Band: Everon Album: North Label: Mascot Records Rating: 5.5/10 Website: http://www.everon.de BUY NOW!

6 years ago, German progressive rock band, Everon, released two albums in a single year, of two almost entirely different styles; one presenting more of a hard rock sound, and the other much more sedated and symphonic. This essentially left them with two options in terms their future music decisions: which of the styles to maintain and which to leave behind. Unfortunately, with their latest release (6 years on!) I feel that they have undercut the genre which suited them best, the heavier one, and chosen to persevere with a softer sound. Having spent a section of these six years gaining inspiration on Dutch island, it is not hard to see where Oliver Philipps fantastic lyrics have grown from, but I can’t help but think that maybe they should have spent a tad longer on the music itself... The opener, ‘Hands’, gets the album off to a good start. An incredibly dense riff is complimented by some eerie harmonious keyboard sequences and when the vocals drive their way into the midst of the song, a certain achievement is felt. Initially, it seems that the band have lived up to my wishes and followed a heavier, much stronger path with their new music although it is clear that they wish to create more ballad like music, more like ‘Queen’. The latter of my observations is carried through to the next song, they do wish to write ballads, but unfortunately the opening song seems to have been but a teaser and the heavy sound that they managed to accomplish in the first track doesn’t resurface in the entire album. It seems to continue in the same vein with a ‘Santana’ like introduction but from there it begins to spiral downhill. The piano is introduced after the initial guitar and remains the main instrument for the rest of the album. For me this ruins the remaining 9 songs. The only other song that interested me was the fourth, ‘Test of Time’, where after a shaky beginning, seemingly like the two tracks preceding it, the song erupts into a ballad worthy of the greats. A tremendously powerful second half, reminiscent of the likes of ‘Queen’ etc, breaks the mould and helps boost the sombre mood of the music with a classic solo at the end. The rest of the songs simply contain nothing of any interest either in terms of complex musicality or listenability. Extremely boring. Overall...not too great a release for the German rockers in my opinion. While containing a few moments of note, there was not enough to truly interest me as a listener. It may well be because of the contrast between the opening track and the others, but the album seems too light to be able to call itself rock at all. ‘Pop’ would be a more suitable way to describe the album and thus I would recommend the album only to die-hard fans of the band, or fans of ‘pop’ music! Hopefully next time the band take a 6 year gap between albums they will have something more significant to show for it. Lewis Klein Back to Reviews