Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy

The sophomore album of Swedish dark prog metallers Evergrey is a massive improvement over their uncertain debut album, The Dark Discovery. Released only one year after that album, Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy follows closely in the footsteps of its predecessor, but manages to fix many of the pitfalls that had plagued that album. It showcases a more assured songwriting, more nuanced arrangements and also a better production. Moreover, although not all material on Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy stood the test of time, the album contains a couple of early classic Evergrey masterpieces (“Solitude Within”, “Nosferatu”) that remain among the best material the band have written to date.

Evergrey’s line-up on this record is essentially the same as the one that had recorded the debut album, minus keyboard player Will Chandra who is here replaced by a session musician, Zachary Stephens. This effectively makes Evergrey a quartet, comprised of singer/ guitarist Tom S. Englund, guitarist Dan Bronell, drummer Patrick Carlsson and bassist Daniel Nojd. The band continue to propose what had already characterized their debut album: a dark, melancholic blend of progressive metal that takes inspiration in equal parts from classic heavy metal (Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Savatage), power metal, and thrash. The band enrichens this basic sound with gothic and symphonic undercurrents through the use of solemn choirs, haunting female vocals (provided by Englund’s then partner Carina Kjellberg), harp and violin interludes, and lush orchestral arrangements. It’s a rich and thick sonic tapestry that offers a slightly different take on the standard progressive metal sound, one that is gloomier and more dramatic, with less emphasis on technical proficiency and more attention to melody and emotions. Singer Tom Englund plays a big part in this, his melancholic and dramatic vocal delivery being one of the standout aspects of Evergrey’s music. This more visceral and emotional form of prog metal is a welcome change of direction for the scene, especially given how a lot of the prog metal that was coming out at the time used to sound so aseptic, lifeless and emotionally detached – the exact opposite of how the Swedish quartet sound here.

The songrwriting on Solitude… has clearly improved compared to the debut LP. Songs like “Solitude Within” and “Nosferatu” are very convincing. They are structurally complex, containing multiple sections and rich arrangements, but at the same time they feature strong melodic hooks that have a lasting impression on the listener and make the tracks instantly likeable and memorable. Unfortunately, not all tracks on the album reach this level of quality. In fact, after this opening pair of songs, there is a sensible dip in the quality of the record, and a fair share of what comes in the middle of Solitude… sounds drearily similar to the weaker material that had appeared on The Dark Discovery. Tracks like “A Scattered Me”, “She Speaks to the Dead” and “Damnation” are uninspired and directionless, resulting overall forgettable. This is not unusual for Evergrey, whose albums often contain a mixed bag of strong and weak material. On Solitude… the share is probably slightly tilted towards the weaker material, which is why I cannot really rate this album higher. The album closes strongly, though. “When Darkness Falls” is a powerful and dramatic piece with a good chorus, while the ballad “Words Mean Nothing” is a welcome change of pace and features some excellent vocals by Englund. Closing track “The Carey Curse” is another strong piece, bringing to the fore the prog/power metal influences of the band and reminding me of Iced Earth.

One issue that had plagued Evergrey’s debut was the sound production. Things have improved on Solitude…, although not yet to a point where I can say that the album sounds good, even considering the time when it was produced. The sound is too dark and murky, with lots of emphasis on the bass tones. This may fit the overall gloomy tone of the album material, but at the same time makes the music feel colourless and dull. My guess is that producer Andy LaRocque (King Diamond) was trying to emphasize the dark, brooding nature of Evergrey’s music, but he overdid it. I also dislike the mix of the album. Englund’s vocals sound muddled and sit too far back in the mix, and so do the drums. Moreover, the keyboard arrangements are still not well integrated with the rest of the music. At times, it almost feels like the keyboard parts were added ex-post, once the rest of the music had been arranged and recorded.

Nevertheless, Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy is a convincing sophomore album for Evergrey. If with The Dark Discovery the band had surprised the prog metal community with its dark, melancholic blend of prog metal that certainly stood out relative to the rest of the scene, on Solitude… Evergrey show that they start to have ideas of what to actually do with that sound. The songwriting has matured and shows a sense of purpose and direction, even if only in about half of the songs of the album. The delivery and production are also more assured. Overall, the album is a definite step-up relative to the band’s debut record and it shows that Evergrey are getting ready for their big breakthrough album that will come in 2001, when the band released their masterpiece In Search of Truth.

