Released By SPV/Steamhammer
Release Date: February 22nd, 2011
Genre: Progressive Metal
Links: http://www.evergrey.net/
Links: http://www.myspace.com/officialevergrey
Line Up:
Tom S. Englund – vocals, guitar
Rikard Zander – keyboard, backing vocals
Marcus Jidell – guitar
Johan Niemann – bass
Hannes Van Dahl – drums
Tracklist:
1. Leave It Behind Us
2. You
3. Wrong
4. Frozen
5. Restoring The Loss
6. To Fit The Mold
7. Out Of Reach
8. The Phantom Letters
9. The Disease …
10. It Comes From Within
11. Free
12. I’m Drowning Alone
13. … And The Distance
When I found out that one of the my most beloved bands in metal in the last 6 years had experienced some inner turmoil and some of it’s members had decided to split, well my hopes for another classic Evergrey record went out the window. Lead Vocalist Tom Englund has been quoted as saying “The most recent EVERGREY line-up had reached a point where we no longer had fun as a group,” he confesses, adding: “So we went our separate ways to save our friendship. There were no angry words, and we’re still friends privately.” Needless to say disrupting the band’s chemistry wasn’t something that can help any band, but the show must go on.
Now Evergrey returns with a new lineup except for the band’s longtime keyboard player Rikard Zander. The band has always had a distinct sound molding it’s blend of dark progressive metal with emotional stuff and plenty of hooks and symphonic arrangements to go along with it. The band’s sound while unique had always had influences of early Kamelot, Stratovarius plus it’s customary progressive elements.
At one point I had ranked Evergrey up there with Kamelot in terms of consistency when it came to album releases, the one difference now is that Kamelot has evolved into their own style of “dark arts” progressive metal as opposed to Evergrey still keeping the sound they broke out on their strongest album “Recreation Day”. Yes the debate still rages to this day, some fans don’t like the lack of original sounding material, I for one was just excited to get my hands on the promo copy and listen to a band that I long consider one of the best in the genre.
Right off the bat a firestorm of thrash metal assault riff-age comes your way in the opening number “Leave It Behind” which sounds like your typical Grey track, thoughts of “The Inner Circle come to mind on this one. Plus I can’t help but relate the “changes” theme to the inner demons the band experienced the last year or so. The ever long groove in “Wrong” sends a direct spine shank feeling my neck as Englund charismatic vocals take control here, as well as the excellent guitar work. I can see “Out Of Reach” as a single with it’s nice catchy chorus leaving a memorable trace. Finally we get a nice power ballad in “The Phantom Letters” which then plunges into infinity with another stronghold power riff, but none the less a nice track that stands as one of the highlights at its core. The last song “… And The Distance” closes in fine fashion as Tom’s wife Carina who has lend her guest vocals on past albums, provides a touching duet spot.
One of my biggest beefs with the band’s past albums was the lack of varied material, shift rhythms and over the wall choruses that made some of their earlier stuff some memorable. While the musicianship is always of high level there’s only so much of the same material you can digest after a while. But thankfully on TGC they have regrouped somewhat and regardless if some of the songs have been written before the new members joined the band, I can still hear some new influences in the guitar work and little pieces here and there in the slower moments that are soothing to my ear.
Make no mistake about it this record comes from Evergrey to Evergrey fans. And no need to tread here as the new members hold their own on each track, especially Van Dahl on drums. To the loyal fan I can’t see a reason why they shouldn’t pick this one up as it still them at it’s roots. For any fans I still advice to check out “Recreation Day”, “The Inner Circle” and “In Search Of Truth” to get to know the band’s style first. Is a welcome return to shape for the guys as they manage to stay alive and kicking with a good bulk of their past line up gone now. With a new record deal in place with SPV and news that they will reissue their back catalog material, there has be some excitement back in their camp. Let’s hope they can take there music on the road here in the USA. Recommended!!!
Written by Denys
Ratings Denys 8/10
For anyone wondering about hearing some sample tracks off “The Glorious Collision”, we usually have an amazon widget with samples but since it’s too ahead of it’s release date, we invite you to check out this site for album song samples.
Audio samples from the entire album can be heard at this location.
Original Source by Bravewords.com
About Author
