Evergrey – Architects Of A New Weave
Evergrey – Architects Of A New Weave
Napalm Records
Release date: 05/06/26
Review by: Jon Deaux
Score: 8.2/10
Evergrey has managed to make something strong and destructive from materials that we would all throw into a bin. That this is even possible must either be a miracle or a plea for help – I’m not sure it matters anymore.
Let me set the stage for you. I walk into Architects Of A New Weave the same way I walk into every single Evergrey album; half-asleep, in a vague depression, and convinced that Tom S. Englund has managed to hack into my personal files and use some of the information in there. Fifteen albums in and Tom keeps on extracting the national melancholy of the country he hails from, and it appears that they just may have something in the water in Gothenburg. Scientists ought to examine that, but I bet they’ll just publish a report on “Sustained Atmospheric Grief: A Nordic Case Study”.
Dark Tranquillity, another Gothenburg act, features Mikael Stanne on track nine. They seem to have bottled up the entirety of their hometown’s collective emotional turmoil and sold us tickets to see the results of this operation at a price akin to a festival entrance ticket. This is a very impressive business model. I am also slightly concerned regarding what it says about my mental health that my most-played albums in the decade so far seem to reflect the contents of my therapist’s intake documents, set to double-kick.
Evergrey have decided that it is better, upon facing issues of air-thinning, world’s burning, and a lingering sense of guilt, to make a record, rather than, let’s say, taking a rest, eating biscuits or talking to a qualified psychiatrist. While this is possibly one of the most effective coping mechanisms of all things I’ve ever tried, I don’t see myself being fit to criticize it. We begin with the track ‘Welcome To The Pattern’. Evergrey has always been very literal with their themes. A song about patterns, then. The opening keys sound like the sudden switch-on of lights in a room I had forgotten to turn the light off in. And it sounds like there is a very deliberate reason behind the sudden horror of that metaphor. The guitar riff here sounds businesslike – the sort of business that a well-dressed man is conducting, standing in the rain outside of an establishment that used to be his workplace once. Let us begin.
The next track is entitled ‘The Shadow Self’. It comes as no surprise that the shadow self needs to be acknowledged first before we can delve into the actual construction project ahead of us. Tom Englund’s ongoing internal negotiation with his shadow self has taken place over eight albums now, and I have to admit it – he is thorough in a manner that makes me feel slightly inadequate when faced with the extent of my own unexplored internal wounds. Most people get a single entry for their shadow self in their therapy notebooks – the rest might be expressed via a late-night text to a former flame. Tom composes an entire movement of the story every eighteen months, producing and touring the results with a level of professionalism and precision that puts me to shame.
Track number three, ‘Architects Of The New Weave,’ lives up to its promise in full. Title tracks in this catalogue always come with the expectation of delivering on promises. You must make the listener believe that they are, in fact, architects of a new reality they are crafting and weaving. You do that, by the way, as you are sitting on your couch wearing only your pyjamas at 11 PM on a Friday, eating a bowl of cereal, and contemplating the poor choices you have made ever since 2009. The chorus manages to accomplish the trademark thing in the way it always does – it deploys itself in a manner you did not expect, opening up like a very expensive umbrella in a moment of desperate need and drawing you in. Fist in the air. Believing in things. Nolly’s mix creates a depth in this track which makes the speakers sound worthy. Which is either a remarkable production achievement or a mild existential crisis. Both?
Track four, ’World Is On Fire’ is not metaphorical. But it is, at the same time. And that is precisely why this phase of the Evergrey lyrical output is such a brilliant combination of catastrophe and good hooks. Everything in the world truly seems to be falling apart – and yet the chorus of the song feels as colossal as the situation described. You process global anxiety through a Swedish progressive metal band’s fifteenth album, and yet it works. It is, simply put, the best therapy possible.
‘Heaven’, apparently, is what happens when someone in a room proposes “what if we recorded something that feels like being in a field, listening to music at sunset?” and everyone agrees that it was a wonderful idea. This is reaching in a manner only earned after years and years of hard work and effort, which makes you feel the need to reach in the most deserved way possible. Melody reaches down to your heart and wins the seat. You do the same.
‘The Script’ appears on our albums mid-way with the calmness and assuredness of a man whose script was printed and then quietly shredded. Who wrote the script? Society, circumstances, an inner critic, or the Evergrey press team? I don’t know for sure, and I shouldn’t. For example, I read mine and burned it to ashes. It had listed nothing but anxieties – and contained a large number of spelling errors. This seemed like the right way to go about it.
