Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A dark gothic riff-fest., 4 Oct 2001
By A Customer
In a genre populated by far too many clones, Sweden's kings of morose metal Evergrey have set themselves apart by finding a sound that is distinctly their own. This partly due to the rich but gritty vocal timbre of Thomas Englund [who also plays guitar]. The band released their debut album "The Dark Discovery" in 1998, which was followed up with last year's "Solitude Dominance Tragedy". Now this, their latest album entitled, "In Search Of Truth" showcases highly crafted textural weaves between crunchy guitars and an array of keyboard sounds, the latter delivered by recently arrived keyboardist Sven Karlsson.
Produced by King Diamond guitarist Andy Larocque [who also guests on slide guitar on the album], the results are prime Evergrey, even if creatively, the band has blossomed, aided and abetted by three new members. Aside from Englund at the helm, drummer Patrick Carlsson is the only other original member present this time around, bringing his uniquely energetic drumming style to the music that seems to improve with each album. New to the fold and crucial to the power of the band's guitar attack is Henrik Danhage. Henrik and Tom have together come up with some inspired twin leads that give rise to some of the album's most memorable moments. As well, Danhage brings a fluid legato approach to the band, which, along with the myriad of tones used by keyboardist Karlsson, give Evergrey an intelligent progressive rock vibe. New bass player Michael Hakansson has also contributed to the band's sound, pounding out reverberating low frequencies truly demarcated from the other vibrant textures within the band's ancient, gothic-sounding psychological make-up, rest assured this is one powerful and heavy album. I must admit my first impression of 'In Search Of Truth' was a dark boring record. Its part of my review policy that an album gets a good few spins before any reviews are written so as to reflect the true nature of the album in question. 'In Search Of Truth' is an album that makes that sometime downhearting policy a nice surprise as after the third listen the album started to make some sense. A few more spins later and I think I finally got the point about this album. First off, this album is not the best record for sunny days, but for dull and damp or torrential rain and gale force wind days it excels. A dark atmosphere will also bring out the most of the music and you will be rewarded with a listening experience that not only is a delight on the ears but also the imagination, so many of the tracks on offer conjure up all kinds of dark images and its this that helps you connect more with the album. However, the album is not just about the atmosphere created by the songs as the performances by all involved are stunning and the album should appeal to any metal fan....a near perfect album for the coming winter months.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Never heard of evergrey? Do yourself a favour!, 25 Jul 2002
Fabulous. Fast melodic metal. Pounding double bass drums, speed guitar licks, unusually well presented Keyboards(yes speed and keyboards) and Top singing.
If you like 70's to mid nineties type metal (queensryche or helloween, you know the type I mean) you should have, sorry MUST have this album.
Forget Europe, this is swedish metal at its best.
WOW!!
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