Band:	Evergrey
Album:	Torn
Style:	Power metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	September 19, 2008
Guest review by:	georgor

01. Broken Wings
02. Soaked
03. Fear
04. When Kingdoms Fall
05. In Confidence
06. Fail
07. Numb
08. Torn
09. Nothing Is Erased
10. Still Walk Alone
11. These Scars
12. Caught In A Lie [Limited edition bonus]

Evergreys' last album is already out a few months before my decision to write this review has been made. I really respect their music because in addition to many bands of metal nowadays, they can express dark feelings and make dark atmosphere without making albums containing any mainstream usual gothic or black metal material. I do like gothic and black metal, but these genres are "overcrowded" and many bands do it because it is today's trends. This results in many releases without quality in songwriting and emotion. Evergrey invented and maintained their own style no matter how diverse or good their discography becomes.
Every release of Evergrey needs its time before being sure of what you are hearing. Many levels of listening cover every aspect of their work, which in my opinion, regardless of how much I like it, none of their albums gave me the taste of off-handedness. This fact is central to me for giving them respect to what they do because this is what they feel to give as a band consisting of musicians-artists.

Torn, has nothing to do with their previous album "Monday Morning Apocalypse," as they seem to re-adopt their style from "Inner Circle" and back, but in more soft dimensions. This fact is not so bad because their songwriting remains on satisfactory levels as their performance does the same. The only weak element that I have to point out: despite this lowering of the hardness, unfortunately any emotional or dark elements have not been added. I really miss their wise use of female vocals in their songs, or the little parts where the piano was playing almost alone. On the other hand, Tom Englund gives excellent performance with his unique voice, giving once again life to the already well done written lyrics. The most catchy/mainstream part of the album goes through Broken Wings which is really pleasant as it is limited to this song. The other songs become more complicated and a bit (not a lot though) more progressive. In every album they put in a mainstream song (except "Monday Morning Apocalypse" in which more easy listening doze has been put together). If I have to illuminate some highlights, in my opinion these would be "Fail," "Torn," "Nothing is Erased."

It is for sure that Evergrey can do better. Nevertheless, this is a good album. If Evergrey didn't exist, and this album was the first release of another new band, I would be far more happy; but Evergrey have made their audience and their fans to expect something more than this. By their first release "The Dark Discovery" to their last they had put their standards really high.