### Evergrey: Torn

#### 15/09/08 || The Duff

If you are unfamiliar with Evergrey, they are a Swedish prog metal band that writes dark-ish, depressing music that has its main appeal in occasional, well-played lead guitars, chug riffs and the band’s most important component, catchy, very emotive vocals courtesy of Tom S. Englund; they are also in the habit of writing concept albums, past themes including cult-following, child abuse and vampires combined with common-running themes like solitude, loss and biatches who have done poor old Tom harm in the past. Their last album wasn’t very well received (by myself included), as it was a watered down version of what fans had come to expect from the band – this album is said to be a return to form by the frontman, and well, hopes should be high because these guys are talented enough to reel themselves in and recapture the magic of old.

Now, as to the band’s evolution, I reckon Evergrey have gradually become less guitar-centred over the years since its first two albums, but become a lot more keyboard/atmosphere savvy, resulting in a drastic reduction in cheese and an upping of the dark atmosphere that makes the band great and also allowing Tom S. Englund to become a lot more vocally creative as well as the most important musical force to the band’s music. With “Torn”, all the band’s past albums are to be found culminated to form one piece; this unfortunately includes the tacky emotion as experienced on “Solitude. Dominance. Tragedy.” and the real dull, sparse musicianship of “Monday morning apocalypse”, but thankfully also entails the grandness of past concept albums, the diversity of “Recreation day” and the expected depressing tone, possibly some of Evergrey’s darkest music to date.

So yeah, the cheese; sometimes Englund doesn’t sound as down and out as he should, a first I reckon since the one about vampires (after that, a cheesy chorus would always be salvaged at the last second). Take for example “Broken wings” – the opening to the song, sappy keyboards aside, is very clichéd, and probably downright unnecessary; the chorus, although not bad (especially if you’re a prog fan), doesn’t seem to associate well with the rest of the album – it’s all too upbeat, despite the lyrical content and Englund’s faintly strained, very passionate delivery. Another complaint is the dumbed down moments as with the first two tracks; the meat of most of the songs is all fine, but when writing a bridge, the band seems creatively burnt out. Occasionally, the main, opening riffs suffer the same, but it’s very easy to disregard such a thing as the vocals kick in and you’re reminded this band has never been a particularly gifted guitar band; some riffs have been recycled by many before appearing on this album, while others are fresh enough to retain the progressive tag.

The pluses definitely bring this album up to level their classic period, for me “In search of truth”, “Recreation day” and even “The inner circle”; when these guys get dark, they really work unlike any other prog metal band. The leads are incredible on “Torn”, vastly improved from anything the band has done in the past, and completing the song in many cases. I think Evergrey, although showing a steady decline in the songwriting since “In search of truth”, have gradually gotten better at making all the elements that make their sound merge as one with every successive album – as mentioned, this album is varied like “Recreation day”, but appears less disjointed, with the continuity as expressed on ““The inner circle”” (a peak in terms of writing a well-flowing concept album for the band).

“Torn” is also the heaviest Evergrey album I’ve heard, with every track having the gain turned up to eleven at least for half its duration; nothing like “Waking up blind” (off ““The inner circle””) or “Madness caught another victim” (off “Recreation day”), which weren’t bad tracks at all, but my preference lies with the band rocking out full-throttle. Finally (saving the best ‘til last), Englund sounds in top form; trying to pick his most accomplished performance from the last three records (omitting “Monday morning apocalypse”, as for starters I’m not well accustomed with it) is a tough task indeed, but suffice to say that some of the vocal lines on “Torn” are truly mesmerizing (matching his past works), so moving that you forget your shedding tears for another man’s lonesomeness when in fact you should be giving in to your caveman urges and boning the woman he laments over, biatch or not.

Old fans aren’t to be disappointed, and this band has been so consistent since “In search of truth” (“Monday morning apocalypse” exempt) that anyone wanting to become acquainted with their music should check any one of the four albums released since 2001.

8 pleasant returns-to-form out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: InsideOut Music
- Website: www.evergrey.net
- Band
- Tom S. Englund: vocals, guitars
- Jari Kainulainen: bass
- Jonas Ekdahl: drums
- Henrik Danhage: guitars
- Rickard Zander: keyboards

- Tracklist
- 01. Broken wings
- 02. Soaked
- 03. Fear
- 04. When kingdoms fall
- 05. In confidence
- 06. Fail
- 07. Numb
- 08. Torn
- 09. Nothing is erased
- 10. Still walk alone
- 11. These scars