Evergrey are a strange band, they are truly nothing. When describing the band you cannot describe them as what they are, only as what they are not. There is not a single question that could be phrased as "Are Evergrey a X band?" that the answer would not be 'No' to, often for reasons that directly contradict each other. "Are Evergrey a power metal band?" No, there are some little elements, but not enough. "Are Evergrey a Progressive metal band?" No, not really, they're far too straight forwardly rockish for that. "Are they a gothic metal band?" No, they've got too many power and prog metal elements to really be gothic metal. "Are they even a metal band?" Not really, I mean, they're like 55% not metal, instead they're made up of scraps of goth rock and rock balladry. "So that would mean that they're a non-metal band wouldn't it?" Nope, they're far too metal to be a non-metal band. You can ask questions in other ways that will get different answers, such as "Do Evergrey make terrible music?" Where the answer is a definite yes, but "Are Evergrey a terrible band?" deserves a response of no. They're not a terrible band, they have too many good elements for that, but indeed they do make awful music. But then again...

"Are Evergrey a good band?" No.

Yes, most of these things are directly contradictory, but that’s just the way this band is, they're a jumbled mess of little elements but none of them in enough quantity to actually count the elements as a part of their sound. They're just nothing. Sure the last two albums change this a little, Monday Morning Apocalypse is truly not a metal album, and yes, on Torn they are undeniably a weak, gutless band, but here on Solitude Dominance Tragedy, and all their other pre-MMA works, they're firmly in the realms of not being classified as anything. They're always not something because they're too much of something else, and they're not that something else because they have too much of the first thing. They've managed to find a perfect balance of not really fitting in anywhere.

Hell, it even works down to each individual member, "Is Tom Englund a good vocalist?" No, he ends every line he sings with an annoying little breath of exasperation and it's frustrating. This also makes him sound whiny, which takes away from the occasional atmosphere that this band creates. But on the other hand he's got a pretty good tone and can deliver some pretty powerful notes, so he doesn't suck either. Tom also has the ability to put a lot of passion into his voice, he just doesn't. But he's not average because he's either good or rubbish, never standard.

Tom and Dan Bronell aren't particularly good guitarists, they spend most of their time chugging along, not to mention they can barely be bothered adding in more than a couple of clean notes for the standard verse, and a power chord or two for the choruses. But on the other hand, they CAN write exceptional riffs, which usually appear at the start of songs, and the soloing is truly great.

Due to the misuse of the occasional riff good, you could quickly think, "Are Evergrey bad songwriters?" But by now you should know that the answer is a gritty in-your-face 'No'. Simply because they've written some songs on here that run for over 5 minutes which multiple different sections and elements that run together smoothly. But on the other hand this band is fully capable of writing a song which has a stupid accented sample about alien abduction for the verses, of which there are three of, and the fact most of their good riffs go missing.

Evergrey have always had a knack for taking their killer riff and abandoning it in a mall, and then moving interstate, likely under false names. Its frightening how often the songs on Solitude Dominance Tragedy start off with a cool riff, and then don't play it again until really late in the song, often even seeming to mock it with using it in a simplified and watered down versions for verses and choruses. Or even in extreme situations never touching on it again, pretending as if their brief moment of splendor never existed. Sure, lots of metal bands don't go back to riffs, but this is a melodic metal band, with often very rock-like structuring, and these good riffs don't get replaced with more riffs, they get replaced by mediocre filler.

Hell, take just the opener, Solitude Within. Opening with not one but three good riffs with quality keyboard interaction ala Axenstar, But not one of these riffs appears again, instead we get a needlessly weakened keyboard only version of one, with a couple of pretty generic guitar squeals scattered about for the verses, with the chorus opting for just a big power chord to attempt to pull the weight. From then it's just chugging on the guitars, and the keys do little but add tones for most of the time. Not one of those three riffs at the start is even alluded to again. Hell, the very first riff is about twice as fast as every other one so it doesn't even hit that sort of tempo again. Now, at least this song is a half-step away from good despite it's total riff amnesia, but this pattern is repeated many times, often without as high quality vocals and with even duller chug riffs replacing the good ones which just vanish. It's like meeting a beautiful woman in a bar who asks you to meet her in a hotel and then doesn't show up. The set up just never eventuates.

It's this ability to do amazing things but sticking to just making utter tripe which makes them fit into an odd mould of being utterly worthless but still being worth a listen. I quite enjoy a large portion of 4 or 5 of the songs on here, but at the same time I dislike other parts which overall make me feel nothing towards the album. But if I were to dissect the album to each individual section of music, there is stuff here that is worth hearing when isolated, the general indifference only comes when placed in the context of the songs.

