RECREATION DAY

I quite like this Evergrey album. It is dark but melodic and the tracks exude a certain raw power which at times skirt the fringes of thrash. This makes it quite a heavy listen but nevertheless enjoyable. There are parallels with the likes of Dream Theater and Pain Of Salvation here but yet Evergrey manage to retain their own identity.

There is some very nice guitar playing in evidence with some nice solos and very cool acoustic work on "Madness Caught Another Victim". The vocals are strong, clear and well delivered. The other instruments are no so distinctive as the guitars though the keyboards are allowed to stand out at times. Tracks of note are the title track, "I'm Sorry" and "Your Darkest Hour".

Overall, it deserves 3 stars being very good but falling just short of the flair that would make it truly distinctive and therefore essential.