Rockfreaks.net

Evergrey

Torn

Written by: CR on 19/12/2008 16:25:21

Swedish prog-metallers Evergrey released their newest album, "Torn", back in September and it became a success in most of Scandinavia especially in their home country. It also ventured on to secure a spot on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers peaking as number 40. Naturally the album also made it's way to Rockfreaks.net for a review. So let's get on with it.

I must admit that I have yet to find out why Evergrey is regarded so highly by that many people as I have always found them a little boring and not really that innovative compared to other big names on the prog scene. And I must say that "Torn" really doesn't change that opinion. Evergrey seem to have taken a long listen to Symphony X’s "Paradise Lost", which is a great record, and have apparently gotten more than just a little inspired by it. Particularly the title track, "Torn", seems like something taken out of Symphony X's latest album and I am sorry to say that the epic feel that was one of the great assets on "Paradise Lost" seems misplaced and a bit silly.

It's not all bad though and Evergrey do from time to time show that they can write a song that is worth a spin or two. "Fear" and "Fail" are good examples of this, and even though they do not excel in any way they are still quite listenable. "Fear" is mostly a good listen with a really nice intro and a good riff but it's drawn back by the chorus which is a bit to poppish for my taste, a weakness a lot of the 11 songs on the album suffer from. "Fail" also suffers from this but makes up for it by having a really good solo that everyone should try to give at least one listen.

The rest of the album is just average at best and it's not really worth highlighting anything in particular as most of the album starts to sound the same before you're halfway through with it. In general there are way too many songs that seem designed to wear down your skip button. If you're an Evergrey fan you might like the album but when I look at the grades I have given each song, only three out of eleven scores higher than 5½ with the highest being a 7½ which surely isn't enough to convince me. It might work for Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Backstreet Boys to have two maybe three good songs on an album, but you really need to do more than that to make me to buy your album.

For The Fans Of: Symphony X

Download: Fail, Fear
Listen: Myspace
Buy: iTunes

Release Date 22.09.2008
SPV