RECREATION DAY

On Recreation Day (don't let title confuse you - its about facing death), follow-up to their first nig success, In Search of Truth, Sweden's Evergrey refine their trademark brand of dark, soul-drenching power prog. In Search of Truth is more popular with reviewers here than Recreation Day, but I think the latter is a slicker record, more diverse in sound and tempo (although I'd still like to see more variety here), with songs like End of Your Days, As I Lie Here Bleeding and namesake just screaming to be shouted out loud with your fists in the air, while Your Darkest Hour provides some simple, but appealing keyboard melodies and tempo changes.