I found Swedish dark melodic metallers Evergrey when I bought the previous album 'The Inner Circle' (2004), but forgot the fantastic album quite fast. Then in 2005 came 'A Night to Remember' DVD and that blew my mind for a second time. So, the wait for this album was long. Then suddenly, first samples appeared in the net. Guitars sounded bad and I blamed it on mp3s, but samples didn't leave any real memory mark to my brain.

However, the samples didn't make me think twice about buying 'Monday Morning Apocalypse': I got it the day it was released. You can imagine my disappointment, when the bad guitar sound proved to be no fault of mp3 encoding, but the actual guitar sound of the album. For my ears, the fantastic playing of guitarists Tom S. Englund (also vocals) and Henrik Danhage, sound pretty much awful at times now, especially at harmonic parts ('The Curtain Fall' is a perfect example of this), thanks to the guitar tone. Which actually is quite raw, but definitely not metal, and is also very muddy. The move was foreseeable, but the direction is totally wrong! Evergrey have utilized some very heavy and vibrating guitar before, but this is just too far gone. The only thing that makes it a tad more acceptable is to crank up the volume, a lot. I don't like how the guitars sound, period.

But now, about the music. Evergrey went for more straightforward outlet on 'The Inner Circle'. The trend continues on this album. The songs are simpler, and certainly very catchy for most of the time. I think Evergrey have simplified their music a bit too far. Well, maybe not as much as Metallica did for their 1991 "Black" one, or as far as In Flames have wandered from 'The Jester Race' (1996) era. If you've gotten bored for proggier Evergrey, this might be the answer to your prayers. For this album, the band have adopted usual verse-bridge-chorus song structure more than ever before. These songs should work hellishly well live, especially first half of the album. First five songs are more aggressive and punchy, maybe the band's hardest stuff, and the rest of the album drifts to darker feelings. Guitar solos, by the way, are anything but simple, as they are reported to be "by far the most technical" by the band themselves. The keyboard work of Rikard Zander has been pushed into back. It also sounds much more usual than on previous albums. Trendy bleeps and wails are just so bloody generic, I dropped my jaw on the floor. Mr. Zander gets a bigger spot on instrumenal 'Till Dagmar', and on the bonus 'Closure'. Drummer Jonas Ekdahl has shown he can bang 'em skins, but now he's also straightened his playing. Mr. Englung's soulful vocals are, thankfully, in full effect! Or for the most of the time, as there's seldom some effected vocal parts. In my ears, Tom is truly emotionally extensive vocalist and sentimentalist. His voice is full of character, "Irish", as a friend of mine once commented.

For this album, the band recruited a producer, who has worked with other than metal bands. It sounds on guitars for sure. Otherwise, the sound is crystal clear. Michael HÃ¥kansson's caterwauling bass adds loads of heaviness. The songs have more stuff (vocals, effects, guitar squeals etc.) in them, than they show on first few listens, so be sure to give this some time. Cover art is very bad, the matter that's not usual at all for Evergrey. Tattoos must be shown... Lyrics include a lot of human feelings, but some of the topics aren't clear. At least this isn't a theme album.

I got to admit, that 'Monday Morning Apocalypse' has its merits, because sometimes it sounds fucking good and energetic, but on the other hand, sometimes it sounds plain boring at times during its 45 minutes (the bonus track included). A weird occurrence for sure, which is slowly turning to positive side. Be sure to listen to this at a loud volume, but also with headphones. Both'll give you a different deeper point of view. At first listens, I felt this had no songs that would enter my personal top 20 Evergrey song list, but now there's a few possible contenders: The title song, 'I Should' and most notably, 'Obedience'. 'Monday Morning Apocalypse' seems to be a grower. Good. Despite a few flaws, the band doesn't seem to be able to make mistakes. Evergrey still sound Evergrey and that's the best thing; they sound unique.

Rating: 8+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/08/2006 20:34