Thoughts on a few new Evergrey tunes

Originally posted over on my forum (ProgPower USA):


I sit here in awe of the “Song A.” I honestly believe it's some of the darkest poetry I have heard put to music in a long time. The song builds in three parts and the intensity rises each time.

The first minute of the song sets the mood immediately. It's just two acoustic guitars providing more depth than most songs provide entirely. The nylon string scratches not only show great production work, but come off as they are bleeding. Tom's voice is as strong and as haunting as ever, yet he keeps things totally somber to match the intro.

The second part is a transition into the welcome return of the piano riff enveloped with the atmospheric keys. The vocals turn it up a notch by adding harmonies and the vocal punch of conviction. The power is there, yet still a tad restrained. The acoustics return toward the end and you can just feel the crescendo building.

The final segment is the money shot. The crunch hits, the drums pound, and the bass thumps. Carina and Tom remind us why they are the best one-two punch in the metal chorus world. The musical tempo continues to varies (reminds be a bit of the "In Search of Truth" days). You also get two distinct guitar solos...the first with some warm and soaring leads while the second works the shit out of the fret.

"..along with memories of things I've done to you
that will never come undone
Can't stop my world from burning down,
these flames are all my fault
When the ashes fall from heaven,
they fall as my confession...."

It's one of the best songs Evergrey have ever written.


******

“Song B” is the other song I can share with you. The one thing that you notice before you even start it up is a running time of 6:25. The three minute songs of “MMA” are nothing but a memory now as the road back to the abyss has come full circle.

The song hits you in the nuts from the go with the trademark Evergrey riffing before calming down. However, the keys are back adding that extra touch that was missing from “Torn.” The first verse/chorus portion has more in common with later day Evergrey with one exception: lyrics. There’s a lot of words to digest here folks. It would appear that the “commercial” aspects have been chucked out the window as I don’t see the average metalhead singing along here.

The second verse portion starts after a nice bass bit and the song starts building again with the returning crunch adding another layer. Chorus changes up in that lower harmonies are added that seem to emphasize the lyrics even further. It’s basically the opposite of the happy go lucky traditional type power metal chorus.

And now…welcome back the ‘Grey prog baby. A blistering 35 second guitar solo is followed by some heavy duty atmospheric keys and slow, soaring guitar leads. The tempo builds and the head-banging crunch returns to blessedly kicks my ass. It’s a full 90 seconds of instrumental bliss before the warm chorus returns with Carina this time! That’s three melodic verses with three different styles. The song abruptly closes down with a beautifuly piano melody.

Fucking A.