Tales from the Tomb." Whereas the fibers throughout "Tales from the Tomb" could've used a little sharpening, "Dead Calm Chaos" has an extra edge of slashing dynamism in both songwriting and performance that makes Evocation's second album a worthy sophomore effort, although it's on the same level of quality as the band's debut. The record's only major difference from Evocation's first full-length is the occasional mid-paced whacking, but all in all the Evocation machine again charges into the Swedish death metal formula with the force of a million angry gods. Still they use a lot of the harsh yet vibrant melodies and foundations often found throughout the history of this rich landscape of oblivion. The opening themes of "Dead Calm Chaos" sound like proper continuations of the path paved by "Tales from the Tomb"; they are nearly identical in structure and style. The nice thing about Evocation is that the band knows exactly how to bend and mold its approach into form, and here the Swedish faction delivers crispy death metal not far beyond an apprentice's visualization of Stockholm-styled slaughter. The raspy, grinding growls of Thomas Josefsson are found lurking above the generalized style of death metal, which takes influence from the world's Entombeds and Dismembers with a proper edge of melody coursing through the blood of Evocation that's quite hard to ignore. "Dead Calm Chaos" fails to add a specific twist that makes the album a truly revolutionary product, yet the pursued method is strengthened through muscular riffs, strangling vocals, and unrelenting vehemence.
Usually it's common to find people (including yours truly) pissing and moaning about groups releasing the same record more than once, but Evocation avoids this irksome luxury because they stick to what they do and they do what they do quite well. Most of the record revolves around the traditional recipe inherited from "Tales from the Tomb," which is like sitting through an introductory class about something you already know a lot aboutenroll in the three-credit Evocation 101 course here. "Silence Sleep" and "Protected by What Gods," for instance, pound out enjoyable, volatile riffs and compelling goodness; they're the prime cuts. "Boundead" and the title track act as the album's diverse numbers, although calling them anomalies would be absurd. Both are mainly rooted in mid-paced guitar work and rhythm sections, yet they manage to stick to Evocation's approach with complete honesty. Evocation 201 is still in the works.
You know Dan Swanφ? He adds guest vocals on "Antidote" that are pretty killer. Little is missing from a release like this in spite of the lack of innovation. Evocation can pull off almost any feat given the band's experience and wisdom, and I'd say this is marginally better than "Tales from the Tomb." Not the best artifact ever exhumed from the Swedish graveyard of gore and damnation, but "Dead Calm Chaos" beats the piss out of dozens of metalcore plebs recycling breakdowns or some djent group douching up the world of extreme metal. I'll take "Dead Calm Chaos" over that crap, always and forever.