EVERGREEN TERRACE – Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business

A search of Evergreen Terrace on the internet will produce two results: The first one will be referring to the name of the street where the Simpsons family lives, according to the homonymous T.V. show, and the second result will be a link to the official site of the four piece band from Florida, which has been active for at least 6 years. It took them three years to make the next step in album recording since the last release, entitled Burned Alive By Time.

Fortunately, the band stayed with the Metalcore sound without introducing Gothenburg styling in search for a bigger audience. The addition of clean vocals, courtesy of guitarist Craig Chaney, works in favor of melody and sound diversity.

“Dogfight” comes first, with some headbanging guitar work in the beginning that leads to the catchy chorus due to the clean vocals. “Give ‘em Sleeper” is a 1.5 minute long song with a fast-paced riff that breaks down to a Pantera-oriented rhythm section with almost shouting vocals. “Brave Reality” proves the band’s potential in riff creation, while the sing-along chorus brings the clean vocals into the spotlight. The straightforward songwriting in “New Friend Request” comprises an Offspring guitar and yet another sing along chorus. The Hardcore sound is back, with “Gerald Did What,” bringing the guitar riffs into the spotlight with a Slayer atmosphere in them, along with the very good drum work. “I Can See My House From Here” is a heavy mid-tempo track proving the high quality of the sound production, especially in mixing the dual vocals. It’s mosh time with “The Thunder,” a song that definitely deserves to be in the set list for future live performances. The in-your-face attitude of the 1-minute song, “I Say You He Dead,” demonstrates the influences from the Punk scene in the bands’ sound. The best track of the album is “The Smell of Summer,” with a catchy rhythm and chorus with an up-tempo pace that drives the listener to sing along. The up-tempo rhythm continues in “Tonight Is The Night We Ride,” and follows the same pattern as the previous song with some solid guitar work. Track #11 is a hidden song that was first introduced as an intro in “Dogfight.” The song is comprised of classic guitar and soft vocals, and if the CD player is set on the repeat mode it leads right into the first track.

The new Evergreen Terrace album offers some sound diversity with solid guitar and drum work, without getting off from the Metalcore sound. The sound production has added some points in the overall rating of the album by keeping the melody without loosing the power. The total time duration of the CD, about 28 minutes, is the only complaint about the album, but then again it’s better than having some bad fillers in it.