Evergrey's got some catching up to do

slaesh

Member
Aug 5, 2003
477
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sweden
I remember when I bought ISOT from this fairly underground swedish metal band, it absolutely blew me away and is in my opinion one of the greatest albums of all time.
I remember when RD came out, though i did'nt like the progression they were doing I still understood the urge for more guitarheavy songs. I was proud when I saw my favourite band's video for "im sorry" on the TV. I was overjoyed when I heard they were going to open for Ozzy.. Though that never happened.
I remember when TIC was released and how tense I was before I heard the album, and how relieved and utterly musically satisfied when I completed my first listen and thanked god that Evergrey progressed with their progressive interesting instrumental approach type of songs! They toured the world as a support act, they were invited to play in the swedish national TV and i remember getting up early to whatch them play waking up blind for the whole nation! Things were opening up for my favourite band.
I remember how full of expactations I was before MMA came out, thinking that if they stick to their guns, dont fall into the verse,chorus,verse,chorus,bridge,solo,chorus,end circle, they havejust the right amount of originality, still easy for non metal heads to listen to, to be able to truely break and become what they are supposed to be. The "next metallica" as in the new leaders of metal music.
I remember trying to force myself to like something more than the solos on MMA, but the magic of evergrey dies for me when the arrangements gets dull and streamlined..
I remember when the website was being updated frequently, when the messageboard was full of posts and everybody on here was holding their breath for evergrey's next move..
Now where is everyone? I dont see anyone claiming they sold out, but this band really lost something, or as I believe, intentionally dropped somthing that meant a whole lot for their whole sound as a band..
I remember reading interviews and seeing answers such as "the market", "we are selling a product", "people say we sold out with 'im sorry', but whos still on their 9 to 5 jobs?"..
where did the art go?
 
Yeah i agree with everything you said
ISOT - AMAZING
RD - not what i expected but still great
TIC - Really interesting album, a real grower....
MMA - Complete utter shit

: )
 
That's unfortunately true..

I'm sad to say it; I have 3 songs that i like on MMA, while all the other albums have only awesome tracks!

Right now I'm listening to the first cd on ANTR and watching pics from that gig.
Damn, I miss that moment while standing just below stage and watching my favourite band play my favourite songs..
 
Hate to be the party pooper but I love MMA and really don't understand the opposition to it.

Also don't you think that writing a band off simply because you don't like one of their albums is a bit lame?
 
I agree with you about the albums.

The Dark Discovery was of course not very good but it showed potential. I think they really came into their own with S-D-T. Then they became one of the greatest bands in the world with ISOT. RD was fine. TIC was great as well. I think one of the main detractors from MMA was a concept. The story that connects all of it together. There was no story or theme. Although the actual songs one by one from MMA are not bad. They sound like really really good radio music-but that is about it. However, we cannot expect them to produce the same ISOT every album. They are growing-maybe not the way we want them to-but we jsut have to hope they "progress" a different way-but I will say that I support Evergrey one hundred percent because I know what they are capable of. Another thing I think has happened with MMA is the rise to the forefront the vocals-over the instruments. Which is almost always a bad sign. I also miss Patrick Carlsson. When he left a huge part of Evergrey left with him. The drum parts since RD have been lackluster in my opinion. Anyways, rock on Evergrey! I am ready for the new album.
 
I think MMA is a great album, I think the songs are great and they not have worked out as good if they had all the advanced arrangments?
Also for MMA they had producers that helped them work with the songs, if I remeber correctly. And my guess is that they leardned much from it and maybe needed it to evolve as a band & songwriters.

There are so much more to the songs than just crazy arrangments.
 
henrik once said in an interview "to bad it did'nt sell that much" about MMA.. It's not a complete crap album, but it definitely ain't up to par with their previous efforts. according to me it's like a heavier nickelback which is why i did'nt buy the album, cause it just ain't my type of music..
sorry if my post offended you but i had to write something since i've noticed the interest for evergrey nowadays compared to RD, TIC days barely exists at all. This to me is an effect from that their last album was a average rock album and not a groundbreaking masterpiece which basically is what has been expected from evergrey since they always had such an high standard for themselves..
however it is normal for a band to not be able to hold their high set standards forever, i just think it's very uncommon for quality to drop so drastically, and unneccesary..
i still think that this was a conscious try to break through and it sucks cause i know they would break thrrough if they'd stick to their guns..
if this is what they wanna do, fine. i'll leave evergrey for others to like.
 
i agree pretty much with the first post about how the forum and the official home page has "died"... Even though Fredrik only was a member for a short time, when a member leaves a band the official homepage SHOULD be the first place to come with an announcment! EG is in studio and we have not heard a single shit. if there are interwievs containing info about that it should come up as news on the page. I personally am sick and tired of the MMA discussion. it has been discussed in 100000000000 posts and it is simply not much more to say. i am very excited about the new album but dont know what to excpect. Who does the bass duties while playing live shows nowadays? info on the web site.
 
I agree with all of you about the update case of web site. Why is still the last new about Romania concert???

Whereas I must say I really liked MMA. Because Evergrey did provide me at least with one thing I expected the most: Tom's vocals. He sings perfectly. And also the songs are heavy (not hardcore, as some people in my country claim) I headbang with joy to a more simple music with the same (and even better) quality of vocals. The songs still contain emotions... It's just more rock'n roll than the others. These guys are alcohol-maniacs. It's very normal that they play simple, headbang-oriented songs. It doesn't bother me at all. Groove is good...


