| The
Review |
Never one to sit idle for too long, Evergrey is back with
their 6th studio album, Monday Morning Apocalypse . This time,
they've decided to take a different approach, with both their
production, and their songwriting. The result is a very solid
effort that sounds fantastic, but is lacking the edge and
technical skill that Evergrey fans have grown to love.*****
I won't lie - Evergrey is one of my favorite bands, and
as such, this has been a highly anticipated disc for me. The
Inner Circle was a fantastic album, from beginning to end,
and it is difficult to top something so well put together.
With the shift in sound and an effort to broaden their appeal,
Evergrey was unsuccessful in topping T he Inner Circle.*****
That being said, the guitars are loud and chugging, the
choruses are catchy, the verses powerful, the lyrics are thoughtful,
the instrumentation top notch, and as always, Englund's vocals
stellar. However, there really aren't any stand-out tracks
on this disc. "Till Dagmar" is the only track with its own
identity, only because it's so drastically different from
everything else on the album. It's a soft, brief piano instrumental,
and is truly beautiful. *****
Songs like "The Curtain Fall," "Unspeakable," and even
the title track "Monday Morning Apocalypse" tread familiar
territory, but are more straight forward than similiar songs
on previous Evergrey albums. "Closure" is a softer song -
a piano ballad featuring Englund's soulful singing, but again,
these are things we've heard Evergrey do before. They do them
so well too, but I can't help but feel like this album is
a step backwards.*****
If this album is trying to gain new fans by becoming
more mainstream, without abandoning the familiar Evergrey
territory, then the band has succeeded. This album is truly
more accessable, and hopefully will gain the attention they
rightly deserve. I also imagine that these songs will be incredible
additions to their live set. However, there's not much to
seperate this disc from the other standout albums they've
created so far. Make no mistake - this is an excellent CD
that should impress any metal fan. Fans of the band also should
add this to their collection. However, as an Evergrey album,
I cannot help but be disappointed, because I expect so much
more.***** Final score - 7/10
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