Greetings in my blog, dear music lovers!
Once again I want to talk about heavy music. This time I offer a review on a studio work of the band Evergrey - "Escape of the Phoenix", released in 2021.
I have a lot of respect for this team and what they create. Each album that is born in this band becomes an event for me. Each of their creations is original in its own way, original and not similar to what the guys did before. But! Despite the commercially successful studio work "The Atlantic", fans almost accused Evergrey of commercialism and rather weak material presented in the tracklist. And here I partly agree, because there were records much nicer and more interesting before.
After listening to the full-length record "Escape of the Phoenix" left mixed feelings. I think it's because I still hold out hope that the band will get back to what they used to do and continue to play progressive metal, from which at the moment there are only pleasant memories. My favorite genre has been replaced by the now popular modern mixed with heavy metal.
Definitely, the key to all creativity and new studio work are keyboards and vocals. It is this cool duet that creates the very melancholy atmosphere for which many metal connoisseurs fell in love with Evergrey and listen to to this day.
But the problem with the guitar parts. Despite the heavy sound, interesting solo inserts and some original riffs, one gets the feeling that the guitars have been among the outsiders for several albums. These instruments, as it were, simply make it heavier, maintain the right mood during the development of the entire record.
Of the merits, I would like to single out a huge number of hit songs, among which are definitely “Forever Outsider” and “Eternal Nocturnal” with an amazing solo part. Evergrey has some really cool lyrical tracks. The group knows this very well and uses it. However, for me, four ballads on a tracklist of eleven songs is a bit of an excess.
Summing up, we can say the following. "Escape of the Phoenix" is another great page in Evergrey's discography, which certainly deserves attention. It has its drawbacks, but the pros overshadow them. The group is energetically moving in the chosen direction, and the musicians do it very well.