People can expect different things. They may want Evergrey to be a Dream Theater, or sth like it. So, for them, MMA can even become a nightmare. Because, the music of MMA is not rational as it used to be before. No original arrangements; that's true. That's what people expected. However, I didn't expect progresiveness. Let it be done by other billions of bands.
 
I do admit the lack of official updates on the website is frustrating. They have been touring and are probably still trying to figure out what they are going to do at bass. I'm sure they'll post something when they are ready. Are there other bands that interact online with their fans more? Sure. Has Evergrey *ever* been a band to come here and post daily updates? No... at least not in the time I've been visiting. Therefore, even though I may wish for more updates, it's not something that I should rationally expect based on historical evidence. However, go to one of their shows and find out just how much they interact with their fans IN PERSON. Given the choice, I'd prefer to drink a beer with Henrik rather than to see him post some blurb that he changed his guitar strings on Tuesday.

I have to agree with Kuksug! in that I am also tired of the ongoing bitching about MMA. Part of the reason I don't post a lot is because of the continued negativity that is expressed here. (Although it's still the only topic that is even getting posted about, so one could argue that it's actually keeping the forum alive! HA!)

Now, personally I like MMA. Yes, it's different and a departure from the other albums, but it's still Evergrey to me. Tom could sing the phone book and I would probably still enjoy it as long as he still conveys the emotion of the song - similar to what MercifulFriedman said above. The MMA songs come across excellent in a live setting as well. They blend in nicely with the older material - it's not like one minute you're hearing Marked by the Triangle and then they switch to Britney Spears and then to Masterplan for crying out loud.

They obviously took a shot to have massive commercial success with an album full of shorter "radio friendly" songs and brought in outside producers with resumes containing work done with pop stars. Unfortunately that level of success will never come without massive support from the record label, radio and to a lesser extent MTV/VH1/(insert music video channel here.) I never saw the MMA video on HBB after it was released (and that is where I first saw Blinded, so MTV2 definitely knows who the band is) and without getting some exposure like that or hooking up on a giant worldwide tour made it near impossible for the boys to succeed with MMA. For example, look at how Dragonforce exploded out of nowhere after being on Ozzfest, and IMO they aren't even in the same universe as Evergrey when it comes to talent... not even close.

Anyway, as a fan you're entitled to your opinion if you don't like an album. You have (hopefully) paid good money to support them in years past. The only thing that I know for certain is that when the band gets around to releasing the next album it will definitely be Evergrey. Will it be an Evergrey album you enjoy? Maybe... Maybe not. I'll be one of the first to find out though when I buy it - and yes, even if it is Tom singing the phone book. :)
 
exactly, they wont have that success without massive support from a record label.. but however, when a band is doing something unique with their songs, not only with toms vocals and melodies, they open the ears on alot of people and gradually grow bigger, look at dream theater, iron maiden.. it will take alot of time but i does work and it is the only true way, i'm sure if MMA had been a logical continuation of TIC and they would have switched record labels, things would look different for evergrey.. now it was a backlash.

i agree about the dissing of MMA getting on my nerves to, haven't written on single comment on these boards since that album so I ain't guilty.. I never minded the sound of the album.. except for the effects on the vocals, love the guitarplaying, my biggest concern with the album is th arrangements of the parts being very standard. it just doesnt take me places as very few records ever do, but evergrey surely has done.
 
I agree with you thorn about the thing that id rather drink beers with the band than have them posting here. And the EG guys are incredible with meeting up and talking to the fans at shows. But it is really not to much to expect that the band comes with a statement when their bass player leaves. The last months they have been to the studio writing songs. some single shows here and there, but no heavy touring. And their contract with inside out was over after MMA. So generally news about what is going on is what i miss on the official homepage. There should be loads of things to update.
 
yeah
TDD great
SDT amazing
IST amazing
RD great
TIC ok
AMM i cried = not pleased
really looking forward the new album and longing for EG to make some mind blowing music.. again..
 
Monday Morning Apocalypse is my least favorite Evergrey album, however, I think it's still a pretty good album. Yeah it's not In Search of Truth, The Inner Circle, or Recreation Day, but it's still fucking good. I like it and I still listen to it to this day.
 
Unfortunatley, I agree with you. MMA was a total dissapointment to me I must say. I started to listen to them when they released RD. I can still remember the day when I got home from school and puted on As I Lie Here Bleeding. Was long time ago I feel so good. TIC is also a really awsome album, with both agressive, progressive and meallow songs. Wich makes the album really good. But when it came to MMA, just the name was kinda weird, and also the cover. But Evergrey has always changed from album to album, so I didn't wanna make a rash decision. And when I finally got the cd home (signed of cours;) ) I put on the first track. I was alittle dissapointed, but still it's was an ok song, and better it got, when Unspeakable came on. My favorite song from MMA. After that when In Rememberance came on, I turned the CD of... I was really dissapointed. Not at all what I had expected, and Im thinking the new album will be in this direction aswell. As they posted an update where it stood: "This album is HEAVY". Wich MMA also is. But I'll keep my head up and wish for the best, I'll never stop listening to them whatever happens.