Evergrey - Glorious Collision [2011]

For playing music in such a forgivingly positive genre, Evergrey seems to take on a strange number of naysayers, a legion of nemeses who hate the band's work with every fabric of their beings; and although I may not be a radical in this anti-Evergrey movement, I will say that the majority of Evergrey's output is weak and unnecessary power metal. The only difference now is that they aren't even power metal anymore. Glorious Collision is a mess of an album that resembles modern rock more than it resembles anything the band has done before. With the inferior quality that has been perpetuated by this band for years, one must surely think that a little change might be just what the doctor ordered. However, with the interminable session of mediocrity that this album spews forth, it might be best to pull the plug here and now.

When I say "modern rock," I don't mean that it follows the current flow of worthless, upbeat, radio-friendly bands like Nickelback. No, this has more in common with the slower, understated genre, i.e. the one that won't make you regurgitate your guts on the floor while listening to it. Evergrey certainly doesn't impress anywhere on this disc, but I guess it could have been worse. These are simplistic, rather slow pieces built with whiny guitar and a heavy reliance on choruses. Unfortunately, the choruses often falter, and some are just bad (see: "Wrong," "Restoring the Loss"). Tom Englund is the most controversial part of the band and an interesting vocalist in his own right. He's not bad, but he lacks range and power, sounding more like an American Idol winner than a real metal vocalist. "You" is definite proof of this, a worthless commercial number lacking any point but to make a quick buck. Considering who they are and what they play, why did they think this would work?

If you're desperate to find highlights, I suppose opener "Leave It Behind Us" is a pretty decent arena anthem, and the semi-balladic "The Phantom Letters" creates a pretty good atmosphere. This may seem like a sparse writeup, but that directly reflects Evergrey's latest effort: there simply isn't much here to warrant its gratuitous length. Who would want this many tracks from a band with so little imagination? Despite the change of style, Glorious Collision is directly on par with its predecessors. You'd think the band would either get better or worse with this release. Go figure. To conclude, this isn't the most worthless, phoned-in album I've heard this year, but even if you like this watered down style of music, you could do much better. Only for the most loyal fans of Evergrey and hard rock.

   Overall: 5.25/10 (Mediocre)