Review Summary: More of the same and more ambition than the band can chew with their conventional ways, "Hymns for the Broken" is nevertheless a showcase of quality musicianship and ambitious songwriting, justified more often than not by a genuine soul, backed by driving
Complimenting themes on internal revolution, the album opens with the inconsequential, one-and-a-half-minute-long prelude track, “The Awakening” (TRACK 1), a horrifying collection of sounds of turmoil that eventually fades into ambient atmospherics behind a light monologue, about the ignorance against the suffering, that leads into the triumphantly soaring intro to “King of Errors” (TRACK 2, 3.5/5), which then picks up a bit of guitar grime at the body that is unnerving, but more-or-less washed away amidst Tom Englund’s passionate belting of a thought-provoking lyric that retains the themes of the monologue in “The Awakening”, but doesn’t grip quite as much as the grandly ripping instrumentation – highlighted by a blistering guitar duet between Englund and Henrik Dnhage – over a tight composition which, well, might be a little too tight for its own good. Lacking in dynamicity and limited in originality, – save the unique and awesome piano and guitar riff, backed by a galloping drumline – the piece takes a bit of getting used to, but it is ultimately an excellent hook, for all of the superficialities that are a little more prominent in the subsequent track, “A New Dawn” (TRACK 3, 3.25/5), a distancingly thrashy, if not slightly djenty, but driving ballad that goes highlighted by impassioned vocals, dynamite bridges and choruses, and by tight solos from Rikard Zander, on piano, and the guitarists. If nothing else holds the song back, it is its conventionalism, which plagues most every track, to one extent or another, – particularly the relatively inconsequential and vocally problematic, though nonetheless entertaining and well-ended “Barricades” (TRACK 6, 3/5) – with “Wake a Change” (TRACK 4, 3.5/5) being one of the more distinguished pieces in the showcase, a power metal ballad that feels a bit superficialized and contrived after a truly gripping intro and first verse, yet never loses a gripping, sweeping soul and tight intensity in its dynamic composition, which, following a soulful guitar solo, falls into a sober outro which dovetails into “Archaic Rage” (TRACK 5, 3.25/5), a somewhat more formulaic symphonic power-prog epic that is short on freshness, and therefore feels a little under-inspired, but just barely. Passionate lyrics about furious uprising are sold in technically improvable, but heartfelt vocals, while a mostly singularly driving composition offers enough scale, dynamicity and killer musicianship to establish a sense of sweep that carries the epic quite a distance as stylistically and dramatically fulfilling. The album is full of epics, quite frankly, and while they vary in inspiration and ambition, and are pretty much all over the place when it comes to originality, their passion is more admirable than their often questionable dynamicity, with “Black Undertow” (TRACK 6, 3.25/5) being diverse to a fault, following a mellow, if, at this point, formulaic piano intro with repellently awkward digitally distorted vocals that round out a steady prelude to a body which is nothing new, and which tends to succumb to a few groove metal abrasions, only to take a major turn at the halfway mark, which features an engrossing slow spell that ends up defining the quality of the piece, allowing you to grasp the sheer magnitude of the chorus whose final reprisal feels more important and resolute in its sending the epic out with a bang.
Derivative through its first half, and transcendent in the second, “Black Undertow” ultimately falls somewhere in between good and excellent, its formula of going from generic grime and kick to symphonic soul being emulated in the following two tracks, with “The Fire” (TRACK 8, 2.5/5), easily the weakest beat in the showcase, being an energetic, but startlingly underwhelming and trite groove metal tune, – whose desperate attempt at freshening things up with the brief incorporation of a vocally aggressive children’s choir doesn’t work on so very many levels – while the title track, “Hymns for the Broken” (TRACK 9, 3.25/5), despite its being just too formulaic to truly stand out, puts its metallic intensity to more worthwhile use, charging it with a beautifully symphonic and soulful edge which culminates with powerful guitar leads around the two-and-a-half-minute mark and in the finale, and which compliments a sense of passion in this tribute to the struggling, with the help of Englund’s emotionally inspired, if, in voice and technique, questionable vocals. Englund has always been a gifted vocalist, but never quite the stellar one a band this strong really, really deserves, for his voice proves to be neither commanding enough to have a tight place in music this intense, nor broad enough in range for particularly impassioned power metal of this type, and here, his vocal performances descend in effectiveness in many streaks along the progression of this showcase, yet there’s always been something greatly admirable about Englund’s passion, and even a sound, if often uneven melodic control that has been showcased in such slower pieces which aim to be a vehicle for Englund’s crooning, rather than belting, as this album’s most distinct track, “Missing You” (TRACK 10, 3/5), a piano-led ballad about longing for a lost