The Tyrant King got us a sturdy sample of what the three weirdos of Evermore were capable of. Not at Top 10 levels (yet), true, but they left a mark on our chalkboard after all. In Memoriam artfully circumvented that black reef lurking just beyond sophomore’s reach by doing some improved more of the same. That was back in 2023. Since then, not a peep from the feisty Swedish trio hit our mighty detection radars over at the RMR Review Desk.
But now, they’re back with some scarlet mourning piece full of ravens and wild metal screams. Mournbraid really takes it to the metal after the somewhat botched handoff from the dime-a-dozen intro to Underdark. You’re greeted with the customary yet trve metal scream, the real thing, not some AI-assisted fake version of one. And Johan Haraldsson will engage in a lot of screamo action throughout the record. And that at very high levels of vocal gymnastics without a shred of growls. As it damn well should be. And – behold – Evermore veered way far into territory favored by Heavy Metal. Mind you, Mournbraid still contains a lot of those well-known Power Metal vibes. But I’d estimate they switched from a 60/40-ish power-to-heavy mix to a 40/60 one.
That said, the axeman, Johan Karlsson,1 laid down a furious coverfire for the vocalist in chief. The meaty yet traditional riffing, occasional shreds, and starlit solos follow pretty tasty acoustic interludes (Oath of Apathy, for instance). Yet, the odd appearance of heavy chugging somewhere in between Dream Evil and Arch Enemy took this crew by surprise (Nightstar Odyssey, Ravens at the Gates). And this is one of those incidents where the style mix should collapse, but for some reason doesn’t. Da Mighty Gawds ov Metal be praised. The excellent drum work rounds everything up nicely. In the usual sense, drums should provide this glue to support and keep the pace. And Andreas Vikland‘s performance is an excellent example of that.
One of Mournbraid‘s main pillars is the variety Evermore were able to inject. A production full of pretty juicy and well-elaborated ideas that lead to a pretty tasty amalgamation of what such a tandem concoction of Power and Heavy Metal actually ought to sound like. The band has a knack for linking different styles, moods, and flavors into a coherent mass of soundbites. And that is driven by the aforementioned outstanding musical prowess this band displays. The arrangement moves with apparent ease from high-octane Power Metal to an acoustic section. This is like stopping a race car from 200 mph down to zero in an instant. To make such a thing sound right takes some excellent songsmithing skills. Or take the majestic bridges gone solo that move from chugs to various melodies and harmonies that took us aback a few times.
But Mournbraid is full of highlights, too. Nightstar Odyssey, Titans, and Oath of Apathy are just three of them. The latter probably comes closest to a ballad inside the main body of the tracklist. If you subtract the odd bonus track, Old Man’s Tale, the band decided to inject into the fray for some reason. Perhaps to reach the perfect score of 52 minutes of airtime? Or something. But by and large, the RMR crew couldn’t find much fault with this piece. In addition, the band managed to keep the cheese injections at just levels with sugary items at a near zero.
In the end, Mournbraid turned into yet another very strong record of a still pretty young band.2 Evermore is one of these bands that know how to harness the real power of Heavy and Power Metal. The record’s always perfectly balanced, never over the top, and it just exists in this fantastical world that this genre so aptly creates. And with this third iteration, they again demonstrated their ability to be one of the up-and-coming major voices in the realm of Metal o’ The Light.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Scarlet Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 20 March 2026