Inner Circle

Evergrey | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 13, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Steamhammer / SPV
• ASIN: B0001VOPTA
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,142 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. A Touch Of Blessing

2. Ambassador

3. In The Wake Of The Weary

4. Harmless Wishes

5. Waking Up Blind

6. More Than Ever

7. The Essence Of Conviction

8. Where All Good Sleep

9. Faith Restored

10. When The Walls Go Down

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can they get any better?, April 28, 2004

By 

Brian Cassidy (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Inner Circle (Audio CD)

I'll have to say, this one was not what I expected. Is that a bad thing? Heck no! This is something that I thought that I would never say about an Evergrey album, give it a couple of spins before you pass judgment. For Evergrey, this is an EXTREMELY complex and progressive album. It reminds me a lot more of ISOT than Recreation Day, but is still a step in a slightly different direction. As far as lyrics, it is a concept album about people using their religion to justify doing horrible things. I think that these are some of the most thought out lyrics that Evergrey has ever done. Through the music and the lyrics, you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach like you are there experiencing the terrible things that are happening. Musically, this is not only their most complex work, but also their most haunting (the work of a live string section helps a lot). It is very ominous and even scary sounding at times. I also feel that this is their most intense work. It does include two beautiful ballads, but the rest is very heavy.

As always, Tom's singing is top notch, perhaps even more emotional than any of his other work. And I know you all love to hear Carina sing right? Well she is part of nearly every song, and the results are stunning. So what is bad about it? Simple, it ends!! I truely feel that this is their best work. My advice: stop reading reviews, pick this up, and prepare for the trip of a lifetime.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Love It, I Love It, I Love It, I Love it !!!, May 23, 2004

By 

Mr D. "Artist/Designer/Kibitzer" (Cave Creek, Az United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Inner Circle (Audio CD)

I CAN'T BELIEVE A FEW REVIEWERS DIDN'T LIKE INNER CIRCLE.

There are two kinds of people in this world. Evergrey Fans and those who have never heard them. If you are of the former group, don't worry The Inner Circle is another five star album in the string of five star albums. For the latter group, read on.

Sweden's Masters of Morose Metal are back again. The Inner Circle's is hot off the press and be assured, it's at least as good if not better than their best, which of course is better than anything else around. Evergrey's fifth album is another concept album. This time we hear the story of a impressionable member of an esoteric cult called The Inner Circle

Although I think this is a fantastic album, I don't really think the music is that much different from previous albums. It's still the same Evergrey sound even though the current lineup is entirely new, excepting the brilliant singer/guitarist/songwriter Tom Englund but I do think Evergrey has matured in it's approach to the music. The arrangements are now more complex and items that were only hinted at in previous releases are featured in The Inner Circle. Orchestration, background vocals and choirs, items that teased us in previous releases, are now integrally featured for a bigger more impressive sound.

I suppose comparisons to Queensryche and their fabulous 1988 album Operation Mincrime are inevitable. After all it is the standard to which all concept albums are measured and it too was about a cult.

So how does it compare? It's close, very close but I'm not going to judge. You be the judge!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to the inner circle of Evergrey, February 5, 2006

By 

Murat Batmaz (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inner Circle (Audio CD)

The common Evergrey characteristics are still predominant on their fifth studio release The Inner Circle: dark vibe, emotional vocal delivery, deeply moving subject theme and mesmerizing artistic aesthetics.

This is a concept album. To quote Tom on it, this is what TIC aims to deal with on a conceptual level: "Throughout the album we will follow a fragile person with low self-esteem who leaves his family for a cult, and who makes drastic changes in his life in order to fully live out 'the inner circles' way of life." Apparently Tom Englund once again focuses on the themes of religion and religious zealots who are so keen on influencing individuals' personal beliefs and shaping them up in the way they believe is so perfect. We had a similar insight on this on the band's In Search of Truth CD where the individual was trying to fight the society in order to get some credibility. Here we're facing a similar approach but different concept. There are plenty of spoken intermissions injected both inbetween and during the tracks where we hear this weak individual who is all devoid of his own beliefs trying to manipulate other human beings. It's sort of like the intro of ISOT's "The Masterplan". It is exactly this misconception that Tom Englund so rightfully objects to and makes it the focus of his artistic messages which he so (painfully) conveys.

To put it frankly, The Inner Circle might have more replay value for me in the future compared to their previous album Recreation Day; however I am undecided at this moment whether it will reach the depth and perfection of their older work such as Solidute Dominance Tragedy or In Seach of Truth, the latter of which was their pinnacle of success in my opinion. That said, Recreation Day was a more complex album writing-wise. On The Inner Circle the most noteworthy change is the new drummer Jonas Ekdahl who replaced Patrick Carlsson who was the only other Evergrey member save Tom Englund who had been in the band since the very beginning. Patrick was much more of a technical drummer and almost invariably made his presence heavily felt while Jonas is more laid-back and likes to keep up with the tempo of the song. This line-up change has given The Inner Circle a thorough new vibe and has its appealing factor to fans from both ends of the (progressive) spectrum. I personally like Pat's approach better but Jonas is still doing a nice job cause honestly the compositions on the new album don't really call for more complex drumming.

Like every other Evergrey release, Tom Englund's vocals and expressive delivery is the focal point of each song and since it's Englund's singing that sets this band apart from any other out there that's exactly the way it should be. The initial goal was to get Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen to do the production job but Arjen declined as he feels the Evergrey guys need to be themselves, not an Ayreon variant. Therefore Tom Englund handled the duty himself and much to many fans' surprise he pulled it off very well.

The album has a running time of 48 minutes and Carina adds her own vocal harmonies and leads in various parts of the album and needless to say she does an awesome job, especially on "In the Wake of the Weary". Englund and Danhage's guitar work seems more textural here while they were more riff-oriented on albums like Solitude Dominance Tragedy. The new album however still carries the direct approach of The Dark Discovery and SDT and retains the dark vibe of their earlier work. It also utilizes a more subtle keyboard work that was lacking on Recreation Day maintaining a fitting atmosphere. The band has hired a real string symphony orchestra which is widely prevalent on "Harmless Wishes" and "Faith Restored". Overall this album is quite heavy but the hair on your neck will still raise when you hear "Waking Up Blind" or the repeated chorus of "The Essence of Conviction". They're the kind of Evergrey songs that have the trademark Englund stamp all over them.