{"id":45241,"date":"2014-09-24T07:04:47","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T12:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=45241"},"modified":"2014-10-01T16:19:09","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T21:19:09","slug":"evergrey-hymns-for-the-broken-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/evergrey-hymns-for-the-broken-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Evergrey | Hymns For The Broken<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"EvergreyThere have been some major changes in the Evergrey camp since the Swedish dark progressive metal pioneers released their 2011 album Glorious Collision<\/em>. Drummer Hannes Van Dahl left to join Sabaton, so former Evergrey drummer Jonas Ekdahl stepped back in, bringing another familiar face \u2013 guitarist Henrik Danhage \u2013 with him. In addition to the lineup change, Evergrey also has a new label (AFM) and producer (Jacob Hansen) for their ninth studio album, titled Hymns For The Broken<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It’s probably not fair to use the phrase \u201cEvergrey is back\u201d when: a) they never left, and b) their previous albums Torn<\/em> and Glorious Collision<\/em> were really good, but Hymns For The Broken<\/em> is such a return to form that you can’t help but think of it as a new beginning. Part of it is the chemistry that vocalist\/guitarist\/founder and overall mastermind Tom Englund has with this lineup. You can tell they’re all on the same page. It’s also in the overall atmosphere of Hymns For The Broken<\/em>. As soon as the instrumental opener \u201cThe Awakening\u201d kicks in, you immediately feel the kind of atmosphere that made albums like In Search of Truth<\/em> and The Inner Circle<\/em> the classics they are.<\/p>\n

Even without spending a lot of time studying the lyrics, you can tell Hymns For the Broken<\/em> has a high emotional quotient. There’s really no one better at this kind of \u201crip your heart out and display it to the world\u201d delivery than Englund, and when he’s backed by Rikard Zander’s evocative keyboards (see: \u201cMissing You\u201d), the songs go straight to your heart. Not that the music is all emotion and introspection. Hymns For The Broken<\/em> has that trademark Evergrey heaviness, as witnessed by the first single \u201cKing of Errors,\u201d which is representative of the album’s overall tone. The album has that majestic bleakness and Evergrey does so well, and for the first time in a long time it works flawlessly from start to finish.<\/p>\n

Even though it’s only been three years since the last Evergrey album, Hymns For The Broken<\/em> really does feel like the beginning of a new era for the band. It instantly qualifies as a classic Evergrey album, and ought to both please the band’s steadfast fans as well as win back those who might have drifted away in recent years. It’s also a strong contender for the year’s best progressive metal album.<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: The limited edition CD version of Hymns For The Broken<\/em> comes with a bonus CD featuring piano versions of \u201cBarricades,\u201d \u201cHymns For the Broken\u201d and \u201cThese Scars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genre: Progressive Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nTom Englund (v)(g)
\nRikard Zander (k)(v)
\nJohan Nieman (b)(v)
\nHenrik Danhage (g)(v)
\nJonas Ekdahl (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\nThe Awakening
\nKing of Errors
\nA New Dawn
\nWake a Change
\nArchaic Rage
\nBarricades
\nBlack Undertow
\nThe Fire
\nHymns For the Broken
\nMissing You
\nThe Grand Collapse
\nThe Aftermath<\/p>\n

Label: AFM Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.evergrey.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9.25\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — There have been some major changes in the Evergrey camp since the Swedish dark progressive metal pioneers released their 2011 album Glorious Collision. Drummer Hannes Van Dahl […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":45242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8645,2317,10025,10026,1098,10027],"class_list":{"0":"post-45241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-evergrey","11":"tag-hymns-for-the-broken","12":"tag-progressive-metal","13":"tag-tom-englund"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}