Torn

I knew little of what I bought at the time; I bought this album as a huge fan of Stratovarius knowing that Jari Kainulainen played bass on it. I listened to Broken Wings and then it sat on my shelf for a year. Within that year, my taste in music moved toward a heavier direction: The heaviest band I listened to at the time of purchase was Symphony X on albums like Paradise Lost and Iconoclast and I tended to listen to groups like Dream Theater, Stratovarius, and Kamelot most often. Fast forward to 2013, and my music taste has changed; Trivium, Sonic Syndicate, and Iron Maiden heavily occupy my eardrums. I scrolled through my library and made the click of a lifetime…

I put the album on my computer expecting to get bored by track 4. The first two tracks didn’t catch my attention, but then, all of a sudden, Fear exploded through my stereo and gave me something to love. I could go on, but I’ll cut to the chase: This album is easily one of the greatest albums in any genre of music and if you keep reading, you’ll find out why.

Evergrey is a band that gets some level of criticism from the metal community for a few things: Tom Englund’s vocals, being musically boring, and their lyrics. I disagree with all of these for a multitude of reasons. This album is far from being musically boring! Songs like Fear, Fail, Numb, and the bonus track Caught in a Lie showcase a band that can (A) masterfully play their instruments, (B), write songs that have both meaningful music and meaningful, relatable lyrics, and (C), sing in a way that conveys emotion without being emo or sounding forced. Point C is especially true, as Tom Englund possesses such a pure voice in which he uses to its full capacity.

I am indeed throwing a lot of praise toward the vocals; however, the music of this album alone blows any progressive and/or power metal band out of the water. When Kingdoms Fall is a softer, darker, more brooding song, but it’s one of the many brilliant moments exhibited here. The guitarists in it know when to provide eerie atmosphere and when to lead and they effectively alternate between the two. And when they don’t lead? The vocals and piano lead, of course! I could go on and on about this song, but instead I’ll say this: Dream Theater’s members may be technical masters at their instruments, but I find that they lack the restraint to do something like this; in short, this is some of the most tasteful, mature progressive metal in the world.

Then someone asks: “What about the head bangers?” The song that leads into When Kingdoms Fall, Fear, is more than satisfying. I’ll admit looking at the lyrics for this song alone may turn some away, but just know that the meaning of this song is much deeper than what appears in the lyrics. Now the music, of course, is some triplet chuggin’ power metal; however, your ears have probably never heard power metal with THIS much power. The drumming is precise and very well done in this song. I being a drummer myself think Jonas’ drumming on this song is spectacular. It’s not too much, but it certainly isn’t pedestrian either. The guitar riffs, leads, and solos are technical, melodic, and aggressive as all heck, but there’s also a tonal presence and atmosphere Henrik and Tom achieve with the guitar that I dare Petrucci, Malmsteen, Romeo, or any other guitar player out there to duplicate. And that guitar presence lasts the whole album.

Now, as an album, it is a work of art found within the metal spectrum; it’s got groove, it’s got melody, it features unapologetic solos that remind you this is a Swedish Band, it has keys used effectively, and I could give this album so much more praise, but the point is that if you like power metal, progressive metal, symphonic metal, doom metal, even some groove metal, you should pick this album up! You are doing your ears a disservice by not at least checking out a song or two from this album, especially if you are a fan of progressive metal. Why? Here’s why: I find that most progressive bands, while they are monster musicians, focus so much on technicality that they forget to add emotion, intensity, and passion to their playing. This intensity gives the album a darker, thicker, sound. The emotion sacrifices a small amount of technicality. This, however, is a mature decision by the band and it is a more mature showcase of true metal: heavy art. This is easily the greatest album I’ve purchased. Easily. Nothing compares.

This is an album where all 12 songs are not only strong, but top notch. When I say top notch, I mean perfection. I can’t say that about many albums at all. That being said I still have some obvious favorites. I’ve already talked about Fear, but along with it, songs like Fail, Numb, Caught in a Lie, In Confidence, and Soaked always improve my mood when they enter my ears. Of those though, Numb is a sleeper; I used to think it was a weak link, but the song’s wild grooves/riffs and meaning have reversed it: it’s a superb song! Evergrey definitely put out their strongest batch of songs with this album. This leaves The Inner Circle in the dust! If there is one thing to complain about this album, though, it is the production; it’s not bad actually, but when the music is turned up to a certain volume, it becomes muddy and distorts a little bit. For that, I take off 2% off of an otherwise perfect album.

