MMA Review Thread [Spoilers]

[Tomodo]

The MMA topics are beginning to go off topic and arguments are beginning to crop up.

The aim for this topic is to group together everyone's reviews of MMA - positive or negative. JUST a review - no critisising someone else's review, no arguments forming over people's opinions and no claiming that your opinion is the exact correct one and that everything else is wrong. Its pathetic and gets no one anywhere. If you want to fully discuss the album you can use the other existing topics. Feel free to critisise what i'm saying here cause really some text on a screen isn't going to be that much of a deal for me.
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So to start things off I have my review taken from one of the topics:

I can easily hear that this is not the same as past Evergrey albums, but that does not bother me and really i see it as a positive. It gives something new and different to hear from the band. If i want Evergrey as i knew them before this album i can listen to that - then if i want something different, but still Evergrey, i can listen to MMA. Personal favourites for me are 'Unspeakable', 'Still In The Water', 'Lost For Words' and 'Closure'.

This sorta reminds me of Train Of Thought. Dream Theater made the album very different to their past albums and got severely critisised for it. I find it to be one of their weakest albums but if i do ever listen to it i can still enjoy it like any other Dream Theater material. I think this will be the case for MMA. I will love it now, eventually move on to older Evergrey and then listen to MMA a little less often.

As for the negatives - i agree partially with people here. I agree its more commerical sounding. Some songs I find are a little too short. Monday Morning Apocalypse for example just seems to come and go too quickly - before you know it Unspeakble has started. A fair amount of the songs are great at first but interest can get lost in them so there is the odd occasion of skipping to the better songs. As for the sound - for me the keyboard seems fine, i see the point in thats its behind but i'm happy with the keyboards being there at least.

Not the best, but certianly not a bad album - 3 out of 5

Looking forward to seeing them in London

 

[DragonOfBlood]

Song by song review:


Monday Morning Apocalypse:
The opening track of the album. First thing we're greeted with is a riff that is slightly more inventive than anything from "The Inner Circle", but immediately the ears sense something is wrong. Where has Evergrey's signature guitar tone gone? Out the window apparently, along with the synth. 10 seconds into the song we have Tom's vocal with some sort of weird processing that does nothing but ruin the man's voice. We move into a catchy chorus that's perfect for radio, and clocking in at just over 3 minutes, it's the perfect radio ditty. An unfortunate sign of things to come.

Unspeakable:
A menacing intro that shows promise gives way to a gentle singing style that might be useful for putting my son to sleep. Some more unimaginative riffing breaks way to yet another friendly, catchy, chorus. At this point I began wondering "what the fuck has happened to the band?"

Lost:
I have no idea how to describe this one. The opening riffing evokes feelings of Linkin Park. I fully expected to hear Tom start rapping on this track. The clean guitar tone sounds like a midi. Awful.

Obedience:
This song is nothing short of irritating. It sounds like Evergrey trying to be Slipknot.

The Curtain Fall:
Five songs in and we get our first decent intro. This is the closest song to a true Evergrey cut on the entire album. It still clocks in as mediocre, but at least it's mediocre (almost) Evergrey.

In Remembrance:
More completely radio friendly fare.

At A Loss For Words:
Weird intro, but not weird in a good way. Weird as in "what the hell is going on, why the hell does the album sound so bad?" Actually, the intro is decent up until the vocals. After the horrid intro, some pretty decent riffing follows. It seems as though this song had potential to be an awesome Evergrey song, but falls significantly short of the mark.

Till Dagmar:
Does anyone know what "till dagmar" means in english? Anyways, this is the best track on the album. Evokes all kinds of awesome melancholic feelings that you expect to have when you pop in an Evergrey track. It's far too short and seems like it's over before it really begins. Haunting track. Awesome track. Too bad the amazingness of this song didn't spill over to some of the other piles that inhabit the disc.

Still in the Water:
EverKnot! More Slipknot meets Evergrey. The only thing I like about this song is the menacing "AHHHHH", brings back memories of the SDT atmosphere. More midi sounding guitar and unneccessary vocal processing. It's tracks like this that are guaranteed to attract mallcore idiots.

