During a chat about Torn, the Swedes' excellent, forthcoming debut for SPV, founder/guitarist/frontman Tom Englund related just how close EVERGREY came to a major, irreparable rift. From the outside, it appears that guitarist Henrik Danhage took a diminished role in the creation of the new disc, drummer Jonas Ekdahl aiding Englund in the song writing and production. “The main reason was that me and Jonas actively started writing in a period when Henrik was on tour with In Flames. It wasn't planned, like ‘Let’s start writing while he’s away,’ It just happened and we kept going. We were all fed up with each other, to be honest, and were, for a long time. Henrik even got an offer from another band, to join them! He wanted to do that, but in the end, it didn't work out."

Add to that the situation with Monday Morning Apocalypse (their swan song on Inside Out), which saw a portion of the usually jubilant fan base expressing doubt, for the first time, followed by the defection of longtime bassist Michael Hakansson. "We've had line-up changes before," states the lanky guitarist matter-of-factly. "Saleswise, (MMA) was an improvement, selling more than any of our other albums. Moneywise, it wasn't worth it, but we learned a lot that we carried over to this album. It made it worth it now. This album certainly wouldn't sound the way it does without the knowledge and lessons we learned back then. At the same time, that negative response came as a shock to us. Since it never happened before. This came from our fan base, not that it made us change anything, or question our capabilities. When you start to get people that DON'T like you, that’s when you realize you're getting bigger. It’s like your mom and her sisters. That’s kind of how it was before. "

"All those things put a perspective on things for us. We had to sit down and discuss what we wanted to do. I was fed up with the whole situation of the band. I don't even know why, but it comes to a point where you've worked with the same people for the last five albums and things get too comfortable. There’s no edge and you get tired of it, like in a relationship, if you take things for granted. Now, we're all fired up and it’s better than it has been for the last six, eight years. It feels really good.”

Don't worry, there's no Gothenburg version of Some Kind Of Monster on the horizon, Evergrey dishing the dirt to a shrink. “We don't have that kind of money," offers Englund, only half joking. "I think we're all grown-up enough to handle that shit ourselves.”

Watch for an Evergrey feature in issue #113 of BW&BK; - out in November.

In the meantime, Torn will be released September 23rd via SPV and you can get a sneak-peak at Mark Gromen's listening notes here.

The new Evergrey track called 'Fail' is currently streaming on BW&BK;'s KnuckleTracks Online Audio Player - head to the left-hand-side of BraveWords.com to listen.