By the time you take an album in your hands from a band that you don't know, obviously it's not the music that attracts your attention but the cover. When I first saw North's cover, I was almost sure that I was going to deal with a North European folk Metal album. How wrong was I...

EVERON is not new in the music industry. Even though I wasn't able to find the amount of information I wanted to, I was able to learn one or two things. And the first one was, just after I pushed the play button, that they are far from characterizing them 'Folk Metal', the sound like KORPIKLAANI for example has. These guys play progressive Rock! Never judge a book by its cover...wise words, indeed. Their journey begun in 1989, in Krefeld, Germany, when Ralf Janssen (guitar), Christian Moos (drums) and Schymy (bass) joined forces. After a while they found Oliver Philipps through an ad in the music press. After they completed the lineup, they released three albums, between 1993 and 1997. Three years later, and with Ulli taking the place of Ralf Janssen, their fourth album Fantasma was out; fans of the band believe that is their best one in their carreer. In 2002 they released two albums, Bridge and Flesh.

And here we are, six years later they are back with a new album. Even though I am not in that kind of music, I have to admit that I liked this album. North has compositions with beautiful melodies that stick to your mind. Well, I was telling to myself that some riffs reminded me of something but I couldn't find out what. The orchestrations and the music as a whole will bring in mind the first albums of DREAM THEATER, with lots of keyboards and solos. The good thing is that the tracks have an average duration of five minutes, so they are not boring. The lyrics are dealing with questions about our lives and how do we have to live (Running), that not everything is going as you would wanted to go (Test Of Time), or addresses a critical political statement (South Of London).

North was a real surprise for me, since I was expecting something a lot deferent. An album that fans of progressive Rock/Metal will probably buy. Even though I am not familiar with their previous albums - I was able to listen to only some songs - I believe that this one is a really good comeback for these five Germans.