While typically the answer to all questions regarding the music of Evergrey will be a "nope" of some variety, there is another response which really makes the entirety of this review completely irrelevant...

"Who gives a shit about Evergrey?"

This is the response that comes into my head before I actually think of a true response 100% of the time I hear a question about this band. For all its mystery and impossible to categorize wonder Solitude Dominance Tragedy really has zero appeal. They have no effect on the listener, and for all its decent elements, there are poor ones which completely cancel it out. And it's truly a cancelling out. There isn't a memory of being totally disgusted or even being bored, there is no memory, and the brain simply blocks it out completely, leaving a genuine blank.

So remember, who gives a shit about Evergrey and who gives a shit about this album?

Of the Evergrey albums I selected to examine, this one is by far the best, and it's not even really that amazing. See, Evergrey have this thing where they take a perfectly good Angel Dust-esque modern Metal formula and make it boring, worthless shit. The formula I'm talking about is one you've probably heard before, because it was all the rage about ten years ago. I'm not going to lapse into some sort of historical revisionist rant, but from what I have observed, it seems to have been some knee-jerk reaction to all the filthy bile being passed off as Metal at the time. It was a proggy, intricate style with heavier riffs and introspective, spacey synths woven into a thick production, with lots of dark lyrics and deeper, more serious sounding vocals. It was a very down-to-Earth, respectable sound compared to both the laughable styling of a Slipknot or a Mudvayne and the over-the-top, silly bombast of Rhapsody.

Now, enter Evergrey. They were there at the forefront with the other bands of their kind - Angel Dust, Dark at Dawn, Eidolon, Tad Morose, et cetera. I like all of those bands to varying degrees, so why is this one the sole outlier? Why do Tom Englund and his band of misguided metal mercenaries feel the need to fill their music with wussy melodies that overwhelm the song, and backing riffs that are so dull that they forcibly remove your attention from them and place it on the vocals? Tom's vocals are nothing special at all, contrary to what fans will tell you. He has a decent voice, and he sings pretty well, but he isn't fit for a Metal band; not really. The lines he's singing are simply too passive, weak and mellow to pass for a band that attempts to make heavy and powerful music. It wouldn't be a problem if Evergrey decided they wanted to make solely pop-metal ballads and start singing about relationships (hey, that sounds familiar...oh, right, they actually started doing that a few years later, and it was terrible!), but as it is, this is a pretty mismatched relationship. Start signing the divorce papers, guys.

As for the songs themselves, well, they all stick to the same gloomy, depressive mode, all whilst never actually employing any real emotion. It's like they just decided "hey, let's be dark!" and subsequently started writing songs with this annoyingly somber and serious tone. It never varies, either, never changing in texture or mood at all. You have heavy songs like "Scattered Me" and fast ones like "Nosferatu," and then ballads like "The Shocking Truth," and epics like "The Corey Curse," and yet, the band keeps to the same faux-dark, introspective mood throughout the entire duration of the album. While each mode of discourse should carry with it its own individual emotion, every single song here conveys the same emotion, never mind the tempo or the lyrics or anything.

Instrumentally, these guys are talented, but still, they don't really put any of it to use. The compositions here are stale as fuck. The band is lauded so much for being great songwriters, and yet the only basis for this seems to be SOFT SECTIONS + FAST SECTIONS = PROGRESSIVE (AND INTELLIGENT, MATURE MUSIC). Please, these guys aren't that great. They're decent, but not anything amazing. They're pretty cool when they stop the verses or the choruses and just slam out some riffs and melodies, but once the vocals kick in, it's like they forget all of that and just go back to power chord chug riffs and simple drumming, as if we'd forget Tom was singing otherwise.

Bear in mind that I still don't hate this album. It's very decent overall, as reflected by the somewhat generous score, but it's just got too many flaws for me to really, truly enjoy it. Not bad, but nowhere near good either.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

Perfect sound, fantastic keyboards effects, heavy guitars, crystal clear voice, killing riffs: welcome to Solitude - Dominance - Tragedy ! This CD is so powerful (riffs), and in the same time melodic (voice / guitars) & atmospheric (guitars and keyboards). The overall sounds is really great, and they even added some "classical music" effects that really brings something new to their songs.

I need to highlight here that there are so many influences (or sounds should I say), that you cannot compare Evergrey's music to another one, they "already" have their own style. From voice effect to power guitar riffs, this is the kind of album that grows in you slowly but SURELY. They are too many True Metal bands these days and Evergrey proves with this record, that you can create very good music and avoid fashion and trends. Listen to this one! You will be impressed by the quality of their music.

