5. Evergey - Sophie Lancaster Stage - Thursday, August 8th 2024

So what is progressive power metal? It is when you dial down the emotion and dial up the emotion. Evergrey are kings of this particular sub-genre and have carved a long and illustrious career creating complex melodic music that simultaneously manages to be accessible and structurally challenging. Very much the brainchild of auteur Tom S. Englund, they have quietly and without much fanfare created an immense body of work. Over 14 albums they have sculpted tales dealing with love, lost and the futility of human life.

They inhabit that resolutely Swedish treat of being refined and reflective. They reject the pomp and ceremony of power metal and instead produce something much more earthy and insular without ever really leaving behind its reference points. A wonderfully underrated act that does something subtly different with our music and should get far more plaudits than they do for doing so.