I really can’t get enough of Sweden’s Evocation. They combine old-school death metal with some newer-school learning in a way that just really hits my sweet spot. Their music is raw, it’s heavy, it’s galvanizing, it’s groove-filled, and it’s memorable. Their last album of new material, Apocalyptic, was released in 2010, and after that Century Media signed ’em up. Century then compiled a collection of demo, unreleased, and rehearsal material from the band — whose roots go back to the early 90’s — and unleashed it in June as Evoked From Demonic Depths – The Early Years.

Today, we got the news that Century will release Evocation’s fourth studio album, Illusions Of Grandeur, on September 24 in Europe and October 23 in the US. It will include guest vocals by Amon Amarth’s Johan Hegg on a song called “Into Submission”, as well as three studio bonus tracks on a limited-edition digipak. And it features the eye-catching artwork of Michal “Xaay” Loranc — about whom more in a minute.

I wish I had a new song from the new album to play for you (and for myself), but we’ll have to wait a bit longer for that. But I do have a handful of videos as well as a track from the Evoked From Demonic Depths compilation as a reminder of why the new album should be eagerly anticipated. All of that is after the jump (we’ve streamed some of this stuff at various places and times in the past, but some of you might be new to this band).

Xaay is a Polish artist whose work we’ve featured before at NCS. He’s been a professional designer and digital artist since 1999 and has created album covers and/or merch designs for the likes of Nile, Behemoth, Kamelot, Vader, Necrophagist, and Decapitated. He also created the cover art for both Evocation’s Apocalyptic and for the 2012 compilation. Check those out here: Continue reading »