EVERGREY - Glorious Collision (CD)

With a new line-up and a new label Göteborg melancholy progsters Evergrey return in glory. Well, I’m not just trying to be witty, it IS a really great album! Evergrey sure have had their dark moments, and that melancholy, slightly dark touch has become their trademark. With Glorious Collision they of course haven’t adopted any streaks of Monty Python humour or any major chords for that matter. However, the album does feel a bit more uplifting. New guitarist Marcus Jidell (Royal Hunt/The Ring) has added a bit more guitar harmonies, which feels refreshing, at least I haven’t really noticed them in the past in the same way. I must say, despite 3/5 of the band being new guys, only Tom Englund and keyboardist Rikard Zander remain from the previous album, it sounds very Evergrey.Old fans will not be disappointed. The new people them who are they? Guitars are handled by the aforementioned Marcus Jidell, bass is now played by former Mind’s Eye/Therion bassist Johann Niemann and the drums by Hannes van Dahl. From the first note you feel like this bunch has been playing together for years. It’s solid and it glues really well together. The song material is quite varied going to a variety of places, both in moods and tempos, even though the lower mid-tempo region still prevails. I’m glad to hear some more up-tempo stuff such as Free and Restoring The Loss, the cool balladry in songs like The Phantom Letters, The Disease… and album closer …And The Distance, which takes us from a really soft intro to a heavy chugging finale. I also really love the heavy riff-oriented stuff like I’m Drowning Alone. No weak spots as far as I can hear. A solid, consistent effort which again confirms Evergrey’s high position on the prog-oriented metal map.
Janne Stark
Label: SPV
Year: 2011
Country: Sweden
Link: http://www.evergrey.net/