Bands I find compatible with Evergrey: Mercenary, Symphony X, Trivium, Epica, and The Unguided

Two years since Evergrey’s last release (‘Monday morning apocalypse’), this long lasting metal band from Sweden have released their 7th CD, entitled ‘Torn’. Being one of the more emotional metal bands around, Evergrey have continued with their trademark progressive/power metal sound, fronted by one of the greatest metal vocalists around, Tom S. Englund.

‘Monday morning apocalypse’ may have been a change of pace, a break off the main road you might say, for Evergrey fans, however I found that CD to be just as good as their previous ones; matching the likes of ‘Recreation day’ and ‘In search of truth’. Evergrey have progressed in their own way over the years, and now sound quite different from how they were with their first few releases. Evergrey have always been typically labeled progressive metal with heavy metal/power metal influences; and that label was accurate in the early years. But with the progression I’ve seen and heard from Evergrey’s last few CDs, I feel that a different label is now in order.

One thing I’ve noticed about ‘Torn’ and also with ‘Monday morning apocalypse’ is that the level of intensity and ferocity has increased massively over their previous releases. Also, the progressive style in their music continues to drop in favour of a more power/traditional metal style. Instead of slow and calm passages, the use of piano and other prog-styled infusions, Evergrey now have harder, sharper and chunkier riffs, which reminds me somewhat of bands like Nevermore and Morgana Lefay. The guitars are more powerful and bombastic than before, giving off as much emotion as the lyrics do. And speaking of emotional lyrics, ‘Torn’ is abundant of them, to the likes of what was experienced in the early releases of Evergrey, which is a bonus.

Being a favourite vocalist of mine, Tom S. Englund is such an emotional singer and has been the face of Evergrey since the band came together. His performance on every CD has been nothing short of spectacular; to actually feel his words as they come from his mouth; for it to have such an effect as it does, really amazes me and is why I’m such a fan. Once again, Tom S. Englund is brutally emotional and brilliant on ‘Torn’, with heart-felt lyrics often tainted and dark; making you wonder what kind of experiences a mind like his has been through, where words like these evolve.

I must say that ‘Torn’ in my humble opinion, is arguably their most consistent release to date. On previous releases, there have always been a few tracks which weren’t quite up to par with the rest, but here on ‘Torn’, every track is impressive, powerful and emotionally driven. This is also due to the improved guitar work by Henrik Danhage and the excellent bass work of ex-Stratovarius member, Jari Kainulainen. Standout tracks on ‘Torn’ include the CD opener “Broken wings” (which you can currently see the video of, on Youtube.com), “Nothing is erased”, “Fear”, “When kingdoms fall”, “Numb” and the CD's title-track “Torn”.

Overall, ‘Torn’ is an impressive piece of work from these guys from Sweden. With almost “back to the roots” feel in terms of dark lyrics with their natural musical progression becoming more aggressive, I feel that this release is one of their best. Evergrey haven’t released a bad CD to date and ‘Torn’ is by far the least from it. Loyal Evergrey fans will be overjoyed once they wrap their ears around this release and even fans of European power/progressive metal should really check this out.

Originally written for www.metalcdratings.com

While I've never been the hugest fan of Tom S. Englund's vocals, their mid range and emotional edge have always allowed Evergrey to stand out amidst a large crop of same sounding European power and progressive metal bands. Shovel in the band's penchant for chunky, guitar grooves, melodic hooks and synthesizers and they have a rather distinct approach that has created such great albums as In Search of Truth, The Inner Circle and my previous favorite Recreation Day.

It's important to note that I said 'previous', because Torn is pretty much the apex of this band's output so far. A wholly catchy experience, with bone crunching, groovy rhythm guitars on tracks like "Fear" and the bouncy, almost nu-metal "Numb". Yes, the band are not one for interesting song titles here, it's all quite generic in that regard, but do not let that stop you. The album sounds magnificent, each riff driven home with power, each track perfectly structured for Englund's voice. Many highlights, too many. The blazing twin leads of "These Scars". The grooving bridge guitars of "Soaked". The prog metal outbreak of "Still Walk Alone". Yeah, I know, the song titles again...makes it seem like a Godsmack album. Thankfully, it's not.

