Evergrey - "Theories of Emptiness"
Gothenberg’s long-running Prog Metal band has returned with Theories of Emptiness, their 14th LP. The band originally formed in 1993, and celebrated their 30th anniversary last year; the 30th anniversary of their debut album, The Dark Discovery, is still a few years out, though — it released in 1998.
Evergrey is a band I discovered just a few years ago, early in the pandemic. I took the opportunity, at the time, to dive through their older discography. Much of their material through the 00s sounds a lot like Dream Theater, but the band really seemed to find a fresh sound and stride in the 10s, and I’ve become a big fan of them since.
Theories of Emptiness is the third album of theirs which I’ve had the privilege of reviewing, but both of the other two were among my favorites of their respective years.1
Naturally, I’ve been very eager to get to this review since the album released (on June 1st).2
And the album kicks off with strong, anthemic riffs at the outset of intro track “Falling From the Sun”. They’re aggressive and fall right in line with the sound that Evergrey has been honing for the last decade or so. It’s a promising start that pulls you right into the album. And ‘anthemic’ is really the key to Evergrey’s sound. They may not sound like Dream Theater copycats anymore, but their powerful guitar lines and stacked vocal choruses are as stadium-ready as Prog gets.
They’re not a band I’d recommend for anybody looking for something “hard” or even very technical. But if you want music that sounds “big”, Evergrey is a good act to listen to. Tom Englund’s vocals are powerful and emotive; the guitar and bass lines do incorporate some technicality, but they never lose sight of the song’s core melody or direction. Admittedly, this leads to a lack of growth within tracks, but Evergrey hasn’t written a song that breaks the seven-minute mark since 2019’s The Atlantic, so that sort of evolution and direction within a song is a minimal need.
It would be nice, though.
But the album presents a good selection of tracks, melodies, and styles across its 51-minute runtime. It scratches the Evergrey itch, as it should, but it doesn’t quite measure up to its most recent predecessors. There are several very good songs, including the aforementioned “Falling From the Sun”, “To Become Someone Else”, “One Heart”, and “The Night Within”. But they don’t quite hit the same level that I have, lately, come to expect.
It turns out, there’s a reason for that. Most of the albums that Evergrey has produced over the last 10-15 years have been spearheaded by a collaboration between vocalist Tom Englund and drummer Jonas Ekdahl.3 Since 2022, though, bassist Johan Niemann,4 has reportedly had a wave of inspiration and written a huge amount of material. Theories of Emptiness is his first attempt at masterminding a full album. In that linked interview with Tom Englund, the vocalist stresses the sheer volume of material — Niemann handed the band 35 possible songs. Of those, they selected the best fifteen5 and, Englund notes, “…raised the tempo a lot.”
With that in mind, the album is pretty solid. Much of that, I’m sure, has to do with the fact that Niemann had Englund and Ekdahl to fall back on and learn from. While it is far from perfect, it is an impressive first outing.
The title, Theories of Emptiness, reveals that the album’s core concept is “Emptiness”, another thing that Englund confirms in the linked interview. He also points out that “Emptiness” isn’t strictly a negative, as sometimes you find yourself in the position that the thing that’s missing is a negative.
It’s a very loose bow to tie the album up with, but it’s there.
I definitely enjoyed this one, though I did find it mildly disappointing. Hopefully Niemann has learned a lot in the process, though, and the next Evergrey outing will be a bit better for it.
Rating: Teal Green
My reviews of the last two Evergrey albums:
Escape of the Pheonix (2021): Purple, 4th overall for 2021.
A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament) (2022): Purple, 7th overall for 2022.
Ouch. Me, to me: “You’re killing me, Smalls!”
Ekdahl is no longer Evergrey’s drummer, as of this year. He has stepped back and is working in the mixing booth now. Simen Sandnes sits behind the drum kit now.
Niemann joined Evergrey in 2010. He is also a member of Demonoid, and has previously been a member of or involved with Therion, Afterglow, The Murder of My Sweet, Lithium, Novak, and more.
There are only ten actual songs on the version I listened to; I’m assuming the other five became bonus tracks somewhere.