Evergrey

Evergrey is a progressive metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden. The band was founded in 1995.

Evergrey
Evergrey performing live at Nosturi, Helsinki, Finland on 20 March 2008
Background information
OriginGothenburg, Sweden
GenresProgressive metal, power metal
Years active1995–present
LabelsAFM, Inside Out Music
Websiteevergrey.net
MembersTom S. Englund
Rikard Zander
Johan Niemann
Henrik Danhage
Jonas Ekdahl
Past membersPatrick Carlsson
Dan Bronell
Daniel Nöjd
Will Chandra
Sven Karlsson
Michael Håkansson
Christian Rehn
Fredrik Larsson
Jari Kainulainen
Marcus Jidell
Hannes Van Dahl

Lyrical themes

Evergrey's lyrics have always been of the darker sort, and the same can be said of the band's imagery. While The Dark Discovery dealt with a variety of ideas, many later albums have been concept albums, dealing with issues like self-reformation (Recreation Day), paranoia, alien abduction (In Search of Truth), child abuse, cults, and religion (The Inner Circle).

Recreation Day is an album that covers many issues, ranging from death and mourning to general fear and sorrow, all of which contribute to a greater concept of re-creation of oneself. These ideas are explored from many different points of view, such as someone contemplating suicide ("As I Lie Here Bleeding"), mourners after a funeral ("I'm Sorry," a cover of Dilba Demirbag's hit), and dying people's looking back on their "unforgivable" sins ("Unforgivable"). "Unforgivable" also acted as a catalyst for the next album, (The Inner Circle), which dealt with the same two issues described in the song: religion and child abuse.

Recent events

On 4 April 2006 Evergrey released their sixth studio album, Monday Morning Apocalypse. The album was produced and mixed by Sanken Sandquist and Stefan Glauman, former producers of Rammstein, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard, among others. Tom S. Englund said, regarding the collaboration: "We feel honoured to work with such amazing producers. We are sure that they will succeed in making us sound better than ever before." The album debuted at No. 6 in Sweden.[1]

During summer 2006, Evergrey played at many festivals throughout Europe: among others, Sweden Rock Festival, Download Festival, Arvika Festival, Masters of Rock, Storsjöyran and Sziget Festival. From 5 to 30 May the band toured the United States with In Flames, Nevermore and Throwdown. On 15 September they headlined Prog Power VII in Atlanta, Georgia.[2]

On 24 October 2006 Evergrey started a new European tour. They were supported by fellow Swedish death metal band Avatar,[3] and they visited Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden.[4]

Evergrey released their seventh studio album, Torn, in September 2008, continuing with their trademark lyrical themes of desperation and despair. Jari Kainulainen permanently filled the role on 6 August 2007, who also played bass on Torn.[5]

On 8 May 2008 Evergrey announced that they had signed a deal with Steamhammer/SPV. This included the release of their new album and the entire back catalogue. It also was announced that the new album, Torn, would be released early in September 2008.[6] As the deal includes the band's entire back catalog, there is the possibility of re-releases of previous Evergrey albums with the inclusion of added bonus material.

In July 2008 Swedish/Danish band Amaranthe announced that keyboardist Rikard Zander, along with In Flames bassist Peter Iwers, would make a guest appearance on their upcoming album.

In May 2010 it was announced that Jonas Ekdahl, Henrik Danhage and Jari Kainulainen have all left Evergrey by mutual decision because of problems with the band members interacting with each other. They called it quits as to not ruin the friendship they all have with each other.[7]

An article posted on 13 November 2010 on Evergrey's blog contained dates for upcoming concerts as well as the confirmation of a new album titled Glorious Collision on 28 February 2011.[8]

Via Facebook posts in November 2013, while writing the next Evergrey album due for release in 2014, the band first confirmed that drummer Hannes Van Dahl would be leaving the band to join Sabaton full-time, and then due to "problems working together" guitarist Marcus Jidell would also be leaving.

In August 2014 the release of the music video for King of Errors from the forthcoming Hymns For The Broken revealed that Henrik Danhage and Jonas Ekdahl had returned to the band. Hymns for the Broken was released on September 2014.[9] The band released two more albums after that, The Storm Within in 2016 and The Atlantic in 2019. Those three albums were mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen and form a conceptual trilogy.[10]

Their twelfth album, Escape of the Phoenix will be released on February 26, 2021.[11]

Personnel
  • Evergrey, Line-Up at Rockharz 2018
  • Singer Tom S. Englund
  • Guitarist Henrik Danhage
  • Bassist Johan Niemann
  • Drummer Jonas Ekdahl
  • Keyboarder Rikard Zander

Timeline

Discography
Main article: Evergrey discography

References
  1. "#6 debut on the Swedish charts!". Evergrey.net. 31 March 2006. Archived from the original on 12 October 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2006.
  2. "Evergrey tour dates archive". Evergrey.net. 6 October 2006. Archived from the original on 12 October 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2006.
  3. "Evergrey European tour announced". Evergrey.net. 28 September 2006. Archived from the original on 12 October 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2006.
  4. "Evergrey European tour dates". Evergrey.net. 28 September 2006. Archived from the original on 12 October 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2006.
  5. "So, here he is!". Evergrey.net. 6 August 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
  6. "Evergrey.net - The Official Home of Evergrey". Evergrey.net. 8 May 2008. Archived from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
  7. "Time for some changes". Evergrey.net. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Evergrey To Release 'Hymns For The Broken' In September". Blabbermouth.net. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  10. "EVERGREY: 'The Atlantic' Album Details Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  11. "Progressive Metallers EVERGREY Announce Arrival of New Album "Escape Of The Phoenix" for February 2021". Sonic Perspectives. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
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