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Torn
Remastered digipak with two bonus tracks.
"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." - Metal Archives