The Dark I Walk You Through:
Dumb. Just plain dumb. The tone seems like you're supposed to feel melancholic, instead you just feel tortured and want the fucking thing to be over. The lyrics are fucking retarded "HONEY, I'LL SEE YOU LATER!!!!" What's next? Emogrey?

I Should:
I should throw this nonsense into the garbage.

Closure:
Sounds like the band is trying to recapture the feelings of "Trilogy of the Damned". Too bad "Trilogy" is actually comprised of good material.

Summary:
The album is ruined by stupid vocal processing, nu-metal guitar tone, and a general feeling of straight up radio friendly commercialism. Gone is the dark prog, the tortured voice of Tom Englund, the awesome, unique guitar tone and the brilliant lyrics. The absolute worst album Evergrey has recorded. The decline that began with "The Inner Circle" continues with an even steeper descent. Although "The Inner Circle" put you to sleep, at least it sounded like Evergrey.

A very forgettable album that's seems to be over before it even began. For fanboys and mainstream idiots only.

1/5

 

[1Time]

Thats a harsh review, but unfortunately a lot of it is true. I could be considered an Eg "fanboy" and I do enjoy some of the songs, but these types of songs aren't the reason I listen to Evergrey. This will be the first Eg album I do not purchase.

 

[DragonOfBlood]

Heh, sometimes the truth hurts.

 

[noren]

I like this album a lot. TIC never really worked for me for some reason.
I think there are some fantastic moments on this one. "In Remembrance" and "Still in the water" must be among the best songs the band have recorded.. and there's not one single track that makes me press the skip button.

I'm not a musician myself so I might listen in a different way than some of you. I have read some people complain about how they miss keyboards, how they don't like processed vocals etc.. It's not often that I care about this kind of details as long as the overall impression is good. And in this case it is.

I still like SDT better cause I love the dark mood of it.. but I also love when bands are trying new things. Now I have both a dark album and a "sing a long" album by Evergrey. Always something to listen to depending on what mood I am in.

4/5

 

[Strahd]

Well I'm still patiently awaiting the official release so I can't comment on the songs but 'Till Dagmar' means 'To Dagmar'. A dedication to someone the band knows probably.

 

[Vansinnesvisor]

hmmm, imo this band really shows how the progressive metal should be, i mean, "Monday Morning Apocalypse" doesn't sound like a "Recreation Day" or "In Search Of Truth" or any of their albums rip-off, that's really appreciated (at least in my case), but now that you're going like "this album sucks, it doesn't sound like Evergrey". "In Search Of Truth" doesn't sound as "Solitude · Dominance · Tragedy" and "The Inner Circle" doesn't sound as "Recreation Day".
i'm saying this cuz that really show a PROGRESSION instead a REGRESSION as Dream Theater do, why am i saying this? cuz in every Dream Theater's album you'll hear the same thing (an "amazing" 12-minutes-long song, that is 2 or 3 songs putted in 1 to make those feelings) and with Evergrey that doesn't happen.
About the guitar tone: i think they are using 7-stringed guitar so you're making a mistake if you're waiting for that Inner Circle, In Search Of Truth or any of their albums' guitar tone cuz they won't do it, then you have to remind they switched guitars 4 years ago and if you hear carefully, you'll notice a light change between the guitar sound in "In Search Of Truth" and in "Recreation Day", now they needed to do that next step in Progressive Metal, they needed to change the guitar tone as Dream Theater did with "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" and it wasn't well accepted by their "fans", so as we can see, this is happening with Evergrey, i really think that Evergrey are doing with this new album and with this new guitar tone, something that Dream Theater has 7 years trying to do without getting good results.
The drumming: just remember that Patrick left them 2 years ago and the drumming in "Solitude · Dominance · Tragedy" (which is the second disc with Patrick behind the kit) is good but the drumming in "In Search Of Truth" is way better, so let's hope other Evergrey disc to star with the drumming criticizm/attack.
About the tortured voice of Tom, after 10 years his voice needed a change, the needed to do something else with his voice, that couldn't be always that dark.
Then an idea comes to my mind, try, and really TRY to compare each Evergrey album with other Evergrey album, it's kinda impossible cuz every album has something that makes it special and not just "another Evergrey album" then something else jumps to my mind, the songs clocks well, why did they wanna make the songs longer if you're "getting bored" with this songs? just to make sure you forward a song? BTW, remember they are looking for a new label so they couldn't make it a "hard to understand" album cuz if they'd do it like that, they'd won't get a label and what does that mean? no more Evergrey albums, tours or anything like that.

IMO, this album, as i said before, shows a progression of the band as that and it just shows other face of what Evergrey can be and not only that "dark progressive" metal band out there, those are MY 2 cents, take them or leave them.

 

[MainelyGrey]

I totally agree. I personally am glad not to have Dark Discovery part 6. I appreciate the PRO-gression of the band. Tom has made it very clear that he does not want to be categorized as any specific type of band so he can have the freedom to try other things. A band changes and matures, sometimes to the displeasure of a fan. To my ears I hear more of the 80's influence in this album and see that in the structure they build a song around, traditional intro/verse/chorus,etc.... Many have called it radio friendly.......Well they do need to make money, this is how they feed their families.....because so far everyone complaining about MMA is doing so from a STOLEN download!!! Why should we bitch if we didn't pay a dime for it.......Did I download it....Yup, had to hear how bad it was for myself. However I had pre-ordered it the second day of availability. I wanted to see if I had wasted my $30. Nope!!!!! I love it. From the first riff.....IT IS EVERGREY!!!

 

[Saxiquine]

Song by song review:


Till Dagmar:
Does anyone know what "till dagmar" means in english? Anyways, this is the best track on the album. Evokes all kinds of awesome melancholic feelings that you expect to have when you pop in an Evergrey track. It's far too short and seems like it's over before it really begins. Haunting track. Awesome track. Too bad the amazingness of this song didn't spill over to some of the other piles that inhabit the disc.

Till Dagmar means To Dagmar.
And I believe I read somewhere that this piece was written by Rikard?
Maybe it's his way to celebrate somone close to him that passed away. This is my guess anyway.

 

[DragonOfBlood]

Till Dagmar means To Dagmar.
And I believe I read somewhere that this piece was written by Rikard?
Maybe it's his way to celebrate somone close to him that passed away. This is my guess anyway.

Ah, cool.

Very good song.

 

[ikoz]

MONDAY MORNING APOCALYPSE

i have just heard it for the first time & all i can say is this album is :

another strong musical mental experience from the grey masters
this is definatly evergrey in the sense i know & like.
great stuff,emotional lyrics,beautiful composing.
interesting sound effects & powerfull guitar riffs.
ABOVE ALL - tom's vocals are purely amazing !!!!!!
as for disappointing points - well the album is a little short...songs & solos as a whole are too short & i would love to hear Karina's vocals more often but still it is a great musical journey.

THE BEST EMOTIONAL MOMENT OF THE ALBUM IS THE FINAL TRACK CLOSURE.
AS ALWAYS TOM'S VOCALS MAKE ME CRY.....
it is so powerful & yet fragile at the same time.....so sad....& sombering.
i am purely addicted to his voice which fills my heart with so much energy.

once again i must value the mere fact that evergrey's music for me is not to be taken for granted.thanks guys for sharing your amazing talent with us & hope to see you on the road out there..



ikoz.

 

[Black Rain]

Its pathetic and gets no one nowhere.

Double negative buddy, you're saying everyone gets somewhere? Correct that.


On a further note, The album is listenable I guess.....It's not the evergrey I want, The progressive elements are completely gone making the music boring after a couple of listens. The commercial elements are extremely apparent and it couldn't have been on accident. The promotion pictures and the album cover? There's absoultely no excuse for that. That 6,66 thing on the Mug shot scale is ridiculous and tackey. The structure of the songs and everything, very commercial. The keyboards are way low in the mix. I'm just hoping this is from a bad version. If the Mastered CD has this problem then I don't know what to say. The only thing that holds MMA up is the keys that you can bareley hear and tom's voice naturally being awesome. I've heard evergrey mentioning doing the honerable thing and buying the disc if you downloaded it leaked. Well guess what, I preordered it so there you got your wish. Now do the honerable thing for us, don't sell out completely next album. Please.

Review on MMA 3/5 (This is an average score. As far as evergrey scale goes I'd give it a 2/5 because they're MUCH more capable of much better than this.) because the music is decent. It's the disapeerance of Prog elements and darkness and the EVERGREY GUITAR TONE we all love that is missing and the commercial elements are kinda junky. We all know evergrey is much more capable of doing better than this and you guys are my favorite band so don't let us down.

