Search - Evergrey :: The Dark Discovery

THE DARK DISCOVERY - THE FORGOTTEN ALBUM

Mr D. | Cave Creek, Az United States | 03/26/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"EVERGREY IS FOR REAL!!!!I know you probably love Dream Theater. Hell, I do too, and maybe you also love Symphony X and possibly Shadow Gallery. They're all great musicians making great music but what I want from you, my readers, is to open up that skeptical thing you call a mind and entertain the remote possibility that I might know what I'm talking about and that these guys are the musical equivalent of the second coming of C..... Now, I think many of you out there are already familiar with 'Our Grey Boys' and you know what I'm talking about, so my job with you is easier. You've already got In Search of Truth which was, hands down, the BEST PROGRESSIVE METAL ALBUM OF 2001 and probably their followup Recreation Day and you might even have their very strong sophomore effort Solitude*Dominance*Tragedy, so You're all primed for another good Evergrey album. Trouble is The Dark Discovery is not good, it's SUPER DUPER. Yes folks Evergrey's debut album is fantastic. In fact I Like it almost, as much as In Search of Truth. Some songs I like even more. The Dark Discovery Of course, even though, I had the benefit of having heard all of Evergrey's newer albums first and kind of knew what to expect, this was their debut, after all, and my expectations were subdued. However it only took about three or four tracks to know that this album was not inferior to the other albums. This is a fine album in the classic Evergrey style. And just what is Evergrey's style? Afraid you were going to ask that. Evergrey sounds like, well Evergrey. In truth Evergrey has their own morose, passionate, emotional, mysterious style that is heavy metal mixed with classical, truly unlike any other bands. Tom Englund You've probably noticed that founder Tom Englund is the glue that holds the band together. Well he's also the icing on the cake. Englund, whose voice is similar to but a little deeper than Rod Stewart, is the most emotional and passionate singer, along with Joe Cocker, I've ever heard. He gives life to the songs, he makes the songs soar. Although Evergrey's subject matter is dark, dreary and gloomy I don't really notice because the music is so glorious. Evergrey The Dark Discovery - 1998 1. Blackened Dawn (3:52)
2. December 26th (5:05)
3. Dark Discovery (3:35)
4. As Light Is Our Darkness (1:59)
5. Beyond Salvation (4:03)
6. Closed Eyes (6:39)
7. Trust And Betrayal (4:18)
8. Shadowed (3:52)
9. When The River Calls (4:28) 10. For Every Tear That Falls (4:14)
11. To Hope Is To Fear (5:39) Total Time: 47:52 Summation I would like to give this album five stars but objectively there is a couple weak spots, which oddly did not bother me but might bother other listeners. Firstly, there seems to be a common thread linking the delivery of too many of the songs. While individually the song may be wonderful, as a group their similarity is noticable. This was more acceptible when I thought The Dark Discovery was a concept album, wherein each new song fed off the previous but apparently they feed off each other without the benefit of a story. Secondly, some of the middle songs were not up to five star quality and even the inimitible Englund vocals could'nt make them so. Similar Artists As I intimated before no other bands sound like Evergrey, however the following bands do have similarities: Tad Morose, D.G.M., Threshold, Mastermind , Dream Theater and Superior"

Evergrey's First

Mike | Maryland | 04/26/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This was actually the first album that Evergrey made, but due to problems with their original label, it was not released in the US until 2003. The songs haven't been remastered, which would have been nice since the production is so poor and raw. For those of you who like that, this might not be a problem. But with the production, it is nearly impossible to discern the riffs; the crunchy guitars sound exactly the same; just a pounding noise. The guitar solos are few and unremarkable. Even a guest solo by the fantastic Andy LaRocque is unmemorable, partially because there are backing vocals, which cover up the sound of the lead guitar. That being said, "December 26" and the title track are excellent cuts. If you are not bothered by poor production, or if you are a diehard fan of Evergrey, you should definitely pick this up.

P.S. The bonus video on my CD is inaccessible. I'm not sure if it is like this on all of the special editions or just mine."

Pretty good for Evergrey's first release.

Parker Buessow | Sequim, Washington USA | 04/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a fan of Evergrey for a few years now, and I decided to back track and see what this band sounded like in the early days. "The Dark Discovery" is really good for the band's first release, showing just as much emotion if not more then their newest studio release, "The Inner Circle". Tom Englund is currenlty the only original member of his band, they've changed quite a lot over the years and have earned themselves's a reputation as a leading progressive metal band."