TORN

EVERGREY is a band that has been very hard for me to clasify whether or not liking it in its overall music releases. Of course I knew the band by accident and was attracted by its good guitar riffs and melody. I would say this band from Gothenburg, Sweden focus their music in something called melodic dark metal sound, which in some compositions there are elements of power metal, gothic metals and a bit of progressive - and ... sometimes like hair bands of the 80s. Oh by the way, if you know what is typically called as emo-style (with band like My Chemical Romance) you might find the elements as well. Sometimes I thought this band is something like 'The Hair Band of Metal' ... or maybe Bon Jovi in Metal? Well, you know what I mean. That's the way I describe the band. You will find stunning guitar solo and beautifully crafted heavy chugging riffs that come across at transition segments and/or as rhythm section. If you like this kind of music, it may suit your taste.

I would say this 'Torn' album represents their return to form of classic style because their previous 'Monday Morning Apocalypse' is just a so and so in musical quality. But I find 'Torn' is much more spin-able compared to 'Monday Morning Apocalypse'.

Let me use my simple guideline in music review. First is in terms of melody ? i.e. the degree to which the main melody of the song is constructed from a combination of notes.I find all songs from the opening 'Broken Wings' to the 'These Scars' have good to excellent melody line that you can get from the vocal line or the guitar solo. Second is the harmonies ie. how each instrument contributes in creating sounds and notes. This album has successfully blended balanced notes resulted from guitars, vocal as well as keyboards that make good harmonies. Take any track from this album and you will definitely see nice harmonies. The riffs are also nice. I also notice that the opening riffs of 'Nothing Is Erased' is somewhat similar with Ritchie Blackmore' "Lost In Holywood'. Is it plagiarism? I don't know ....

Third is the complexity of the arrangement i.e. the degree in which the instrument (including vocal) being played by the musicians and how they generate a piece of music stream or segment of the music. This is also good as far as this album concern. Fourth is change of style i.e. how the style changes in a song which includes tempo changes and/ or heavy or soft musical sounds. 'Torn' is basically, most of them, a straight forward album with minimum change of style. That's why it does not sound quite progressive to my ears. The last one (fifth) is the structural integrity i.e. the degree to which all musical segments, including changes of style, form a cohesiveness of the music as a whole from start to end. At individual track level, I see that this album has a solid structural integrity.

Overall, this is a very good album especially for those who like energetic music with heavy chugging riffs, guitar solo and relatively fast tempo. If you compare with 'Monday Morning Apocalypse', of course this one is much better! 3.5 stars rating overall. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW