Evergrey - Recreation Day

Year of Release: 2003
Label: InsideOut
Catalog Number: IOMCD 117 SPV 085-65532
Format: CD
Total Time: 49:19:00

Recreation Day is Sweden-based band Evergrey's fourth opus and follow up to the glorious In Search Of Truth. This release sees the band perfecting their already unique sound, taking it to the next step.

On Recreation Day you will find all the Evergrey trademarks such as the powerful, crunchy, staccato styled guitar riffing, the atmospheric, piano-laden keys and Tom Englund's truly stunning and emotive vocals. It's perhaps a little heavier on the guitar side this time around which makes it a very powerful and catchy affair. The songs are very well written and the melodies fall into place on the first spin already and like fine wine gets better and better with time. In terms of tempo, catchiness, and atmosphere, this is very much in the same style as the two previous albums, but Evergrey anno 2003 is a more mature and confident band that knows exactly what they want and how to achieve it. All songs are melodically very strong backed up by layers of guitars and vocal harmonies, all blessed by the underlying gloomy, dark atmosphere. In fact the songs on Recreation Day are frighteningly good and the inevitable question comes forward, does it actually get any better than this? I really don't have any answers to these questions, all I know is that this is probably the best and most consistent Evergrey record to date and instead of worrying if they can ever top this CD, I'd rather spend my time enjoying this CD. Already from the first song "The Great Deceiver" you know you are in for something special and the list of favourites goes on track by track. Among such a quality packed number of songs it is not an easy task to single out favourite songs, but it's hard not to mention the grandiose, masterpiece of the title track "Recreation Day" or closing number "Unforgivable Sin." These songs possess every element you want in a song, and not to mention the wonderful cover song "I'm Sorry," a powerful and dramatic version of the hit by Swedish female artist Dilba. The instrumentation is at the top of its game and even though all members do a smoking job on their respective instruments, it is the guitar work and vocals that are most prominent.

The production by Englund and guitar partner Henrik Danhage, along with the much talented Fredrik Nordstrom (In Flames/HammerFall) is dynamic, powerful, crystal clear and bombastic sounding. Nordstom also produced the last album by Pagan's Mind and these two bands latest CDs are probably the best powerprog albums released in a long while. There is nothing here I would like to put my finger on in a negative way; to me, this is a perfect album! Evergrey has taken the difficult steps of improving with each CD. Recreation Day is a scorcher of an album and with this testimony Evergrey should be the leading band of this genre. Simply brilliant!

Similar To: Symphony X/Pagan's Mind

Released in North America by Inside Out Music America ( IOMA 2051-2)

[This review originally appeared February 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
The Great Deceiver (4:18) / End of Your Days (4:38) / As I Lie Here Bleeding (3:51) / Recreation Day (5:21) / Visions (6:01) / I'm Sorry (3:18) / Blinded (4:34) / Fragments (5:37) / Madness Caught Another Victim (2:59) / Your Darkest Hour (6:14) / Unforgivable (4:28)

Musicians:
Tom S. Englund -guitars and vocals
Henrik Danhage - guitars
Patrick Carlsson -drums and percussion
Michael Hakansson - bass
Rikard Zander - keyboards

Discography:
The Dark Discovery (1998)
Solitude*Dominance*Tragedy (1999)
In Search Of Truth (2001)
Recreation Day (2003)
Inner Circle (2004)
The Dark Discovery - Special Edition (2004)
Solitude*Dominance*Tragedy - Special Edition (2004)
A Night To Remember - Live 2004 (2005)
Monday Morning Apocalypse (2006)
Torn (2008)
Glorious Collision (2011)
Hymns For The Broken (2014)
The Storm Within (2016)

A Night To Remember - Live 2004 (DVD) (2005)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin SE

Added: December 18th 2004
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.evergrey.net
Hits: 3048
Language: english