Evergrey - Solitude Dominance Tragedy (1999)

This longplay will decorate any collection of metalhead. It's not much like the work of other teams, however, complements the overall picture of progressive metal. At the same time, the musicians do not shun a variety of elements ranging from doom, gothic and to power with thrash. If you were looking for something really gloomy, meaningful and non-standard - read on. The article will certainly be music from the material and analysis of some of its interesting points.

If Evergrey' debut "The Dark Discovery", released back in 98th year, is not music for everyone, then "Solitude Dominance Tragedy", released a year later, is intended for a wider audience. Moreover, longplay can be called one of the most original works by Evergrey, primarily due to the special atmospheric sound and interesting arrangements. Yes, it is the arrangements that are the main “trick” of this unusual album, which fully justifies the label “dark progressive” stuck to the band.

Interestingly, in contrast to the first work, keyboards have been added to the category of full-fledged instruments, almost on a par with competing guitar in the mission of bringing the main musical themes to the listener. For example, in the gloomy “The Shocking Truth”, which tells about the experience of abduction of people by aliens, guitar is generally only a background.

And the most interesting thing is that at the time of recording this studio keyboardist, there was no in group at all, although a certain Zachary Stephens recorded all session.

In addition to serious work on decorating the compositions with pleasant audio surprises such as speech samples, violin solo in the opening track or harp, it is worth noting the growing composer potential of Evergrey. Although at that time Englund's voice is still somewhat damp, the drama in his parts is already quite obvious and even convincing, and the vocals themselves have become thoughtful and memorable.

A very interesting track completes the album. Darkest "The Corey Curse" with truly hypnotizing keys, a Pink Floyd style guitar, twin solos, an interesting self-directed bass line, as well as gloomy lyrics sung by Tom with a heartbreaking tragedy.

In general, Tom Englund's vocals are a separate topic for conversation. His manner of singing and hoarseness give the material a slight tinge of sadness, hysteria and anguish in his voice. It is amazingly expressing the emotional component of the material. If you pay attention to the texts, you will also get meaningful lyrics that make you think about some things.

Summing up, I can say that this is a very technical, diverse, emotional album that should be paid attention to.