I know the whole 'comparing a band to an old friend' routine has been done before, but this was fitting enough to risk being unoriginal. Evergrey's like this guy who you were tight with back in the day, fun to hang out with now and then and awesome to catch a show with, even if his company did get a little monotonous over long stretches. Then a couple of years back, people were talking about how he'd made some bad decisions and lost focus in general. They were all like “You should talk to him,” and you went, “Hey, that ain't how I roll. Dawg's gotta find his own way.” Word. Anyway, you just caught up with him a little while back, and turns out the guy's back in the saddle. Good call there.

After the hiccup that was Monday Morning Apocalypse, the guys take a big step to redeeming themselves with Torn. It's hard to nail down exactly what has changed – in fact, if you compare the album openers from both albums, the basic choruses are almost identical. It's just that MMA had a bit of experimenting with different styles and ideas and hardly any of them really worked, while Torn falls back on to tried and tested methods to good effect. They've regained that distinct big sound from albums like Recreation Day and The Inner Circle, playing to their strengths and ballsily belting out catchy progmetal tunes with great, tight playing and fat, faintly muddy guitar tone (just the way we like it) with some tasteful ripping leads thrown in for good measure. Tom Englund has sounded better, but he's still not all that shabby.

Versatility has never been Evergrey's strong point, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. Just ask the hordes of AC/DC or Motorhead fans. It might put a crimp in the whole 'progressive' label, but that's just for show anyway. Even so,there's a fair bit of diversity here, from the thudding staccato powerchord feel of Soaked to the breakneck Fear (which sounds a hell of a lot like Allegiance by Firewind – just saying) to the slightly modern metal leanings of Numb. The missteps are few and forgivable,and the general feel of the album is pretty fun.

What's annoying is that you start getting restless way before the album ends. Then again, I've always had trouble listening to an Evergrey album end to end. The fact that they use the same few blueprints over and over with a few changes and switcheroos means your mileage starts dropping after a few songs. Taking that into account, they really should have reduced the duration of this record by at least a couple of tracks. Anyway, it's great to know that these guys have recovered the plot and are back to doing what they do best. If only all bands learned from their mistakes this fast.

Year of release: 2008

Label: Steamhammer/SPV