Evergrey occupy a rather unique niche which appeals to fans of the heavier side of progressive metal (like a Dream Theater if they were nowhere near as complex) and modern power metal. Torn is in my opinion the best they have to offer, so if this sounds hot then it probably is.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

“….. My broken wings can’t hold my weight, through the dark of day”. Certainly, this year, a star is shining for the veteran Swedish Metal act, Evergrey. The dark Heavy / Power Metal band that brought the Metal world such gems as Solitude Dominance Tragedy , Recreation Day and Inner Circle, keeps up the good work with another great release for 2008 with Torn, with the recruitment of ex-Startovarius Finnish bass player, Jari Kainulainen. These guys reached another milestone on their way to becoming one of the best in their field.

Since their formation in 1995, Evergrey became one of the icons of Dark Metal music. Their lyrics are full with desperation along with sadness, betrayal, loss of hope, inner and outer fears and religious meanings. Their music is also dark and sometimes mysterious with a lot of keyboard atmosphere, heavy and low riffs and heart breaking solos, especially on this release which is one of their heaviest material, whiny, sometime on the verge of crying, and vocals with plenty of depth. All of these traits assist in creating the picture that is forevermore grey.

The production, which was engineered and supervised by one of the greatest producers that came out of Sweden – Fredrik Nordstrom who is also a guitarist in the Heavy Metal act, Dream Evil, is absolutely flawless and by the amazing guitar and drum sound, one can really recognize Nordstrom’s touch like he did on other projects e.g. his own band and on the joint Greek / American Metal act Firewind.

Characteristics here include the heavy sound of B tuned guitars that drive through the album with deep and heavy riffs and cracking solos. The guitars sound very much like the new heavy Paradise Lost, Dream Evil and Firewind. The difference between this sound and the other bands mentioned is that Evergrey chose a sound that can be related to their way and fit their needs. Among some of the heavyweight pieces on this album are: “Fail”, “Soaked” and “Nothing Is Erased”.

One thing that is irritating on this album is that there is a small resemblance, regarding the songs themselves, to some of their old material. Surely fanatic fans will pay attention to this mild aspect that surrounds this piece.

Also amongst the music is clean and accurate drumming and atmospheric keyboards, that on this album, are way behind in comparison with Evergrey’s old materiel and gives various melodic edges without over engulfing the guitars and bass.

Then there are the vocals. Vocalist and guitarist, Tom Englund, is one of the best vocalists of this sub-genre. This man can teach many vocalists in Heavy Metal on how to really express their emotions in their songs. Although sometimes his voice can get a bit whiny, it really helps him spread his words and to reach out to the hearts of the listeners, he has created his own vocal style with the depth of Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. His voice is one of the main reasons that Evergrey, with all their darkness, successfully formed something that is truly unique since the beginning of their career.

Torn presents almost a full release of equally excellent tracks. The best of all is “In Confidence” that holds in one’s memory with its dark aura and great chorus and riffs. “Broken Wings” , the opener , is also a song to remember along with “Still Walk Alone” which is another heavy hitter with a great chorus. Joining the club are songs like “Soaked”, which can be interrupted as a story of suicide, “When Kingdom Falls” and the great “Fail” that contains great heavy riffs and solos. The song that fell short is the bonus track, “Caught In A Lie”. It has a good title to it, but more than half of it is a boring and almost unbearable rhythm. The self titled “Torn” is a solid track which could have been a lot more than it is.

Many address Evergrey as a Progressive Power Metal act. Although it is silly to start an endless argument about the band’s sub-genre, there is something imperative that must be said. Evergrey, the 2008 model, for the sake of opinion, is a dark Heavy / Power Metal act that do it a bit differently than other acts to try and be original in their own way. Torn is living proof for this anecdote. Evergrey gave it all this year and many of their fans can be proud of this release and with hope that they will keep on doing it with hearts full of emotions and heaviness.

