A lot of good metal bands hail from Sweden. Such band is Evergrey who debuted back in 1998 with the tremendously original dark melodic metal album 'The Dark Discovery'. Already from the beginning Evergrey had their own distinctive sound, which definitely has been beneficial throughout the years. Last year their fifth opus 'The Inner Circle' was released, so they definitely have enough material for a live release. A Night to Remember (Live in Gothenburg 2004) is the first Evergrey live recording and it features songs from all Evergrey albums.

Regarding live recordings there are few important things that must be taken into account while listening to them. First of all, there's the live performance which sometimes can even bring new life to some songs. In Evergrey's case there's no problems performance-wise since the songs are well played (with some slight changes to the original studio versions). Especially I'm delighted to hear the small female choir parts also in live versions.

Secondly the production matters a lot on live recordings. Evergrey is known of rather good production on their studio records, and thus their songs suffer a bit from live recording. Regardless, Evergrey's live recordings seem to have quite good production (if one isn't too picky about the sounds). There's quite nice natural ambience audible in the recordings (reverb) and the sounds are still quite good. However, the reverb makes the overall sound a bit boomy. In addition, there's small background distortion audible few times (fortunately quite seldom).

The last important aspect of live recordings is the set list. It's very important that the band has chosen a good set of songs to perform. Evergrey has chosen rather good assortment of songs for their almost two-hour-set. Nonetheless, since Evergrey has composed a lot of good songs, some of my favourites are still missing from the list.

All in all, Evergrey's 'A Night to Remember' is a good live recording... In some ways it could be better, but the overall impression of it is definitely positive. In addition to this double CD release, InsideOut will release A Night to Remember DVD in summer of 2005.

Release dates: March 14th, 2005 (Europe) and March 15th, 2005 (USA)

There are samples of "Blinded", "More Than Ever" and "Recreation Day" on the InsideOut website for you to listen.

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- MAGE (March 14th, 2005)

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LINE-UP:
Englund, Tom S.: Vocals & Guitar Danhage, Henrik: Guitar Håkansson, Michael: Bass Zander, Rikard: Keyboards Ekdahl, Jonas: Drums
Producer:	Unavailable
Mixing by:	Unavailable
Mastering by:	Unavailable

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Intro 02. Blinded 03. End of Your Days 04. More Than Ever 05. She Speaks to the Dead 06. Rulers of the Mind 07. Blackened Dawn 08. Waking Up Blind 09. As I Lie Here Bleeding 10. Mislead 11. Mark of the Triangle Length: 53:22 01. When the Walls Go Down 02. Harmless Wishes 03. Essence of Conviction 04. Solitude Within 05. Nosferatu 06. Recreation Day 07. For Every Tear That Falls 08. Touch of Blessing 09. The Masterplan Length: 59:01 Total Length: 112:23