Silverdollar's first release, Covers From Hell, was a collection of heavy metal classics as covered by this Swedish band. The last we've heard from these guys was a three song E.P. that was released back in 2005. The classic old school and traditional metal sound was a refreshing change from the flood of power metal clones. Almost three years later, Evil Never Sleeps marks the debut of their first full-length album of original material. Silverdollar consists of vocalist Esa Englund, guitarist Ola Berg, drummer Mats Hjerp and bassist Fredrik Hall.

Silverdollar's influences range from classic Saxon and Accept to melodic 80's metal and hard rock. The Saxon/Accept influences are evident right off the start with Hollow, a track that features more traditional heavy metal riffing and an overall old school heavy metal sound. Lead vocalist Esa Englund encompasses the styles of Bruce Dickinson, Gary Moore and Gary Barden (MSG) as well as showing his expertise in Rob Halford style screams. The guitar tone of Silverdollar is very reminiscent of older Hall Of Mountain King Savatage as well as the early days of Mercyful Fate. Their songs are energetic and driving with lots of energy as witnessed with Unleash Hell, a speedy double bass fuelled high-energy track. Gracious Calling shows their strengths at writing more mid tempo, melodic heavy metal with a very catchy feel. Balls out 80's metal is on the table for Hollywood Forever and the Gary Moore/Gary Barden tone to Esa Englund's voice is never more evident than with the very "soulful" chorus to Leave It All Behind. The slow galloping riffs of Rising Son leads into some tasty Yngwie Malmsteen inspired neo-classical leads with In This Year Of Grace being more of a "trudgy" old school metal track with excellent riff breaks and solos. The albums closes with Neurotic Eyes, a very different yet catchy track that shows the band's ability to infuse drama and melody into their music with a great melodic chorus over clean guitars.

Overall, Silverdollar is a very heavy traditional sounding heavy metal band that keeps very true to their roots. Their music is exciting with lots of driving energy yet, this album is plagued by some very noticeable production flaws. On a few tracks, Esa Englund's voice is buried in the mix and sometimes difficult to hear properly and there's little doubt that some of these tracks were recorded earlier as the differences in production are quite evident. Although originality may not be a word that crops in discussions about this band's sound, I applaud their choice of metal as they have avoided all the modern metal/modern power metal "temptations". They're committed to playing some very solid traditional heavy metal that even dips a bit into the 70's with the classic harmony vocal styles of bands like Uriah Heep. This is one of those albums that creeps up on you and gets better and better with each listen. With improvements in production for their next album, this band can only get better.