I’ve watched the decline of many a good band within the power and progressive metal realms, but Evergrey takes my pick for the steepest plunge since Megadeth put out “Risk”. They’ve always had sort of an unconventional character within the power/progressive realm due to the raspy yet almost pop/rock character of Tom Englund’s voice, but they carried it well with a good combination of somber atmospheres and technical musicianship. “In Search For Truth” was basically their musical zenith, as it maintained the power metal elements that they carried from their first and second albums, yet also included a lead guitarist and keyboardist who were proficient enough to match soloing wits with most in the style.

Their latest installment “Torn” essentially maintains nothing from that album other than Henrik Danhage’s wild and expressionistic leads, opting instead for a wide range of metalcore, groove, and gothic metal trappings. Now this is also something that Nocturnal Rites found themselves doing just 1 year prior, but here the results are not merely mediocre, they are downright revolting. There aren’t any actual hooks to speak of here, no draws to remind the listener of what song he has on, just a near endless stream of harmonically consonant yet vapid meandering.

Almost none of these songs are memorable, despite being pulled off fairly well and having a rock solid production. A classic and definitely the most blatant example of this is “When Kingdoms Fall”, which essentially establishes an atmosphere and works itself into a repetitive groove and just coasts for 5 ½ minutes straight. There’s no buildup, no resolution, just a hypnotic riff set and a flat ranged vocal performance that basically goes nowhere. “Nothing Is Erased” has a somewhat more active riff set, but it’s mostly down tuned metalcore ideas with keyboards, ergo it stays in a formulaic box and doesn’t move out of it. If you took out Danhage’s solo section, this song could have been on a Trivium album easily.

With a couple of exceptions, this trifecta of repetitive groove riffs, gothic keyboard overtones and metalcore mannerisms in both the songwriting and vocals remains constant. The opening song “Broken Wings”, though heavily groove oriented, actually has a fair share of solid melodic hooks and somewhat loosely resembles one of their earlier classics “Mark Of The Triangle”. The piano gives it a slight bit of a new Nightwish character, but it’s enjoyable enough, though nowhere near what this band did years back. “Fear” is the best and the hardest edged song out of the lot, throwing out some riffs that actually move past 2 note chugging and elongated power chords. But as a whole, this is a veritable mountain of unmemorable, depressed, boring trite.

As far as I’m concerned, the terms power and progressive do not fit this album. At best, it’s a really bland version of power metal and metalcore without the scream vocals. It’s not something that I would recommend checking out unless you are really into bands like Killswitch Engage, Five Finger Death Punch, or other recent groovy metalcore bands that are sure to be living it up on MTV’S Headbanger’s Ball. I’m not into this sort of stuff, and I doubt that any other self-respecting fan of either power metal or progressive metal will get anything out of this other than a desire to use this CD for an amateur discus throw competition in your backyard along with the latest releases by Human Fortress and Labyrinth.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer) on April 11, 2009.

Beautiful, emotive and brilliant; Evergrey has reached their fullest potential, and Torn is shimmering proof of this. From the early, atmospheric sounds of The Dark Discovery and Solitude - Dominance - Tragedy to the strong progressive undertones of albums like In Search Of Truth and The Inner Circle to, even, the heaviness of Monday Morning Apocalypse, Evergrey have explored themselves pretty thoroughly which, of course, is quite evident by their catalog. I will admit that, with Monday Morning Apocalypse, though I did enjoy it, never quite "hit the spot" the way all of their other albums did; this, of course, created some wonder about Torn seeing as it was the follow-up to Monday Morning Apocalypse and all, however, any potential anxiety and doubt I could have had about it has been erased, completely.

For starters, one of the most fantastic things about Torn is that it truly ties into their entire catalog; the ethereal, eerie guitar melodies, the bitter heaviness, the highly emotive vocals (as well as the lyrical themes), the vertical rather than horizontal compositions ... it's all here, unifying everything the band have done together, serving as a sort of closing chapter to the first saga of Evergrey. Of course, and without saying really, this is just my theory, however, the album really "feels" this way and I can't help but to embrace the feelings Torn evokes on this matter.

