Yes, I dug this one out from the depths!
I came up to post on the subject and remembered this.
Anyhow...
I have had the album for a couple of weeks now and at first listen, it doesn't hit you. Just the past week, in fact, in the past few days this album has officially begun to kick my ass!! It is f**king heavy as shit, cool hooky choruses (but then again EG is known for that), and some great guitar work. Upon first listen, it sounded way different, but the more I listen the more it comes shining through as Evergrey! Tom's voice is a signature and helps to keep their identity.
I would agree that there is an overall "simplification" of riffs, but there are still some amazing riffage going on. It does sound like they tuned down, went to 7 strings, or went to baritone guitars. If people playing heavy grinding riffs on a detuned guitar automatically counts it for nu metal, then I guess we can call Evergrey, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Tad Morose, etc... all the best nu metal bands out there. One way that EG greatly differentiates itself from so called nu metal is there are no shortage of solos!
Bottom line, is that it is still a great album! Get it, crank it up, and enjoy it!!!