Evergrey was the first band that I heard that played this powerful blend of progressive metal and doom. They don’t limit themselves to any confines in their music. While they are very technical people who can play with precision this doesn't mean that the band goes and tosses around excessively long instrumental sections just to keep reminding the listener of their skill. Following the release of The Inner Circle and Monday Morning Apocalypse Evergrey are starting to become known to a wider audience. For being the debut album, The Dark Discovery is largely ignored by both fans and the band itself. Other than Blackened Dawn and the two appearances of Carina Englund to sing with husband Tom Englund on For Every Tear That Falls,the rest of the album hasn’t received the live treatment in years. Despite this neglect The Dark Discovery is not a weak album. There are styles and musical circumstance that get explored on this release only.

The lyrical subject of The Dark Discovery is pretty damn dark and depressive. The questioning of faith, misplaced trust and friendship, insanity, and well, basically being afraid of the dark. Backing these dark themes and overtones is Tom’s emotional and sorrowful voice which provides the ideal vehicle to deliver the words. When he sings about this mentally daunting matter, you believe the man. Another one of Evergrey’s strengths is their ability to have complex songs that still manage to be under five minutes long. This allows choruses to become hooks, and don’t rely on uber skilled technique to impress. The negative aspects of The Dark Discovery are scant but present. First and foremost, this record does betray the bands youth. Since Tom wrote this album single handedly, it is a bit primitive compared to what would follow. Like stated earlier, the experimental aspects of the music are well above par. The chanting choral outro in Shadowed is awesome. But take Trust And Betrayal for example. It just sounds like a piece of music that was halfway thought out and squeaked on by. Not horrible, but it definitely wouldn’t have made it if The Dark Discovery wasn’t a debut album.

Solitude, Doinance, Tragedy would be released a couple of years later and along with The Dark Discovery, it would define Evergrey’s early career. Every band has humble beginnings. For every Imaginations From The Other Side there is a Battalions Of Fear. And like Battalions Of Fear The Dark Discovery should not be ignored.