MIND GAMES

I'm wandering quite often about the past and the future of the so called progressive metal music. After all, the conclusion of my inner thoughts was rather disappointing... Very few artists have taken seriously their intentions and even fewer succeeded to present to the public a refreshing and non predictable musical proposition.

Everwood belong to the brave new generation that still has self consciousness, true belief to the vision and the guts to record a remarkable set of dynamic compositions that will surely "touch" the sensitive chords of every serious prog metal fan. The production is simply outstanding (I still can't find a logical reason to explain why the Greek bands & studios aren't able to reach such quality), the magnificent artwork reminded me a lot of Arena's previous opus "Contagion" and what I can really say about the content of the album?

"Mind Games" is quite long in duration but on the contrary there isn't a single non inspiring or mediocre song that flows into boredom. The expressive and lyrical approach of their singer (although I insist that his interpretation owes much more to prog rock performers than modern metal vocalists) is surely the ace in the sleeve of the band but hopefully it's not the only one. The overall songs structure has similarities with Poverty's No Crime's composing way, one of the most honest and decent European prog bands but after all I don't think this is the main point in our case.

I've listened many times the album and I confess that the more I'm listening it, the more I discover well hidden rhythms and melodies which can't be traced from the beginning. "Mind Games" is a rich effort by all this means. The orchestrations are beautifully placed in such a way that leaves no hesitation about the potential of the quintet and its ability to fulfill our expectations for high class, melodic and powerful progressive metal. And mark the word METAL if you please.

In conclusion, the excitement I felt for this record is something that I truly want to share with every fan/supporter of this music. Make a favor to yourselves and buy this album. Regrets don't come easy and be sure that in the case of Everwood, they'll never hit your door. Simply essential!

well first i must admit that i have a spaicel place in my heart to all the east europe bend in all kind of music and especily houngary and bands like solaris for exemple in one of my all time favorit band so when i first heard about everwood i had a strong feilling that it will be a love story with the bend and i hade to get all thire albums even befour i hard a singel note of thy music and so i did and last week i got the 2 albums thy releses.after i heard the album my first instinct was to writh the review and give it 5 stars but to be fair i hold myself to whiting at least on week and listen to the album at least 10 to 20 time befour i writh so the day as come and now im writhing after 50 times i heard the album {to much for one week}and when i found some week points in the album{i wish i wasent}i know it will be a fair review so here it is:the first thing that cutch me is the voice of there singer i know i hear thet voice somwher but it took me 30 times to understand that the voice of mr.balazs is very much like the voice of zak stevens from savatage and circle 2 circle fame.as i love savatage and mr stevens very much i see it as a good start and as thire playing is very well its bring me to the only week point in the album:lace of original music. for me its sounds like a savatage album and even savatage is one of my all time metal band i wish everwood made more uniqe album then this.anyway i love this album and i recomended him but becous the lass originaliti i think 3 and half stars its fair and as i start to listen to thire next album thet is much beter then this i belive he get more stars but that another story.

Another east-Europian band,but this time in the progressive metal genre,EVERWOOD were formen in 1997 under the name of Neverwood by childhood friends Attila Tanzcer and Viktor Erdos.Several line-up changes will take place in the first years' of the band's existence until in 2000 the band recorded their first demo.After 2 years the band released a second deno/EP with the new vocalist Balazs Koncz and,due to the great critics,the band gained some popularity,enough to lead them to their first ever record called ''Mind games'' in 2005...

...and I confess that this is a very strong debut.Combining the complexity of DREAM THEATER,the elegancy of SAVATAGE and the aggresiveness of PAIN OF SALVATION,the band delivers very good progressive metal with high potentials for the future.One of the strongest aces of the band is the presence of Attila Tanczer behind the keyboards,a very balanced keyboard player with a highly symphonic style of playing alternating between grandiose bombastic complex playing and minimalistic atmospheric passages.Balasz Koncz's voice is another strong point of the band,very close to Zach Stevens of SAVATAGE,and a tight style of singing without mistakes.The tracks are quite unsimilar but all of them are great with nice well- crafted arrangements and strong vocals.Highlights of the album are ''Rememberances of a fallen angel'',a dramatic track in the vein of DREAM THEATER,''The Colonists'',superb track with great piano/keyboards and a sound between OPETH and PoS,''Jeanne D'Arc'',an old track of the band with heavy guitars,tight rhythm section and bombastic keyboards,''Pagan'',which contains the greatest rhythm of all and a thrilling soft middle part,and finally ''Who's the one to blame'',which is their closest comparison to SAVATAGE of ''Edge of thorns''-era...

The hungarian progressive metal scene is in a constant rise for quite a long time and EVERWOOD are just a proof of that fact.Anyone who's deep into progressive metal and likes different style of arrangements,speeds and moods should check EVERWOOD out.Their debut is very strong and deserves a 3.5 stars rating.Well done!