Its been awhile since a cd has not left my player for weeks, in heavy rotation. Its also been awhile since Evergrey has released anything new. Coincidence perhaps?
When I heard that we , as gold badge holders at ProgPowerUSA, were going to have an Evergrey cd listening party I was excited. I didn't know what to expect, but knowing Glenn Harveston, knew it would be something fun and an addition to the greatness that is ProgPowerUSA. When we got into the building and found our seats it was time to hear "Hymns For The Broken" for the 1st time. Being inside of a venue for live music I knew the sound quality was going to be lacking, so I resisted commenting until I had the chance to dig into the cd a bit.
Now that I've listened to this cd 7 or 8 times I feel I can review this.
"The Awakening"- A oddly eerie spoken word intro leads us into Hymns, and leads directly into ""King of Errors", the 1st single. Instantly recognizable as Evergrey, its a safe and warm welcome back into the band. "A New Dawn" follows with the choir ...Civitas...Civitas Diablo..." straight into the best chorus I've heard in a while...On and On, We Rise We Fall...welcome back Evergrey, you are kicking my ass right now!
"Wake A Change" follows with a quiet piano and a heavier chorus after. Tom sounds fantastic here and I get this strange feeling that this disc is not going to let me down at all. There hasn't been a weak moment yet!
"Archaic Rage" follows the same pattern as the previous song with a quiet piano, but the riffs start coming hard and heavy shortly into this song and the chorus crushes!!! Midway through the song we get a nice melodic albeit short solo and some more spoken word. This song is fantastic!
"Barricades" takes an odd path with its downtuned riffing and odd sounding keys to start and a strummed verse with bluesy guitar, but Tom Englund sounds fantastic here also, so once you're expecting this song, it fits nicely.
"Black Undertow" is heavy as fuck without being heavy as fuck if that makes any sense. "The Fire" follows and quickens the pace, harkening back to earlier Evergrey. Think "Inner Circle" era with childrens chorus.
"Hymns For The Broken" to me is the best song on the disc and possibly the best song Evergrey has written! I can't find fault anywhere up to this point!
"Missing You" is your typical emotional Evergrey ballad, adding more strokes of darkness and light into the palette, and what a picture they're painting!
"The Grand Collapse" and "The Aftermath" finish this monster off in style, and I'm left in a heap, sweaty and confused as to what just ripped my soul out and devoured me! Yes, its that fucking good! Best cd of the year by far! There is not a bad song on this disc and this ambitious cd is the best one of Evergrey's career so far!
If you're a fan of the metal genre, this is a must own cd! Even if you're not a fan, this cd may just make you one.