From power metal songs to an unbelievable "ballad", Evergrey's song writing quality is really impressive. Let this album grow in you and discover, as I did, that this one is a killer. The more I listen to it, the better I find it.

Killing Songs : Solitude Within, Nosferatu, She Speaks To The Dead, Words Mean Nothing.

The second album of Evergrey, released in 1999, was a big surprise for everyone who didn't know them and a prospect of everyone who had heard the first album. Even better from "The Dark Discovery" in everything (music, lyrics, production, performance) but not as dark as their first album the band had taken their way. When I first heard this album, back in 1999, it didn't make any sense to me. I thought it was a simple mix of styles without any purpose, nice but nothing more. I had never heard Evergrey before, though. After two years, by the release of "In search of truth", which was their first album with respectable sales, i had managed to hear "SDT" again. I simply loved it. The more I was getting into Evergrey, the more I loved them. The style of music in "SDT" is not for a mainstream audience. Everyone who wants to understand them, must listen to the album many times. I don't know what they have in their mind and write a so difficult and complicated music, but so melodic and sentimental. Let's get back to the album... The production is crystal clear, none as much as he dislikes Evergrey can complain about this. The lyrics are very good, in many tracks as Solitude within they reach perfection. The music as a whole is an unusual mix of dark progressive and gothic themes with power influences. They have many powerfull riffs in every song. Some of them are speeding like demons in every song. They have an unusual guitar tone, which can be light as a bird and become heavy as a steamroller in the same song. One thing I haven't understand is how these guys play so difficult music and they give the feeling like their playing something so simple. The bass and the drums are following very nice at every track. The keyboards have some kind of magic, as they seem essential in every song. They give a different, more sentimental feeling not only at the ballad songs (Words mean nothing, The shocking truth - well, semi-ballad) but everywhere. I can't imagine their music without these magnificent keys... Harp and violin are used in words mean nothing. Tom Englund's voice is passionate, perfect for following the music the band plays. Not something extreme, but melodic and sorrowful. He feels what he's singing. I won't refer to every song as long as my words wont be different from the one song to the other. I have no personal highlights from this album, as it's a true masterpiece. Sorrow, fear and isolation... this is "Solitude Dominance Tragedy" about....

I like extraterrestrials just as much as any other person, but hearing a semi-ballad with spoken parts about aliens “stealing unborn fetuses” irks me a tiny bit. Now that lyrical content is out of the way, I am glad to tell you that this album is prone to induce aural orgasms. Solitude Dominance Tragedy is like a French kiss to both of the ears at the same time.

It starts off with an extremely strong track Solitude Within, which is a clear indicator that hearing this album is already not a mistake. The solos and riffs are amazingly engaging and Thomas Englund’s vocals fit quite well despite not being the most exquisite part of this band. There isn’t a bad second in this song including all the keyboard parts. Generally, the keyboard composition on this album is outstanding.

The second track Nosferatu hits you with full force before you have time to recuperate. Now it's clear that this is not one of them 1 good track albums. This song ooses progressive touches, tasty keyboards and riffs. The interlude might seem a bit out of place after the first listen but I guarantee this song to be one of your favourites after a couple of spins. The female vocals on this song are an interesting addition since they are nothing like female vocals expected on a metal album. Gospel? Nosferatoooo!

Track three is the semi-ballad mentioned earlier. Except for the lyrics, I don’t find anything wrong with this track. It’s quite poppy by nature and VERY enjoyable. Great keyboard composition.

Still thinking that this album might be filler after a good introduction? NO FUCKING WAY. Scattered Me is the track that will have you headbanging and begging for more after the guitars kick in. The somewhat thrashy but not overwhelming guitar tone reminds me of Angel Dust. However, the comparison to Angel Dust isn't quite fair. Evergrey is better.

She speaks to the Dead, When Darkness Falls, Damnation and The Corey Curse are the other tracks on this album that I don’t care to dissect. They are all just as outstanding as the ones described above. The only song that can be considered filler material is the mandatory ballad: Words Mean Nothing. Even so, musically this ballad is not bad.
Three (3) points deducted from the rating for this album are due to the lyrics in this song. Listen to it and you will know why. Lovely accent too.

Overall, I consider this to an outstanding album and Evergrey’s best. They seem to have lost an edge on their later releases. This is a worthy addition to any music collection.

Similar bands: Angel Dust(mostly the guitar tone – Evergrey stands alone)