Band:	Evergrey
Album:	Recreation Day
Style:	Power metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	2003
Guest review by:	The Silent Man

01. The Great Deceiver
02. End Of Your Days
03. As I Lie Here Bleeding
04. Recreation Day
05. Visions
06. I'm Sorry [Dilba cover]
07. Blinded
08. Fragments
09. Madness Caught Another Victim
10. Your Darkest Hour
11. Unforgivable
12. Trilogy Of The Damned [bonus]
    1 - As Light Is Our Darkness
    2 - Words Mean Nothing
    3 - The Shocking Truth

I think that Evergrey is really one of the most original bands in the international metal scene. Although this has been considered a progressive metal act, InsideOut labels Recreation Day as "File under Metal". In fact, this album has not a definite musical style. A few adjectives to describe it: dark, gloomy, obscure. The only band that could come close to their style is Pain Of Salvation [but without all this darkness!].

Everything is dark, really dark: the frontcover, the booklet, the band, the music, the artwork, the lyrics and the band's name. I've never seen any prog band so dark before: their music could be labeled as "depressive metal": obscure keyboard sounds, gloomy choirs, dark piano parts, energic guitars, painful vocal melodies. The songwriting is really original: energy, darkness and melody unite in this beautiful album, which is a mixture of elements from various styles: depressive Doom feelings, Progressive time changes, heavy Thrash guitars and maybe a bit of Black choirs. But everything is submerged by a terrible Dark atmosphere, that reminds me of Opeth's Blackwater Park.
The lyrics are good, although the main theme [this time hidden in background] is always the same: death. The thing I like best is the invadent gloomy atmospheres: if you listen to Recreation Day while it's raining outside or when the sky is dark, you might feel a shudder running through your back!

If you like heavy prog and you're looking for something new, Evergrey may be the right band. And if you go and buy now the limited edition, you will find a 9 minute bonus track [just piano and vocals] that is, in my opinion, one of the best songs on this record: dark, dark, dark!

Keep the dark side!