martindavey87 Put your sad faces on, this is not going to be pretty. Evergrey's 2004 release, 'The Inner Circle', is a concept album that focuses on themes of religion and abuse. Sounds pleasant, right? It's a very dark and gritty record, that pulls no punches as it tackles some deeply disturbing subject matter.

One of the things I like about Evergrey is their ability to be insanely heavy and brutal, yet maintain a sense of melody in their music. A heavy focus on strings gives this album a gothic feel, which suits the dark nature of the lyrics. And the production packs one hell of a punch, giving the heavy songs the balls they need and the softer songs the essence of melancholy and dreariness.

I told you, this won't be pretty.

The musicianship is top notch here, disregarding the common misconception that every progressive metal album involves endless solos and self-indulgent musical passages, 'The Inner Circle' focuses on atmosphere, with all guitar and keyboard solos being suited to the music perfectly. This is evident in songs such as 'Ambassador', 'The Essence of Conviction', 'A Touch of Blessing' and 'Harmless Wishes'.

This is arguably one of the most depressive albums you'll ever hear, but for all that gloom and doom, there is also some compelling, well-written music, which makes 'The Inner Circle' a worthy addition to your metal collection.

Now, cheer up, mate!

Warthur After the slightly shaky Recreation Day, Evergrey firmed up their sound again with The Inner Circle. Once again it's a concept album, this time based around the thin line between conventional religious practices and cultish manipulation, and how sects which theologically try to wall off their followers from the outside world can create an environment in which all sorts of abuses can take place.

The idea offers some obvious thematic connections with In Search of Truth - in the sense that both concepts revolve around conspiracies that cover for abusive actions, although where the former is fantastical and unlikely, the latter is unfortunately an all too real phenomenon, as illustrated by incidents like the conviction of Warren Jeffs. Likewise, whereas In Search of Truth had spoken word bits from the point of view of an abductee, here we have various spoken word extracts from the sermons of various religious leaders, some of whom seem overcome with grief.

So, structurally then what we are dealing with is an album which feels a lot like a sequel to In Search of Truth, and musically we're in the same general area too. On the whole, I think it's no embarrassment to its predecessor, and is certainly a better followup than Recreation Day, but I don't think it's quite on the same level - say, about a half-star difference between them.