Evergrey is one of those bands I want to like but just can't get into. I mean, progressive metal is my thing, in most forms, and there are lots of similar bands that I like a lot -- Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius to name two that come to mind quickly. And with Glorious Collision being Evergrey's eighth album, you'd think they'd have things down. On the other hand, they did swap in three new members in 2010, presumably during the recording of this album; maybe that shakeup affected the band a bit.

It's hard to put my finger on any one thing that rubs me the wrong way about the band. The songs are all competently composed and arranged, with a nice mix of heavy guitars, keys/pianos, and electronic flourishes. Some songs have decently catchy riffs, such as "You" or "Out Of Reach." Most of them though are not particularly memorable, either in the main riffing for the song or the guitar solos. For any music, and especially for music in this vein, there needs to be something that makes the listener perk up and take notice. Instead, all of the songs are very straightforward, very much consisting of pieces that you've heard before even if no one riff feels like it was "ripped off' from somebody else. Perhaps as a result, sometimes the songs drag on a bit, even though these tracks are not particularly long by prog standards: the longest is the second track, clocking in at 6:23, and many of the songs are under five minutes.

So if you're already an Evergrey fan, you'll probably want to run out and pick this up on release day, just for the sake of completeness. If you're not a fan or are on the fence about them, I would pass this one up. It's not particularly bad, it's just not particularly entertaining either; it didn't make a convert out of me, and probably won't convert you either.