TORN

Evergrey is a gothic power metal band that fuses brilliant metal song writing with a dark brooding atmosphere and the best voice you can find in a 1000 miles distance. The music doesn't offer anything new or special that you won't find back on the Dark Saga from Iced Earth, but it is so well done that I find myself listening to them quite regularly.

Not so for their 2008 release Torn. Torn confirms that Evergrey can write dark melodic metal, Torn confirms that Evergrey has one of the best singers around, but Torn also confirms that Evergrey will never stray one inch from the path they carved for themselves during the last 10 years and 7 consecutive albums. I call that a creative standstill.

In itself, that shouldn't be bad for fans. As long as the tunes are good, artists are relevant, at least still for their fans. Unfortunately Evergrey fail to deliver the song quality of past releases. Torn doesn't have one song that gels with me. Every track is an unremarkable blend of anonymous riffs and melodies. As such, the creative standstill has turned out to be a creative downfall.