ESCAPE OF THE PHOENIX

This is my first time listening to an Evergrey album, so I don't really know how it fits in their discography. I discovered the band because I'm a big fan of Ayreon, and Englund has been one of the many invited vocalists on their albums, but I didn't listem to them at the moment. Indeed, it was a short time ago when by chance they popped on my Spotify, with the song "Eternal Nocturnal".

I really liked that song so I decided to listen to the album whole. And well, this may not be a masterpiece by any means, but I've had a fun time over the 9-10 times I've listened to it. The best thing the band has to offer are the vocals by Englund, who doesn't have super high pitched capabilities nor a crazy range of octaves, but delivers a solid and emotional performance on every song. The best ones for me are "Forever Outsider", "Where August Mourns", "Eternal Nocturnal" (the three of them being the most fast-paced of the bunch) and my favourite, the highly melancholic "Run". "The Beholder" is not among my favs as a whole but I love the middle section with James Labrie as a guest.

However, there are some drawbacks to the album too, as it tends a little too much on repetitive patterns. The structures are not interisting at all, and although the songs have interesting melodic ideas they don't surprise you at all, being very predictable. There are so many ballads/slow-paced songs for my liking too. On the other part, the guitar riffs and solos are very nice, reminding me of a more simple version of Dream Theater, but nothing really breathtaking either.

In conclusion, I believe Escape From the Phoenix to be a good album. However, i would have shortened the tracklist a bit removing the weaker songs ("Stories", "In the Absence of Sun"), and a little more variation in songwriting with different takes on structures would have benefited it. But in the end, I've had a fun time with it and I'm willing to take a bigger dive in their career.