Label: Napalm Records
Release date: 7. 6. 2024
Production: Tom S. Englund & Jonas Ekdahl
Album length:
Genre: Progressive Metal
Rating: 9.0/10
Evergrey, it’s fair to say, are the long-lived legends of Swedish progressive metal. Their latest studio album, number fourteen in the catalog, “Theories Of Emptiness”, shows absolutely no sign of the quintet slowing down. That goes for their creative output too: the quality of the material ‘sounds’ strictly in step with the quantity of releases over the last few years, which makes Evergrey one of the few bands with this much mileage that can loudly and proudly brag about their ‘inexhaustible creativity’.
Nobody can take away what that last sentence of the intro says, not even on the new studio album “Theories Of Emptiness”. Tom S. Englund, the driving engine of a quintet whose lineup has stayed the same for years – which, across the run of albums, is also key to keeping that exceptional chemistry and creativity alive – just doesn’t stop. So Evergrey can’t afford to slip into a washed-out ‘repeat’ of chewed-over ideas they’ve already used in the past.
Don’t get us wrong. “Theories Of Emptiness” is everything you’d expect from Evergrey in 2024. All the essential elements that define the face and the work of this top-class band are here (again). They stay here. Manning the barricades of artistic graft that continues to impress. But the album also reaches for a few things that surprise, proving that ‘innovation’ and steering clear of stagnation (the opposite of ‘progressive’) remain the guiding light for Englund and the crew on these 11 freshly minted studio compositions. The single for the track Cold Dreams (featuring Jonas Renkse of Katatonia on ‘growl’ vocals) already confirmed that the album would reach for new means of expression. It’s one of the most progressively built compositions around, with constant buildup and a varied flow of motivic structures. Aggressive parts trade places with calmer passages. At every turn. The vocal arrangements on this track are special, and no other song on the album follows them. The atmospheric contrasts are cranked up sharply as a result, and the song is everything we understand by Evergrey in 2024, all in one place! A bold and ambitious choice of album single, which on release already hinted that the new record marks an artistic departure from its predecessor “A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament)” (2022, RockLine review).
That Evergrey are with us just the way we want them is confirmed right away by the opener Far From The Sun, a typical ‘Evergrey predator’ with one of the most irresistibly memorable choruses the band knows how to string through their albums (the trail left by Omnious on the last album is indelible). The song crawls under your skin immediately. Hypnotic vibes crossed with a ‘bristling’, massive, production-driven destructiveness in the aggressive phrasing. Englund’s vocals remain a fascinating building block of the band’s expressive power, the elemental core of their artistic statement. The value of a voice like that – recognizable in a heartbeat – is essential. Right after it comes Misfortune, which confirms they’re ‘experimenting’ with things Evergrey haven’t tried before. The chorus is arranged with ‘crowd chants’, a trend hugely popularized in pop music in recent years, yet Evergrey have worked it into their artistry so cunningly that this innovation keeps the band’s musical dossier fully intact. In fact, it adds new value to it. Freshness. It confirms that Evergrey keep evolving.
A new artistic package that brilliantly balances compositional tightness and ultra-catchy musicality (the chorus melodies) with strictly progressive-metal tricks, and it works convincingly and commandingly in every way. There are atmospheric shake-ups that deliver a moment of unpredictable twists, while constantly stirring up the listener’s urge to keep exploring the album. It grabs you in a truly ‘hellish’ way after a few spins in the player. Songs like We Are The North (with its pronounced riff-heavy bristle) and To Become Someone Else are prime examples of ‘progressive dynamism’ according to the classic ‘Evergrey recipe’! Balancing that out are the parts of the album that are more compactly composed. The single Say. It cranks that musical predatory instinct up again. The peak is the chorus melody, which is sure to hand fans of the band one of their future live favorites. One Heart, ‘classic heavy-metal aggressive’ and hitting you straight on, is another such moment. With similar energy, but a bit less riff ‘bristle’, Our Way To Silence speaks up near the end of the album, which is wrapped up atmospherically by the title instrumental (a shorter progressive-rock piece) backed by a female narration.
Melancholy, longing, darkness. The production holds on to all those elements that define Evergrey. The ballad Ghost Of My Hero, by intensifying that bittersweet pain, is the album’s special fascination and at the same time puts all the quality of Englund’s vocal re-experiencing in sharper relief. The vocalist confirms an extraordinary maturity in adapting his voice to magnify the message of the song itself. That comes with the years. With experience.
In short. The album “Theories Of Emptiness” is another brilliantly realized goal for the band. The ‘innovations’ are skillfully woven into their artistry. Skillfully ‘soaked in’. An album with a noticeable artistic departure that will thrill all the band’s devotees. No doubt about it. At the same time, it proves that the band is in no way stopping or stagnating, but maturing artistically and developing further.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Falling From The Sun
2. Misfortune
3. To Become Someone Else
4. Say
5. Ghost Of My Hero
6. We Are The North
7. One Heart
8. The Night Within
9. Cold Dreams
10. Our Way Through Silence
11. A Theory Of Emptiness
Lineup:
Tom S. Englund – vocals, guitar
Henrik Danhage – guitar
Rikard Zander – keyboards
Jonas Ekdahl – drums
Johan Niemann – bass guitar
Guest musicians:
Jonas Renkse – vocal duet on track no. 9
Salina Englund – backing vocals on track no. 9
