MUSIC REVIEW: Everwave - “Another Life”
So, we’re coming up with a new review over here, are we? Okay, truth is, Everwave is the other band that Ember Falls’ clean vocalist, Tuomas Välimaa sang in, so I’m inclined to shout them out however best I can, just because I feel like I owe a lot to Tuomas (not only for all the years of great music, but he makes the intros for my videos, so if you’ve watched Gathering of Geeks, every time you see the intro, that’s his work!), so I want to shout out his projects as much as possible, in the best way possible. As such, I tossed the album over to Tuonela’s Jani Lehtinen, because he’s a prog afficionado and artists love when he reviews their work because his musical knowledge is out-of-this-world, and I wanted Everwave to have a review out there with that much detail and quality. I knew Jani would do a better job than I would. But, since I want to give them as much support as I can, I figured I’d write up the album over here as well! Why not? After all, it’s a really good release, which you should expect to find on the usual listening services on December 1st, 2023!
First of all, historically this is the band’s second album, following “So Called Home,” which came out back in 2018. Admittedly, as much as I enjoyed the album’s vocals and though the album worked well for me and I thought it was a high-quality release, it never drew me back, likely because I was never all that into prog, particularly back in 2018. Nowadays, I can’t say if I’m a whole lot more into prog than I was before, but I do have a deeper appreciation for it, which is perhaps why “Another Life” has stuck with me much better. Granted, I do think “So Called Home” deserves another listen for posterity’s sake—maybe I’ll have a deeper appreciation of it now too!
Progressive metal indeed seems to be the name of the game in this release, as the first track, “Sleepless Engine,” invokes such bands as Dream Theater and Devin Townsend, the former in the keyboard/synth sound and the latter through both the music and the inclusion of a female backing vocalist that bears a vague resemblance to when Anneke van Giersbergen is heard on Devin’s albums. This first track surprised me by going immediately into higher, non-guttural extreme metal growls as the music ambiently and somewhat ominously lurks around the background, the drums keep a tight pace, and Tuomas’ clean vocals then come in, leading to a pleasantly melodic chorus. We get a lot of vocal diversity right off the bat, exploring all corners of heavy metal, with nothing feeling out of place.
The singles thus far have been well-selected: “Alternate Ending” was the first to come out and starts out very calm—the build-up is subtle and creates a bit of apprehension as the soft, high vocals come in, and then it suddenly kicks up! A-ha, it almost lures you into a false sense of security, but nope! It also boasts some nice guitar acrobatics and… would that be Mikko Aaltio I hear on saxophone? The song took a few spins before it managed to worm its way into my earspace and now it’s one of my favorite tracks on the release!
The album’s diversity is one of its strengths, despite sounding well-rounded and like a consistent entity. It bounces between moments that can be harsh and emotional, like in “Invitation”; crunchy and punchy like “Lo-Res City” (love that evocative name, by the way; this is another excellent single and another personal highlight); or melodic and passionate, like in “Smaller Talk,” which also boasts really nice synth lines. There’s a vague hint of that dystopian essence that was fore-fronted in Ember Falls, though the bands really are quite different, stylistically. If I were doing some cyberpunk RP, this would be an awesome soundtrack.
The final track, “Trails in Time,” is worth mentioning as it works spectacularly as such. It’s got a runtime of 7:07 and is a terrific album closer, due to the dramatic progression. It starts on a strong distorted guitar line, before gritty vocals and a chugging rhythm take over, flowing magically into softer and cleaner vocals, intermixing with really nice little details (like bells in critical moments, more of the female vocals, or screeches blended with gutturals), passing through soft spots, and eventually reaching a grungy soundscape—you know, that kind of ominous goblins-in-Moria or orcs-in-Isengard vibe—as it reaches its conclusion.
Overall, if you’re interested in progressive metal in any of its forms, you should at very least give this album a chance, as there’s a lot of good material in here. The instrumentation is fantastic and the vocals are top-notch. Surely, this release holds up to and even surpasses some of the great prog releases from this year from bands like TesseracT and Haken, so don’t miss out!
Tracklist
Sleepless Engine
Invitation
Still Here
Lo-Res City
Alternate Ending
Rainkiller
Kármán Line
Smaller Talk
Trails in Time