Musically, and compositionally, the album truly shines as being a progressive masterpiece in the sense that Evergrey is progressive which, needless to say, means that this does NOT sound like Dream Theater (thankfully). The songs are concise, emotionally driven and heavily, heavily layered; every time you listen through the album you will find a little tid-bit here or there, some distant keyboard wash or some floating, ghostly guitar line lingering beneath the surface, that all add to the monumental structure and atmosphere of the album. The longest song on the album, the closer, is just shy of six minutes thus, needless to say, this album (as with all of Evergrey's albums, really) is not progressive in the traditional sense; if you do happen to be looking for 25 minutes songs, look elsewhere, for Evergrey defy traditional progressive metal the same way a band like Pain Of Salvation does.

It is extremely difficult to pin-point specific songs as being better than others since, as with the rest of the band's catalog, the material is very much meant to be listened to as a whole although, despite this, we are also given an album that works on the opposite end as well: you can randomly play a song and, with whatever track you may get, you're delivered a flawless Evergrey number with just as much merit of being a great song as, lets say, a "classic" from an album or a "hit". Now, needless to say, I do have a couple personal favorites so I will run by those quickly: Fail, for one, is just absolutely incredible - the clean guitar is beautiful, the build-up throughout the song is simply phenomenal and the personal emotions it invokes flow up like tidal-waves ... I may go as far to say this is the best Evergrey song although, meh, that will probably change in a month anyway. Still Walk Alone is extremely dynamic, plodding along at a fairly slow pace in the beginning then, during the mid-section, we're delivered speed that could be found in the initial Gothenburg scene; needless to say, it's extremely effective. The title track is an extremely sensitive and solemn number and, like with Fail, is easily one of the band's best songs; the lyrics are beautiful and bitter, showcasing a life that I am sure many of us could relate to on many levels, if not completely, and it all just, well, works.

Can I find anything wrong with this record? - no, no and, umm, no. I suppose this throws me into fanboy territory now, however, I cannot think of one thing to gripe about; the length of the album (as well as the songs) is perfect in context of what Torn is all about, the production is flawless, the vocals and lyrics, as always when dealing with Mr. Englund, are incredible and, when coming down to the music, well, it's Evergrey at the top of their game, at the top of their sound and dynamic - Evergrey has never sounded so Evergrey and, with that, I can only give this album a stunning 100 for, well, a stunning and perfect effort.

Evergrey's like this guy who you were tight with back in the day, fun to hang out with now and then and awesome to catch a show with, even if his company did get a little monotonous over long stretches. Then a couple of years back, people were talking about how he'd made some bad decisions and lost focus in general. They were all like “You should talk to him,” and you went, “Hey, that ain't how I roll. Dawg's gotta find his own way.” Word. Anyway, you just caught up with him a little while back, and turns out the guy's back in the saddle. Good call there.

After the hiccup that was Monday Morning Apocalypse, the guys take a big step to redeeming themselves with Torn. It's hard to nail down exactly what has changed – in fact, if you compare the album openers from both albums, the basic choruses are almost identical. It's just that MMA had a bit of experimenting with different styles and ideas and hardly any of them really worked, while Torn falls back on to tried and tested methods to good effect. They've regained that distinct big sound from albums like Recreation Day and The Inner Circle, playing to their strengths and ballsily belting out catchy progmetal tunes with great, tight playing and fat, faintly muddy guitar tone (just the way we like it) with some tasteful ripping leads thrown in for good measure. Tom Englund has sounded better, but he's still not all that shabby.

Versatility has never been Evergrey's strong point, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. Just ask the hordes of AC/DC or Motorhead fans. It might put a crimp in the whole 'progressive' label, but that's just for show anyway. Even so,there's a fair bit of diversity here, from the thudding staccato powerchord feel of Soaked to the breakneck Fear (which sounds a hell of a lot like Allegiance by Firewind – just saying) to the slightly modern metal leanings of Numb. The missteps are few and forgivable,and the general feel of the album is pretty fun.

What's annoying is that you start getting restless way before the album ends. Then again, I've always had trouble listening to an Evergrey album end to end. The fact that they use the same few blueprints over and over with a few changes and switcheroos means your mileage starts dropping after a few songs. Taking that into account, they really should have reduced the duration of this record by at least a couple of tracks. Anyway, it's great to know that these guys have recovered the plot and are back to doing what they do best. If only all bands learned from their mistakes this fast.

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