Next up, ‘Leaving The Emptiness’. At this point, Evergrey has made an entire album based on the emptiness theme. Their discography boasts titles of ‘The Power Of One’, ‘Innocence & Greed’, and ‘Theories of Emptiness’ – the theme certainly seems to be a favourite for them. Whether it represents genuine artistic progression or whether it reflects an internal progress due to extensive therapy sessions and breakthroughs – I do not know. Either way, this song is excellent in the way that fills you with anger at the sheer quality of it. Because it earns its grandiosity. Try as you might, it would be impossible to be critical of this track.
Then comes the ‘Longing’. As quiet and devastating as the name promises it will be. The track on the bonus material is a demo version of the song, which fills me with awe. How can there be a more raw demo of a song about longing? That would require a special license to produce, wouldn’t it? Longing here has been processed, examined, dealt with, and managed to a point of perfection. However, it requires squinting to examine. There are certain aspects of life you never stop squinting at, and you come to terms with this very quickly – and the track is one such aspect.
‘A Burning Flame’ featuring Mikael Stanne is the track that represents Gothenburg’s equivalent to the UN Summit – but instead of diplomats it features two of the finest vocalists in the genre. Between them, these two have mapped out all the territories of Swedish existential melancholy. They trade riffs over a track which does precisely what it is supposed to do, with no reservations about it. The result sounds like two mountains debating the nature of fire and survival thereof, reaching a mutual conclusion. Yes, barely, but yes. The song is enormous. It will be whispered about at festivals in lowered voices for the next decade, with everyone insisting that they have not cried while singing along, and demonstratively crying at the same time.
Next, ‘Call Off Your Lions’. This makes me think that Evergrey has some sort of contract to ensure they include at least one song that makes me feel like I just barely escaped something that was trying to kill me. What is this something exactly, and why am I not more worried about it, I wonder. These lions must be metaphorical. However, it is increasingly becoming difficult to tell metaphors from actual headlines in 2026. I feel like they have understood this very well.
‘Chains Of Shame’ does exactly what it needs to do – it grabs you by the neck, holds an intense eye contact with you until you have sat with it long enough. No metaphorical treatments are provided – you feel the shame. The rawness here comes as the result of the careful handling of the issue – similar to the way a wound is cleaned and feels excruciating, but needs to be tended to nevertheless.
The main album closes with a feeling of a door opening rather than shutting – as it often does with their releases. They do not close the albums; they merely ensure that whatever the next one holds, the album leads up to it properly. Whatever is prophesized will unfold within the next year of tours, two Iron Maiden support concerts and the next album release, which in approximately eighteen months’ time will be followed by an entirely new collection of songs inspired by internal experiences of the last year and a half of Tom Englund’s life. They will be devastating and magnificent and we will eagerly purchase them, only to sit down and question our own sanity soon after.
The press release included the phrase “you’re the power that gathers the fragments and forges real beauty from them”. The album is advertised as a “battle cry” and “hymn for renewal”. Penultimate sentence states “dream weavers rising” in an almost threatening manner – as if the writer of this release had already immersed himself fully in the metaphor and politely declined to return to reality. When reading the release, I am stuck between thinking that this is the most committedly metaphorical overstatement of this year and knowing that, yes, Evergrey do what they say they do, which entitles them to say that. Both thoughts prevail at the same time.
Welcome to the pattern.
Architects Of A New Weave by Evergrey can be defined as making the specific emotional frequency that comes with the realization that it all feels difficult, but they are going to persevere anyway, despite potential scars. The album is heavy, melodic, and, at times, even cinematic – which is rare and beautiful.
So – is it their best album? The debate around this topic is sure to start another fight, for which I lack the strength and which surely won’t interest you. So – is it a demonstration of craftsmanship and intent, combined with a very convincing statement that sometimes your pain is structurally vital to something bigger?
Yes.
Annoyingly expensive and full-commitment to the metaphor – yes.
I remain convinced that Tom Englund is creating albums about his interior life in a very industrious manner and that I should perhaps resist purchasing each new one despite knowing better and having something better to do with my money.
TRACK LISTING
1 Welcome To The Pattern
2 The Shadow Self
3 Architects Of The New Weave
4 The World Is On Fire
5 Heaven
6 The Script
7 Leaving The Emptiness
8 Longing
9 A Burning Flame (Featuring Mikael Stanne)
10 Call Off Your Lions
11 Chains Of Shame
12 The Prophecy
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Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Jon Deaux and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
