History & Biography Everfest was formed in December 2002 and issued a demo two years later. The demo enabled the band to perform at Wacken with help from German magazine Hammer. The band began recording its album in 2005 and had it released through Belgium’s Mausoleum in 2006.
Reviews EVERFEST - RISING - MAUSOLEUM 
Young German band Everfest has apparently been the subject of much adulation in Germany ever since it released a self-titled demo in 2004. The quintet’s disc was chosen by both Metal Hammer and Rock Hard magazines in Germany to be the best demos of the month and was further acclaimed by a magazine called Defenders Of Steel in Italy with a similar attribute. Consequently, the unsigned band also appeared on stage at the Wacken Open Air Festival. It will hardly be a surprise then that the band has been picked up by a label and awarded with a contract.
The band’s official debut is called Rising and features 12 tracks. It is not up to scratch. Straddling the line between hard rock and heavy metal Everfest barely manages to stir emotions the way an outstanding and award-winning metal band would. The band’s music and songs march past with nary a moment of brilliance or originality. The musicians are competent enough, yet the songs fail in tests ranging from memorability to longevity to excitement. Opening title, the appropriately named Here We Are, is pedestrian. See Me Rising is better, but hardly spectacular. It is only track number four, Who Knows, which kicks up a little dust and introduces an interesting guitar tone. The tenth song, The Fall, is another decent number, except for the impression that it was lifted off Stratovarius.
Then there are the vocals of Andy Sommer. While reasonably able to hold a tune, the man should definitely abandon his high screams. Tracks like Prophets Of Hate and others are blasted out of hearing range mostly due to his grating shrieks. Even the aforementioned Who Knows suffers under the wreck of his screams. Another issue, from a metal fan’s point-of-view anyway which one assumes Rising is aimed at, is the preponderance of slow songs or slow parts. Somehow the listener gets the impression that were it entirely up to the band the disc would comprise of 12 slow-churning ballads. Two ballads is one too many. Beyond that and the band is venturing into Limburger territory. - Ali “The Metallian”
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