adg211288 When it was released in 2008, Evergrey's seventh album Torn came of something of a surprise. Let me quickly explain the situation between this band and myself back then. Evergrey was always a band that I struggled to get into, in fact the first time I heard them I hated them. Months later, when their singer Tom Englund sang on the Ayreon album 01011001, I found myself liking his vocals a lot, which inspired me to give his band another go. I am glad that I did because when I heard them again I began to appreciate them more and eventually this led me to buy their album In Search of Truth. I thought that considering how hard it was for me to get into them, the one album would be enough, despite the fact that I quickly begun to see In Search of Truth as a masterpiece of metal music. Then Evergrey made Torn and everything changed.

I’d heard some songs off of their previous offering Monday Morning Apocalypse and had not been much impressed to be honest. After all they were a band I struggled to get into and they were seemingly gradually going downhill from Recreation Day onwards, then suddenly Torn comes along and I have to re-think my opinion of them. Torn is easily the best thing that Evergrey have put out since In Search of Truth. But what makes it good is that it is definitely not the same album as the one I already had which I consider equally as good. Evergrey have found their way back as songwriters without making the same album over again. It's typical Evergrey true, but the music has a different feel to it than earlier albums, it's probably one of their most progressive release over all actually.

To be fair the writing is somewhat formulated, the songs have typical verses and chorus style structures instead of veering off into all sorts of musical genres and directions as other progressively inclined bands often do. While this may be seen by some as commercial it is something that Evergrey has always done and it’s nice to find a metal band that can be progressive and write real songs. Not that bands like Dream Theater and Opeth can’t but it’s nice to have something which is the same yet different, if you get what I mean. The choruses on Torn are particularly memorable and they are backed by some real interesting musical ideas.

It helps that the songs are all fantastic and have their own identity from each other. Some particular highlights from the album are Soaked, When Kingdoms Fall, Fail and Nothing is Erased. Easily my favourite from Torn however is the third song, Fear. Evergrey may not be writing lengthy epics but they do know how to write an epic chorus. I especially like the way the song leads into When Kingdoms Fall and it's aggressive yet progressive main riff. There's not really a bad track on Torn though, so maybe you'll have different highlights to me.

The musicianship on Torn is also extremely strong. Just because they don’t write like more known progressive metal bands such as Dream Theater doesn’t mean they are any less talented at what they do. The guitar playing is highly skilled in both rhythm and lead sections. The keyboards really shine in When Kingdoms Fall especially. Bass and drums make up a solid rhythm section for the band. Tom Englund complements it all with his excellent and emotive vocal performance.

Overall Torn is an exceptional release from Evergrey, one that I personally feel is sometimes overlooked and under-appreciated. It doesn't top their masterpiece In Search of Truth but it has a real good go at it. I'm very highly impressed by Torn and it's easily one of my favourite albums from 2008.

(Review originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)