EVERGREY – The Storm Within (2016)

Swedes EVERGREY are celebrating their 20th Anniversary with the release of their brand new album “The Storm Within” next September 9.
Over the course of past 20 years no band achieved to come close in creating a strong bond between darkness and progressive metal like 5-piece Evergrey. The Gothenburg-based act can easily be thought of as a band that established a new subgenre of progressive metal by adding the ‘dark’ adjective to its core.
This is mostly to be assigned to the guitar riffs and unique voice of Tom S. Englund, which are probably the biggest trademarks of the band.

This year Evergrey are back in the game with their tenth studio offering in the shape of “The Storm Within”, which is considered by the band as the biggest in terms of the concept it tackles through the 11-track journey.
Being a brainchild of Englund, Evergrey are no strangers of writing concept albums based on personal experiences of its creator. What is more important is that Evergrey after all thsi time still know how to offer engaging records and succeed in delivering something different.

Although often simply described as prog metal and rightly so, there’s a lot more to Evergrey’s sound than simply genre tags. Top-notch instrumentation, excellent and well-honed vocals courtesy of Englund and a sort of innately engaging songwriting method that many bands struggle to ever make on their own.
Add to that the whole field of prog rock, melodic metal and a few sprinklings of previously unheard influences and what this album offers sounds like a delectable eleven course meal.

As it mostly happens with Evergrey albums, the opening song sets the course for the rest of the record. ‘Distance’ does exactly that — it shows a way for the tracks that come after. Developed around a repetitive piano intro and an equally brooding guitar riffs followed by the voice of Englund.

The melodically and lyrically stunning ‘Passing Through’ is destined to become a fan favorite. It comes along as a take on a hybrid of genres comprised of modern sounds and prog metal, and wrapped with some kind of electronic sounds.
With its beautifully dirty riffs and aggressive movement, ‘Someday’ and ‘Astray’ allow Englund’s voice to be pushed to the limits, balancing on the lows and effortlessly reaching the highs — impressive, to say the least.
‘My Allied Ocean’ is one of Evergrey’s most aggressive songs to date, the addition of Nightwhish vocalist Floor Jansen on ‘In Orbit’ provide even more variation, while the epic title track makes for the perfect album closer in the tradition of Devin Townsend or Rush.

Evergrey’s new opus “The Storm Within” is a sturdy display of originality, whilst staying true to form. It is just one more piece of evidence that Evergrey is simply among the best progressive metal bands this genre has to offer.
Strongly Recommended

01 – Distance
02 – Passing Through
03 – Someday
04 – Astray
05 – The Impossible
06 – My Allied Ocean
07 – In Orbit (feat. Floor Jansen)
08 – The Lonely Monarch
09 – The Paradox Of The Flame (feat. Carina Englund)
10 – Disconnect (feat. Floor Jansen)
11 – The Storm Within

Tom S. Englund – vocals, guitars
Henrik Danhage – guitars, backing vocals
Rikard Zander – keyboards, backing vocals
Johan Nieman – bass, backing vocals
Jonas Ekdahl – drums

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www.amazon.de/Storm-Within-Evergrey/dp/B01HNB1CAA
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