Band:	Evergrey
Album:	Theories Of Emptiness
Style:	Power metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	June 07, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

Disc I
01. Falling From The Sun
02. Misfortune
03. To Become Someone Else
04. Say
05. Ghost Of My Hero
06. We Are The North
07. One Heart [bonus]
08. The Night Within
09. Cold Dreams [feat. Jonas Renkse and Salina Englund]
10. Our Way Through Silence
11. A Theory Of Emptiness

Disc II [Deluxe Edition]
01. Ghost Of My Hero [orchestra version]
02. Ghost Of My Hero [piano version]

With a lengthy streak of consistently impressive albums, Evergrey have increasingly been giving off the impression of being evergreen. However, nothing lasts forever, and with Theories Of Emptiness, there are perhaps signs that things may not stay rosy indefinitely.

I admittedly skipped over the band’s seemingly divisive post-The Inner Circle phase, but since getting back on the band’s wagon with Hymns For The Broken, there’s been very little to complain about; the veterans’ signature evocative power-tinged prog style has been fruitful on each subsequent output, and perhaps none more so than on 2022’s A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament). Over the past decade, I’ve become so used to a reliably enjoyable experience whenever I press play on an Evergrey album that it really surprised me when I got to the end of my first listen to Theories Of Emptiness and was left with an overwhelming sense, one that I haven’t been able to shift with repeat playthroughs: a sense of... indifference?

On the surface, not much is different this time around; the band maintain their established level of ‘accessible heaviness’, with some crunching chugging sections countered by lighter melodic synths within classic verse/chorus song structures, all topped with Tom Englund’s renowned vocals. Yet right from the off, Theories Of Emptiness gets off to an underwhelming start; in contrast to predecessor A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament), which raced out of the gates with the hooky, dramatic grooves and huge chorus of “Save Us”, this new record begins with “Falling From The Sun”, an unremarkable ‘Evergrey-by-numbers’ effort with a breezy chorus that makes little impact.

Across the next few songs, Evergrey deliver all the expected elements, whether it’s a heavy intro into soft verse at the beginning “Misfortune” or melodic keys accentuating the metal on “To Become Someone Else”, yet I find these songs coming and going without leaving much to linger fondly on. Probably the first passage that inspires some excitement within me occurs in the second half of “To Become Someone Else”, as an dreamy ambient midsection transitions to a crunching heavy groove, one that lands a bigger punch than most of the heaviness across the record.

There is variety on Theories Of Emptiness as it progresses, whether it be the melancholic balladry of the piano/electronics-heavy “Ghost Of My Hero” or the djenty chugging that opens “We Are The North”, yet as each song comes and goes, I find myself wondering when Evergrey are going to serve up something that I would be excited to listen to again. Ultimately, while there’s moments here and there that grab my attention (the verse riff of “Say”, the anthemic chorus of “One Heart”), it’s really towards the end of the record that I encounter songs that finally scratch what has become a rather hungry itch.

For me, the clear highlight of Theories Of Emptiness is “The Night Within”; there’s a gravitas to the emotional and serious tone of this song that really clicks with me, right from its striking opening synth melody, and the chorus hits in a way that too many others on the album fail to do. The other track that I find myself resonating with is “Our Way Through Silence”, a song that does a lot with a little; the riffs thrive in simplicity, allow the tenderness and passion of its songwriting to shine through.

As with many reviews in this vein, it’s important to note that Theories Of Emptiness is not a bad album; Evergrey are far too competent to drop the ball to that extent, particularly as the writing on this album remains very consistent to the style they’ve been performing on the past few releases. There’s nothing here that should deter existing fans, and a lot of the band’s fanbase will likely be satisfied by this release. Ultimately, though, Theories Of Emptiness just sounds a little too much like Evergrey on autopilot for me.