### Evergrey: The inner circle

#### 09/05/08 || theProphet

Music that is generally classified as progressive metal is often guilty of packing fudge, yet there is, in my opinion, one important exception, namely Evergrey. It should also be noted that progressive DEATH metal generally kicks ass, as opposed to inserting its penis into it.

Anyways, Evergrey sorta had their big break with the 2003 release “Recreation Day”, which featured a cover of Swedish pop singer Dilba’s (more like DILDO, HAHAHAHAAHAH) “I’m Sorry”. We all know though, that the big break ain’t shit unless you can follow it up with style. Enter “The Inner Circle”...

“The Inner Circle” is a concept album that deals primarily with religion and cults. The lyrics tell a story of some dude who gives up his entire life to join some religious cult, and how he surrenders more and more of his own free will to become further accepted by the cult and accepted into its “Inner Circle”. Secondly, the album also deals with child abuse, in particular the kind associated with religion in general, and Catholicism in particular. It may come as no surprise that this kind of love, the love between a man and a boy, is practiced within the aforementioned cult. Evergrey always had a knack for telling rather unconventional stories, and the lyrics manage to stay clear from cheese-country, at least most of the time. The lyrics are, if far from top-notch, well fucking above average.

The fact that these lyrics are performed by one of metal’s best singers is of course also a big fucking plus. However, I do understand those people who have a beef with Englund’s voice. He has a tendency to overdo his vocals with his incessant wailing but I for one am not very bothered by this, though, and when he really sings his heart out like on “In the Wake of the Weary”, you really can’t deny this guy’s talent. Add to this that he is one skilled axeman as well, a fact that is proved is proved many times on “The Inner Circle”.

I will now extract Tom S. Englunds penis from my mouth and spit out his cum (yes, I am a “spit” kind of guy) just so that you don’t think I love this guy too much. Actually, my liking of him is in no fucking way in proportion to the obscene amount of space he has already gotten in this review, so it’s time to move on…

The riffs here are fucking great, that’s all there is to it, man. The first time I heard the opening of “Ambassador” I was floored. I really wanted to play that song at a school concert , but unfortunately, I sucked too much at guitar. Evergrey always knew how to write great, sorta percussive riffs, and when coupled with the usually equally awesome keyboards (which tend to be a bit overpowering at times, though), this makes for some truly epic fucking songs. For an (two) example(s), just listen to “Where All Good Sleep”, or “Harmless Wishes”.

The production suffers a bit from being a little thin, it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing to crank up that bass a little (lot), for example. Especially since it is handled by none other than present The Project Hate bassist Michael Håkansson, whom we know is capable of great stuff. It’s audible though, and the different instruments are easily distinguished, so I’m settling for being content with the production department.

Performance-wise, this is really good on all points, and I’ll just leave it at that. Listen to the fucking disc and see for yourselves!

Final mention: the last track “When the Walls Go Down” an instrumental with the same kind of voice samples strewn all over the entire album, is absolutely super mega great! The guy who is talking/crying/whimpering on the recordings should be on more albums, his performance is fucking great and at times it manages to make me feel really uncomfortable. I think this song is the reason that “The Inner Circle” is the only Evergrey album on my mp3 player right now.

7.5 anal violations performed by men of the cloth out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2004
- Label: InsideOut Music
- Website: www.evergrey.net
- Band
- Tom S. Englund: vocals, guitars
- Henrik Danhage: guitars
- Michael Håkansson: bass
- Richard Zander: keyboards
- Jonas Ekdahl: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. A Touch of Blessing
- 02. Ambassador
- 03. In the Wake of the Weary
- 04. Harmless Wishes
- 05. Waking Up Blind
- 06. More Than Ever
- 07. The Essence of Conviction
- 08. Where All Good Sleep
- 09. Faith Restored
- 10. When the Walls Go Down