EVERGREY Frontman Talks About New Album, Upcoming Tour

Swedish melodic metal outfit EVERGREY will release their new album, "The Inner Circle", on April 27 through InsideOut Music America. The follow-up to 2003's "Recreation Day", "The Inner Circle" sees EVERGREY intensifying their musical ability with the utilization of a string quartet, courtesy of the Gothenburg Symphonic Orchestra, as well as handling all of the production duties themselves. The band (vocalist/guitarist Tom S. Englund, guitarist Henrik Danhage, bassist Michael Håkansson, keyboardist Rikard Zander, and drummer Jonas Ekdahl) unleash an album that retains EVERGREY's signature brand of infectious songwriting while experimenting with new ideas, thoughts, and sonic imagery. Englund explains, "We never had any plans to go in any direction, and it is one of the things that makes EVERGREY unique. We have always tried to be a complex band, but we have always maintained a 'pop-structure' to the songs. We are happy that we are evolving as songwriters, and we are fortunate not to repeat ourselves. With 'Recreation Day', we wrote recorded and released it within five months. With this one, we took a lot more time with it."

Englund also offers a brief synopsis of the encompassing plot of "The Inner Circle":

"It is a conceptual album about being caught up within a religious cult, viewing how you deal with it and how others around you deal with it. It is told from everyone's point of view, and shows how you fall deeper and deeper into a state of apathy, losing more and more control and power over yourself and dreams, eventually giving yourself over to the cult. It is about fanatics, not specific to a religious group; it can relate to Christians, Muslims, Satanists, Jews, it doesn't really matter."

"The Inner Circle" track listing:

01. A Touch Of Blessing
02. Ambassador
03. In The Wake Of The Weary
04. Harmless Wishes
05. Waking Up Blind
06. More Than Ever
07. The Essence Of Conviction
08. Where All Good Sleep
09. Faith Restored
10. When The Walls Go Down
Bonus Tracks: Live & Acoustic In France
01. I'm Sorry
02. Recreation Day
03. Madness Caught Another Victim

Due to the success of EVERGREY's videos from "Recreation Day", the band is planning to film two new videos to promote "The Inner Circle": "A Touch of Blessing" and "More Than Ever". This time around, three reputable directors are queuing to work with the band, one of whom is Stakka Bo, known for his directorial work on MADONNA's "Nothing Really Matters", KYLIE MINOGUE's "Love at First Sight", and CHRIS CORNELL's "Can't Change Me" videos.

EVERGREY has quickly joined the ranks of Scandinavian metal bands that have been breaking massive ground in the American music scene. Englund offers his theory on the situation: "Scandinavian people are very determined people. When we want something, we kinda go for it entirely. So it does not surprise me that bands like ARCH ENEMY, IN FLAMES, DIMMU BORGIR, and OPETH are getting noticed in America. Especially us, EVERGREY, now, with all of the MTV attention, it's absolutely amazing. We're just grateful for everything that comes our way."

EVERGREY will soon show fans their appreciation in mid-April when they cross the Atlantic to join fellow melodic metallers ICED EARTH and CHILDREN OF BODOM for a full North American tour. This will be EVERGREY's second foray into American touring. Tom expresses his excitement: "This tour is really designed for us — all the bands on it are quite melodic. What we are really looking to come of this is to influence people into checking us out; that is really what matters. The last tour with ARCH ENEMY was great, but this one definitely seems custom-tailored to our style of music. It's going to be a lot of fun."