The follow-up to 2006's 'Monday Morning Apocalypse', an album that saw the band experiment by moving away from their dark progressive metal roots to more commercial and less technical sounding music. This worked for some fans (I like the album a lot) but for many others it didn't and since then the band have changed labels and gone back to 'their classic sound'.

For the most part this works with the very catchy opener 'Broken Wings' showing Tom S Englund in fine vocal form and another great tune added to the Evergrey canon. It is also one of the few songs to really push keyboards player Rikard Zander into the fore.

'Fear' is another classic Evergrey song full of biting riffery and classy guitar solos. The title track and 'When Kingdoms Fail' sees the band take it down a notch whilst the band delves into speed metal midway through 'Still Walk Alone'- a definate departure for the band. But the downside is that some songs sound to similar and lack a distinctive hook and/or melody like 'Fail' and 'Numb'.

Crystal clear production by Englund and drummer Jonas Ekdahl make for a solid Evergrey album - this is no 'Recreation Day', but it will certainly bring back fans who didn't like the lighter touch of 'Monday Morning Apocalypse'.

Their next album will be the crucial one is determining whether they can break out to the next level of exposure and success, especially in the US market but until then 'Torn' will keep the fans happy.

***½

Review by Jason Ritchie