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Evergrey: Solitude Dominance Tragedy (Special Edition) Power Metal, Progressive Metal Insideout Records May 17th, 1999
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Review
After a rather impressive, if not faulty due to production quality, debut full length album, Evergrey show that they are truly a power house act with their second studio release, Solitude Dominance Tragedy. This welcome Progressive album shows a much darker sounding side of the band, with some more technical musicianship thrown in to create an even more engrossing album experience then more, and will easily have fans of metal, let alone this style, expecting great things in the future. But as for now, let's take a step back and see what makes this album a great listening experience. As stated, the music on Solitude Dominance Tragedy is darker then on their debut album The Dark Discovery. The music on the release is very tight, which may very well be thanks to the better production quality used. The biggest stand out is that you can actually hear the vocals clearer, including the female back up singers that appear on the album. But one thing that really helps the album out, which is usually something that would really hurt an album, is the recorded spoken word segments to the songs. "The Shocking Truth" and "She Speaks To The Dead" really do benefit from the spoken word elements, even the ones that hit in during the music of "The Shocking Truth". However, the spoken word concept kind of falters on "When Darkness Falls", which is actually a rather shakey track because of that intro, as well as the insanely distorted vocals that kick the song off, as well as the heavily distorted layered vocals (on top of the echoing vocal effect already on the vocals) that appear through the verses of the song that conflict with the natural sound of the album, making it all seem just a bit too out of place and gimmicky towards the darker sound this album has. But, that little annoyance out of the way, the album ends on a much slower, powerful note then it started, and the climax track "The Corey Curse" is a very well performed, haunting song with a great guitar solo and eery keyboards that really add a nice ambiance to the song. SPECIAL EDITION:: The 2004 Special Edition Reissue of Solite Dominance Tragedy isn't really anything too special, consisting of some traditional bonus stuff. The material featured with this release is a slipcase that covers the jewel case with altered artwork to make the band name and album title stand out, and to make you aware it's a "Special Edition", as well as the music video to the song "The Masterplan" from the band's third album In Search Of Truth. Considering the audio of the album is not remastered, the only real reason to buy is because this is the only version of the album that was ever released in the United States, so it technically isn't all that special to begin with. Solitude Dominance Tragedy is an epic album with the only fault being the track "When Darkness Falls" due to some of the vocals just being too much and a bit contradictory to the flow of the music. Other then that, the album is a solid Progressive release that really shows off the potential this act truly has, and that a better production quality can, infact, make a difference, especially when it's just amping the vocals a bit so they aren't completely drowned out. It's just too bad the outro of the album has to be a repetative high pitch alarm-like sound that goes on just long enough to make your ears start to feel like they are bleeding.
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