Evocation is the debut album by Moonlight, a one-man black metal project from Guanajuato, Mexico. The album is apparently dedicated to Quorthon, but for the most part this is rather more straightforward black metal in the vein of the classic second-wave Norwegian scene, with a very strong melodic sensibility and the occasional flamboyant lead guitar moments which are a welcome surprise. In this regard, it is slightly reminiscent of albums such as Drudkh's Blood in our Wells, or Abgott's Artefact of Madness, although the overall tone of the work is rather more conventional than these unusual creatures. A more accurate comparison in style and sound is Belgium's finest, Enthroned, of whom I am reminded strongly when listening to this record.

Let's cover the bad points first. It's a very short album. Whilst it clocks in at just under 40 minutes overall, the last two tracks are actually taken from previous demos. They are horribly produced and performed haphazardly, to the extent that its hard to see what could be gained by putting them on the record at all. So it's really the approximately 25 minutes of music contained in the first five tracks that are the core of this record. And three minutes of these are the thunderstorm noises of Odium! This shouldn't necessarily be a huge problem. But Evocation really does feel a little insubstantial overall, and not necessarily because of the short running time. It doesn't really feel authentic. It feels like it has been assembled rather than grown organically through the interaction of musicians onstage or in a studio, which maybe isn't surprising considering that this record has been made by Ishtar pretty much all on his own. The drums are programmed, so they are tight but pretty soulless sounding. The guitars have a rather tame, crunchy sound, without the bleeding, intense edge that can enhance a black metal band's delivery so much.

Now, the good points. The songwriting here is actually of very high quality. The tracks on this album (excluding the last two) are all pretty varied, frequently moving between pounding blastbeat-heavy barnstorming riffs, well-executed melodic sections, and strong windswept tremolo melodies that are now a staple sound of black metal. As mentioned above, the guitar solos that are thrown in sporadically are a nice touch and give the record something different. There are moments when these elements conspire to create music that is really powerful, such as the closing minute of Fiery Lament.

Ishtar is a talented new musician in black metal, producing a good effort working alone, from a country which is hardly a hotspot for this type of music. Evocation is not going to feature in any end of year lists, but may be worth checking out for those with an interest in underground black metal. An average record, with strong songwriting that suggests there is more to Moonlight than is demonstrated here.