EVADNE is melodic death/doom band from Spain who formed in 2003. "The Pale Light Of Fireflies," is their fourth full length album. They have also released a demo, EP and compilation. I've been into EVADNE for some time now and have been waiting for some new material. Its late release saw it coming out in Christmas Eve, of all days. As such, it flew under my own radar but I'm thrilled to report that the wait has been worth it. EVADNE's brand of doom is as sad and brooding as one would except. Despite their death metal influence, their music is quite Gothic and melancholic, and often times delicate and tender.

"The Pale Light Of Fireflies" continues these trends and doesn't disappoint.  The songs seem to be most focused on the vocals, with the instrumentation sort of world building all the other elements around the song. The opening track, "Shadows" displays these dynamics.  The opening riffs and keyboards are the foundation for what the chorus sounds like. The first lyrical stanzas and the aforementioned chorus are in a clean vocals style—and it sounds smooth and wonderful.  When the riffs get heavier, so do the vocals as they switch to death growls. The keyboards are one with the song–nothing flashy but more than capable of laying down a grandiose atmospheric layer. The song is almost nine minutes in length but doesn't feel it, which is obviously a good sign.

"Under Blessed Skies," is a melding of the keys and guitars as one continues movement. The death growls ride upon this ground but the pieces of ambient and clean sections that follow add a touch of refinement to the proceedings but they also maintain the flow, which in turn, makes the return of the distortion and growls sound all the more natural. About halfway through the song, hazy guitar and  morose keys lead the structure into pure melodic death doom with Gothic hook, such as the lead harmonies. The later half the song has excellent cleans and a passage that is ethereal but still robust due to the death growls.

"Hollow Realms" ups the tempo a bit while making the growls a little more up front. This shows the band can be intense as needed but thankfully the more melancholic aspect of their sounds work just fine with those dynamics. The mid portion is gorgeous in a minimalist way. I appreciate this approach because doom isn't always about thick riffs and unending blackness. Sometimes the lighter elements can be just as potent and oppressive. The cleans near the end of the song are beautiful and, later, go well their overlaying with the growls.

"Silhouettes Of A Faceless Sun," is perhaps the best song on this album that contains nothing but great songs. The song itself has this odd sort of beauty to it. The first minute and a half or so is a musical opus that represents everything that is amazing about the genre. The clean vocals glide along the atmosphere that is made of heavy riffs, clean keys and death growls that grasp a tight hold before letting the cleans take control again. A moving ambient section about halfway in breaks away for melodic death doom to come in and let the growls show a different side of this emotion.

EVADNE continue to be a force within the doom genre. It isn't going to reinvent the genre but it does push their own sound forward and that is just as important. I suspect they will continue to be very important as they continue their journey.