Disclaimer - My review score may change with the mastered CD so stay tuned.

 

[karelrulez]

The mix sounds finished to me anyway, keyboards low or not.

I'm liking this album more and more, I've come to the point where I'm not disappointed anymore. The heavy riffs are groovy at times, which I like, and the vocals are very emotional, and great. The production sounds fine, but The Inner Circle had more dynamic range, that album's sound was really sparkling.

Most of the songs are very strong I think, Evergrey know how to craft great songs. What I miss are the odd time signatures here and there, the little intricate riffs and leads all over the place: that, among other things made Recreation Day awesome. The Inner Circle sounded very epic, that's not always the case with this album.

They just stripped their sound to the basics, and from there made it a little bit heavier and.. changed their guitar tone in the process. I prefer the old tone but it's nice to hear some change.

75/100

Ofcourse, they are capable of much more. But the album itself is GOOD.

 

[In a State of Paralysis]

My friend and I argued over the production last night for almost an hour. Despite being trashed we referenced dozens of bands pretty intelligently. I say the production will not change one bit when the real album comes out, he says it will. I hope he's right as that'll make the album considerably more enjoyable for me but I doubt he is. My only hope is that after the real fan reaction Evergrey will pull a Nevermore and redo the mix...dammit Tom I can't believe you would let this sound happen to your band.

 

[NeonKnite]

The mix sounds finished to me anyway, keyboards low or not.

I'm liking this album more and more, I've come to the point where I'm not disappointed anymore. The heavy riffs are groovy at times, which I like, and the vocals are very emotional, and great. The production sounds fine, but The Inner Circle had more dynamic range, that album's sound was really sparkling.

Most of the songs are very strong I think, Evergrey know how to craft great songs. What I miss are the odd time signatures here and there, the little intricate riffs and leads all over the place: that, among other things made Recreation Day awesome. The Inner Circle sounded very epic, that's not always the case with this album.

They just stripped their sound to the basics, and from there made it a little bit heavier and.. changed their guitar tone in the process. I prefer the old tone but it's nice to hear some change.

75/100

Ofcourse, they are capable of much more. But the album itself is GOOD.

I think this review is pretty much spot on... I'd rate it a 90, though.

 

[Black Rain]

90? Come on man...Have you heard their previous albums?

 

[NeonKnite]

90? Come on man...Have you heard their previous albums?

Yes, I own all of them:

RD is a 100.

TIC a 93.

ISOT an 85 (although the first 3 tracks are pure brilliance)

The first two albums don't do much for me other than a few songs.

 

[jaimek]

Till Dagmar means To Dagmar.
And I believe I read somewhere that this piece was written by Rikard?
Maybe it's his way to celebrate somone close to him that passed away. This is my guess anyway.

Without the lyrics, it's hard for me to say for sure, but it sounds like this might be the overall theme to the entire album: like there's a lot of frustration and anger over watching a friend destroy himself, and this track is the sorrow that happens when the worst has come and gone.

 

[Valentine]

Well,the first thing that hit me,listening to it the first time,was thta EG has tried something new.I was so excited when i first heard it,I headbanged when "Obedience" came on

"Lost" really shows that they are trying to get bigger,as it is cathy in a very "poppy" way....
but this is a NEW and FRESH EG album,its not BAD,musically.

I really love "Closure" as its one of the most beatiful songs I've heard in my entire life,and "I should" has the progression that reminds me of "your darkest hour"

I really love the thaught of "Till Dagmar" being the soul of the albums concept,like Jaimek wrote

I think of the album like:" the previous albums are how they are,and this one is how it is" Its a good album,and its really growing on me

Though I really understand the dissapointment around it,but thats what you get for having high hopes,and expectations...but who doesn't except a lot from EG,as they've produced nothing but brilliance so far

All in all,I love the album,and I still think of Evergrey as a I did before...as masters of music,with soul and atmosphere<3

stay grey for ever!

 

[ProgMetalFan]

"Lost" really shows that they are trying to get bigger,as it is cathy in a very "poppy" way....
but this is a NEW and FRESH EG album,its not BAD,musically.

oooh... I can't wait to hear "Lost"!