Evergrey
The Storm Within
AFM Records
2016
Evergrey has at this point been going on and “The Storm Within” marks their tenth effort… their dark, emotional prog driven music has been honed through the years as well as lost a bit of the edge, for better or worse, they have matured and graduated from a typical band to almost genre “heroes”, which goes to show that persistence pays its dividends.
Fairly good, but not entirely representative of the entire album, lead single “Distance” begins with some soft piano and proceeds to get very heavy only to wither during it’s more melodic portions, ie (chorus and solo). The children choir at the end is also an interesting touch.
“Passing Trough” is quite more modern as it has additional layers of production and keys that create a parallel moving “beat” conscious groove that gives it an interesting air and obviously it’s got a nice chorus… it’s actually refreshing to see the band trying to sound at least a bit perceivably “faster”. The lyrics are also quite poetic, about isolation etc… in a way that’s slightly bizarre.
“Someday” tries to mix things a bit and this time, there’s a chanted “hey” that tries to shuffle the deck, which sort of works, but it’s the keys that seem to do most of the work, despite some nice guitar leads also being prominent.
On “Astray” the sameness of the style becomes quite apparent. As much as Tom Englund has perfected what he does and no matter how well he does it or he orchestrates it, his style is pretty basic and consists of two or three different sub styles and while they are all pretty suitable for melancholic songs, the keys on this one sound a little too “happy” and bright and it just doesn’t work as well as it does elsewhere…
“The Impossible” a piano based “quasi-ballad” on one hand proves the above point and reinforces it, but on the other is sort of nice, because of the “nakedness” and “emotion”… it’s just that the band/Tom play that card far too often these days… I mean I get it, it’s in the DNA to do this, but that’s also a reason why I like the earlier works, which tended to do this, but were also more “variable” and aggressive.
As if someone was reading my mind, “My Allied Ocean” is actually one of the more aggressive songs the band has done in a while and absolutely pleasurable for what it is.
“In Orbit” features one Floor Jansen (Nightwish, Revamp, After Forever) and has the uneasy task of bringing you down from the previous songs “high”. It manages to do so, with a disciplined tempo and largely due to Jansen’s beautiful vocals that really push Englund to the edge tonally, which sounds less than ideal as a match, but it’s still a good song.
“The Lonely Monarch” is another cool song, with more guitars, than you’d usually expect, at least not as prominently featured. Also while it’s not “all that different”, its mood and atmosphere still makes it stand out in a good way.
“The Paradox of the Flame” is a duet between Tom and his wife Carina that has been singing backup in a lot of past albums and tours. They harmonize nicely together in this piano laden theatrical ballad that hits a nice orchestral crescendo, before it fades away…
“Disconnect” begins with such bombast that had me double-checking if this was still the same album but soon falls into familiar territory. Floor Jansen again guests, this time doing high-harmonies and sort of repeats the agrro part a second time (thankfully not a third) before it launches in some neat extended soloing. At least here the band doesn’t rely on atmosphere alone, but tries to mix up things and experiment.
Lastly, “The Storm Within” being the title track is a nice track with an orchestral feel and “that” underlying melancholy, even mixing in some electronica low in the mix, but to great effect. A nice way to close the album.
All things considered “The Storm Within” is a fairly good album in the style that has made Evergrey what they are today that will not disappoint longtime fans, but is unlikely to earn them any new.
Fairly good, but not entirely representative of the entire album, lead single “Distance” begins with some soft piano and proceeds to get very heavy only to wither during it’s more melodic portions, ie (chorus and solo). The children choir at the end is also an interesting touch.
“Passing Trough” is quite more modern as it has additional layers of production and keys that create a parallel moving “beat” conscious groove that gives it an interesting air and obviously it’s got a nice chorus… it’s actually refreshing to see the band trying to sound at least a bit perceivably “faster”. The lyrics are also quite poetic, about isolation etc… in a way that’s slightly bizarre.
“Someday” tries to mix things a bit and this time, there’s a chanted “hey” that tries to shuffle the deck, which sort of works, but it’s the keys that seem to do most of the work, despite some nice guitar leads also being prominent.
On “Astray” the sameness of the style becomes quite apparent. As much as Tom Englund has perfected what he does and no matter how well he does it or he orchestrates it, his style is pretty basic and consists of two or three different sub styles and while they are all pretty suitable for melancholic songs, the keys on this one sound a little too “happy” and bright and it just doesn’t work as well as it does elsewhere…
“The Impossible” a piano based “quasi-ballad” on one hand proves the above point and reinforces it, but on the other is sort of nice, because of the “nakedness” and “emotion”… it’s just that the band/Tom play that card far too often these days… I mean I get it, it’s in the DNA to do this, but that’s also a reason why I like the earlier works, which tended to do this, but were also more “variable” and aggressive.
As if someone was reading my mind, “My Allied Ocean” is actually one of the more aggressive songs the band has done in a while and absolutely pleasurable for what it is.
“In Orbit” features one Floor Jansen (Nightwish, Revamp, After Forever) and has the uneasy task of bringing you down from the previous songs “high”. It manages to do so, with a disciplined tempo and largely due to Jansen’s beautiful vocals that really push Englund to the edge tonally, which sounds less than ideal as a match, but it’s still a good song.
“The Lonely Monarch” is another cool song, with more guitars, than you’d usually expect, at least not as prominently featured. Also while it’s not “all that different”, its mood and atmosphere still makes it stand out in a good way.
“The Paradox of the Flame” is a duet between Tom and his wife Carina that has been singing backup in a lot of past albums and tours. They harmonize nicely together in this piano laden theatrical ballad that hits a nice orchestral crescendo, before it fades away…
“Disconnect” begins with such bombast that had me double-checking if this was still the same album but soon falls into familiar territory. Floor Jansen again guests, this time doing high-harmonies and sort of repeats the agrro part a second time (thankfully not a third) before it launches in some neat extended soloing. At least here the band doesn’t rely on atmosphere alone, but tries to mix up things and experiment.
Lastly, “The Storm Within” being the title track is a nice track with an orchestral feel and “that” underlying melancholy, even mixing in some electronica low in the mix, but to great effect. A nice way to close the album.
All things considered “The Storm Within” is a fairly good album in the style that has made Evergrey what they are today that will not disappoint longtime fans, but is unlikely to earn them any new.