Evergrey
The Dark Discovery

THE REVIEW

The real breakthrough still hasn't happened for them. Some excellent albums, others less successful, but overall the musical work of Evergrey can certainly be deemed positive. A path that began with their formation in the now distant 1995 and then with the release three years later of the first full-length of their career: titled "The dark discovery," it presents itself as the most "underground" work of the band, influenced by an experience yet to be cultivated and a poor recording, due also to the limitation of a small label like Gothenburg Noiseworks.

Evergrey's music is a power/progressive/gothic with multiple nuances but still oriented towards a dark storyline, which never approaches the lighthearted happiness of Gamma Ray and Freedom Call. Particularly in this first album, there's a strong presence of guitars held up by the duo Bronell/Englund: the latter, already the founder of the group, is also the only member of the band who remains from the release of "The dark discovery," now becoming the indisputable leader. Although his voice isn't what we can hear today (Englund's vocal skills have improved significantly since the beginning), good old Tom already demonstrates his vocal and songwriting talents in this debut, shouldering much of the work on the CD.

Despite the inexperience and a recording that is certainly not thrilling, the first studio album of the five Swedes still manages to hit the target. Earth-shaking yet melodic tracks like "Trust and betrayal" and "When the river calls" alternate with more pragmatic ones in their evolution: standouts are "Closed eyes" and "For every tear that falls" where the band also showcases a more sophisticated taste for melody and dreamy passages, already hinting at the "atmospheric" characteristics that would be further amplified in later works.

I understand the increasingly prevalent prejudice of those approaching this type of music: all the same, lyrics with dragons and princesses and things like that (not that they are wrong, quite the contrary). Having said that, there are elements in the genre that deserve to be explored, especially for the work and the ability to stand out that they have shown over the years; Evergrey is a band that has managed to develop a personal and diversified musical credo and for this, they deserve at least some listening.

Good first try.

1. "Blackened Dawn" (3:52)
2. "December 26th" (5:06)
3. "Dark Discovery" (3:36)
4. "As Light Is Our Darkness" (2:00)
5. "Beyond Salvation" (4:03)
6. "Closed Eyes" (6:40)
7. "Trust And Betrayal" (4:18)
8. "Shadowed" (3:52)
9. "When The River Calls" (4:29)
10. "For Every Tear That Falls" (4:14)
11. "To Hope Is To Fear" (5:40)