EVERGREY: "Hymns for the broken"

Rating RRRR
Label: AFM Records 2014
Review by Martien Koolen

 I have always been a fan of the music of Evergrey and that was mainly due to the wonderful, dark, melancholic vocals of Tom Englund. Sad but true the band never really made a commercial breakthrough and for a while it looked like that Glorious Collision (2011) was their final album. Luckily that did not happen and now Evergrey released their best album so far, called Hymns For The Broken. This new CD contains 12 great songs, filled with amazing melodies, catchy choruses, heavy hooks and riffs, superb guitar solos and last but not least breathtaking vocals by Englund.

The albums kicks off with the dark, instrumental The Awakening, which is in fact the ìovertureî for one of the highlights of the album: King Of Errors. It is also the first single of the album and it is an amazing song which I cannot get out of my hearing system for a very long time. Archaic Rage is another highlight of the album and The Fire is a remarkable song with its power riff and beautiful children's choir.

Evergrey saves the best for last, because the last two epic songs The Grand Collapse and The Aftermath are perfect examples of how progressive metal should sound like. Both songs have great melodies, lots of diversity and are flooded with atmospheric keyboard work and grinding guitar sounds and solos. But above all there is the melancholic, deep, melodic voice of Englund which sets the standard for this sort of music; very impressive.

Hymns For The Broken is as good as it gets, being a metal roller coaster of very high quality. So, check it out and you will NOT be disappointed and be sure to play it at maximum volume, so that you can enjoy it even more. Evergrey is back with their best album till date, without any doubt!!