lover which features a well-tuned piano performance by Zander, and a particularly sensitive performance by Englund, but which doesn’t quite live up to its noble aspirations. Englund gets a little too passionate for the flow of the song, and Zander’s keying progression gets a little uneven, but really, my big issue with the piece is that, no matter how touching it is, enough so to reward adequately, it is trite, with a very basic arrangement and contrived lyrics, and in spite of a few refreshing incorporations of vocal spots by Englund’s wife, Carina Kjellberg-Englund, that’s something of an issue that I have with the somewhat questionably mixed piano versions of “Hymns for the Broken (LE/D2-TRACK 1, 3/5), the more warmly toned and cleanly played “Barricades” (LE/D2-TRACK 2, 3/5), and the “Torn” (2008) track “These Scars” (LE/D2-TRACK 3, 3/5), all found on the bonus disc featured in the album’s limited edition (Just three tracks? Bogus bonus). It’s all good, but Evergrey doesn’t seem to have the patience for music this sensitive to truly thrive, and should probably stick with the emotive power-prog metal ballads, as evidenced, to a certain extent, in the penultimate and longest track, “The Grand Collapse” (TRACK 11, 3.25/5) a seven-and-three-quarters-minute-long suite that starts out a little rocky, following a hooking ambient prelude with a grimy, limply spare, and distorted guitar line, and a dully simple drumline, then getting to be much more intricate with its abrasions and somewhat symphonic leads throughout the body, commanding your attention, only to all but lose it through aimless excess in structure. The ballad, ultimately pretty strong, is dynamic enough to compensate for its initial grime with some more of the engrossing taste that defines some of the best tracks on the album, but it is too blasted overlong and too under-inspired to truly stand out, failing to fulfill its potential, and throwing off the momentum of the album, restored for the most part at just the right time: the finale, through the seven-and-a-half-minute-long epic “The Aftermath” (TRACK 12, 3.5/5) that better justifies its length, evolving from compelling sensitivity to triumphant crescendos in a pattern that changes in style throughout the suite’s course, while keeping consistent in some level of driving passion, reflected in thoughtful lyrics about reflecting on purer times, and complimented by a tight composition that forsakes leads for an almost mesmerizingly well-toned band cooperation which epitomizes the heart and soul of this showcase.
One has to question why this album features a string of mostly four or five-minute-long pieces (With “The Awakening”, “King of Errors” flirts with a runtime of seven-and-a-half minutes, while “Archaic Rage” runs six-and-a-half minutes, and “Missing You” stops just shy of three-and-a-half minutes… if anyone cares), then slaps its two longest tracks in at the end, back-to-back, especially considering the runtimes that exceed seven minutes, and not always organically (At least in the case of the strong, but draggy “The Collapse”), but “The Aftermath”, even with its cop-out fade-out outro, encompasses the worthiest tonal aspects of this tribute to overcoming a tangible and internal oppression, and is ultimately a solid way to close out the album, or at least break a descent in quality. While the showcase takes particular dips in effectiveness with the good, but basic “Barricades”, and with the passable, but surprisingly very underwhelming “The Fire”, before returning to a strength that stands firm more often than not, you can feel inspiration gradually fade along the progression of the album, and to make matters all the worse, many of the tracks run together in formula, which proves very detrimental to a sense of momentum. Subtle tonal and stylistic modifications within certain tracks go a long way in distinguishing a particular theme in each respective ballad, so if the tracks conform to nothing else, it’s to a number of tropes from the ever-evolving styles of prog metal and power metal, because at this point, the freshness of Evergrey is beginning to fade, making it harder to get past the monotony of their more straightforward compositions, and the occasional contrivances in their more thoughtful moments, with “The Missing” being an ultimately rewarding, but admittedly, well, trite sensitive croon that particularly reflects something of a misguidance in the direction of this ambitious outfit. These are very gifted musicians, and they’re just not hitting the ball like they probably should, but to say that they miss their mark is to do them a disservice, because for all of the relative flat spells, there are a number of powerful moments in this vehicle for broad-scale, perhaps even classically-infused songwriting and musicianship, particularly in, say, “King of Errors”, “Wake a Change” and, of course, “The Aftermath”, in addition to a number of other strong pieces. Tom Englund’s passionate vocals and strong guitar work endear, and Rikard Zander is a killer keyboardist with a sharp tonal ear and equally sharp eye for creativity, while Jonas Ekdahl – with his driving drumming – and Henrik Dnhage – with his blistering abilities on the guitar – make a triumphant return, and while many will debate on the quality of “Hymns for the Broken” in comparison with Evergrey’s previous albums, for all of my complaints, I find the final product to be a rewarding recent addition to a respectable catalogue.
3/5
