Evergrey have been rocking the Swedish power metal scene since 1995, releasing a previous 7 full length albums, a live album, 3 singles and a DVD. Everygrey are currently booked to support Kamelot on their upcoming European tour, and with ‘Glorious Collusion’ just released it’s a perfect time to show off their new stuff!
The first track on the new album is ‘Leave it Behind Us’ which starts with a very calm and church-vocal-like intro which sooths your mind but then blasts in with some brutal drumming which ruins your ear drums (maybe I had the headphones on a bit loud). Quite a cracking intro track! The vocals on this are stupidly impressive, melodic and not too wailing and in your face. I absolutely love this whole track, the keyboard effects are just amazing and create a great atmosphere. ‘You’ is slightly darker and shows off the vocalist Tom S Englund ability even more. The messed up/crazy guitar solo is quite superb too!
Skipping on to ‘Frozen’ I felt this deserved a mention due to the ideal windmilling beat, which changes to a relaxing steady beat with vocals and keyboards along side, entwining perfectly creating a flawless track. ‘Restoring the Loss’ again, perfect keyboard work, which plays a big part in the bands fame (my personal opinion) vocals and backing perfect and the guitar solos just get better.
‘To Fit The Mold’ has a beautiful acoustic guitar intro and sing along part, which 30 seconds later gets into a heavier beat and is a great song to raise your beers and chant to. The lyrics are quite moving and this track definitely brings something fresh to the heavy metal table. Mixing almost electronic dance parts (ok we’re not talking chavvy dance here) with metal.... and it works amazingly!
A couple of other tracks which were on my top list (otherwise I’d be going on forever) are; ‘The Phantom Letters’ which almost reminded me of a cheesy boyband with the melodic romantic feel, but luckily I was mistaken. The soppy intro turned into a heavier and angry lyrics which told a story of death and heaven, with a cracking 80s style guitar solo.
‘It Comes From Within’ got my head banging with the catchy drum beat and bass pounding in my ears. I feel like I’m repeating myself about the solos but they really are that good. I can’t stress how much I adored this album, and admittedly I’ve never heard anything by Evergrey before. But I am now a huge fan and currently looking to buy their back catalogue. I suggest any melodic metal fan should check these out!
http://www.evergrey.net/
