12th March 2025

Review: “End Of Time” by An Evening With Knives

Bringing out all the clichés like the dead in a George A. Romero movie, third studio album “End Of Time” marks both the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter for Dutch Stoner Doom infused Post-Metal trio An Evening With Knives. The Eindhoven based musicians, known for their potent mix of psychedelic textures, thunderous riffs, and deeply personal yet universal lyrical themes, welcome new drummer and sample guru Jarno van Osch into the fold for this one, his first recorded material with the band. He fills the void left by the departure of Ivo Jonkers with guitarist and vocalist Marco Gelissen and bassist Peter van Grunsven claiming a revitalized energy has helped take them the the height of their creativity…

Jarno van Osch is certainly put through his paces early on with “Pride of Lions“, providing a groove laden drum pattern for the others to build upon, the funky bassline from Peter van Grunsven having roots deeper than Jägermeister. A lyrical narrative about liberation from oppression is screamed over a hypnotic riff and sets the tone in powerful fashion. This stripped back approach, free from complexity means that you feel every single moment of the soundscape and there is no place to hide. “All They Need” follows the blueprint with thunderous percussion, clean and crisp accompanied by raw vocals with a little more accenting that gives it a certain charm. While on the first cut the guitars were a little sparce, here they have far more powerful, driving home the narrative in sublime fashion before evolving further in “Death” with melancholic leads of Scandinavian origin and powerful rhythms interchanging. Fierce and fiery, the vocals deliver the message with passion and you can help but become hypnotised into headbanging along, even on the first listen. Is it possible to create tracks that are both raw and polished at the same time? Somehow An Evening With Knives have found that sonic space and by the time “Old Man” rolls around, the new direction the band mentioned in the build up is crystal clear. Crushing riffs with moments of funk and psychedelia make this one one of the stand out cuts with the hard hitting lyrics bringing out an emotive quality in the vocal performance. While its hard to draw comparisons, sonically there are certainly a few connections to Audioslave or perhaps even Led Zepplin here giving the album a certain nostalgic quality.

As the river runs red, album title track “End of Time” has an almost mournful quality to it without letting any of the momentum or energy of the record dissipate, the lead guitars bringing it home through the darkness of thunderous percussion. In turn that helps create the brooding atmosphere that introduces “Voices“, another powerful statement piece that threatens to stampede like a heard of cattle. That happens in the final third as the tension is cut by an riff that borders on DJent as the trio demonstrate their rhythmic prowess in sublime dexterity. A gut punch moment to really get the blood pumping, its a nice touch in the absence of a face melting solo. Vibrant leads then inject fresh adrenaline into “The Mistake” and while the vocals soar and the rhythms pummel, this one actually feels like a natural conclusion to a record. It lacks a certain something that’s hard to put your finger on, a little star dust to make it stand out from the others, which is interesting given the bluesy feel of “S21” which has another deep groove laden bass line. Building to a crescendo in hard hitting rhythmic power that circles the drain of being a breakdown before rising like an Eagle on the thermals into a bluesy solo, this final cut proper is utterly masterful as it takes us to sonic oblivion. Perhaps Progressive Stoner Sludge Doom is a more appropriate genre for this record, especially with the bands influence from Graveyard but what’s in a genre tag? [7/10]

Track Listing