The occasion had a bizarre sense of foreboding about it. Evergrey, the Kings of Morose Metal were in the capital to launch their album, entitled 'Monday Morning Apocalypse' - and the venue was to be a pub called The World’s End. Wry smiles all round then, when I arrive to see that their hotel is hosting a conference organised by the Arabian TV channel Aljazeera - best known for its coverage of terrorism, kidnappings and war!
It quickly becomes clear, that the band's label is pulling out all the stops, to give this record the push it deserves. Journalists from the States and across Europe have been flown into London, for a day of interviews, and to see the band's show at the Camden Underworld.
Having had a few days to absorb the new offering, I could see why the record company bosses are keen to boost the band's profile. With their sixth studio album, Evergrey has set out to be more direct and contemporary than ever before. The result, is an album bursting with melodic metal, yet still retaining those familiar trademarks of darkness, heaviness and atmosphere.
'Monday Morning Apocalypse' contains enough of the band's past, to please existing fans, yet a fresh approach, that should bring in a whole new set of converts. The promotion rush is summed up, by the schedule for the band's only remaining founding member, singer and guitarist, Tom S Englund. The day before, he had awoken in Poland, had lunch in Amsterdam, before flying to London, where after playing tonight's gig, he was due to fly to Paris in time for breakfast.
As usual, the tall figure is straight to the point when asked how we would like to portray the new album.
'This records shows what we are capable of doing,' he states. 'Our new songs are much more direct and thus much more effective. I am especially looking forward to playing them onstage, as I believe they will have an instant impact in a live setting.'
'Stagnation means stepping back and that is unacceptable for us,' he adds. 'It still sounds like Evergrey. The heaviness is still there and the darkness is still there.'
I am sat with the whole band, in the basement of the World's End pub, which lies above the setting for the evening's concert. I ask keyboardist Rikard Zander, whether, in terms of songwriting, it was a conscious decision to try something a bit different on the new album.
'I think there's an intention to do something different on every Evergrey album,' he replies. 'We always try to do something different. We haven't reached where we want to be yet, so we had to try new things. It's a natural progression.'
Guitarist Henrik Danhage develops the answer further.
'We've never tried to write an album, or songs, in a particular direction. A good song, is a good song. It doesn't matter if it's five chords or five million chords, it always comes down to the song. We didn't do anything new, in the way we wrote the songs for this album. It's the same people, but a few years older.'
Glancing through the band's website, there seem to be a few long-standing fans complaining that the new songs have lost some of the complexity and atmosphere which made Evergrey stand out from the crowd. But in reality, the change in direction is minimal. It's true, that this time around, only 'Still in the Water' passes the five minute mark. Yet on the band's last album, there are only three tracks that last any longer. Henrik develops the point.
'I don't really get this, 'you don't sound like you used to' comment. We're not the same people as we used to be and I don't think people want to go out and buy 'The Dark Discovery Part Six'. It would be really boring to just create something we've done already. I mean, if you love 'The Dark Discovery' then you already have that album. What's the problem? Listen to it and shut the fuck up.'
This time Rikard develops the point.
'I don't think Evergrey has ever made big leaps in our sound, it's just a gradual progression. There's not a big step from 'The Dark Discovery' to 'Solitude, Dominance', and there's no great difference from 'The Inner Circle' to this album. There have been two years since we've released an album, and in that time we've grown stronger as a band. This is actually the first time, that two studio albums have been made with the same line-up. We've never had a line-up that's lasted this long.'
One definite change, is that for the first time in their career, the band has decided to let someone else take over production duties. The team, of Sanken Sandquist and Stefan Glaumann, can count Rammstein, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard among their credits. Henrik embraces the decision as a positive move.
'It was really nice to know, that all we had to do was write the songs and play them. Everything else, was somebody else's job. We wanted to record the album really fast and get the fuck out of there. The last album was just insane - almost spending six months in a studio. This time, we took just six weeks.'
'We wanted to try something completely new. These two guys are not two minor league guys. It's not like we picked the leftovers that the budget could cope with. If you can mix Rammstein, then you're playing in the major league. We were particularly attracted by the fact that they had worked with a whole spectrum of bands. We wanted a real producer, not a guy that loves heavy metal and can tweak a good heavy metal sound. We can do that ourselves. We wanted someone who could really get the best sound out of Evergrey.'
Whereas 'The Inner Circle' was a full-blown concept album, dealing with child abuse and the church, 'Monday Morning Apocalypse' has just three songs, tied together with a common thread. The rest stand on their own two feet.
I invite Henrik to explain what links the three tracks - 'Monday Morning Apocalypse', 'Obedience' and 'Still In The Water'.
'It's about a man who got really bullied at school. That really affected him later in life. He gets very disturbed and decides to kidnap the children of the people who bullied him, to get back at them. He does some really disturbed things to them.'
Another noticeable change comes with the album cover. Compared to the darkly symbolic covers of the past, the new package has a much lighter feel. Rikard explains how it came about.
'We were basically asked, 'What do think about getting drunk one day, going into a photo studio and taking some convict pictures?' We said 'Yeah that sounds pretty good' and so we started to get drunk! I think it was fun to do a different cover and it looks really fresh. It stands out. When you look at this cover you don't know what sort of band this is.'
The last time we heard from the Evergrey camp was a year ago, with the release of a live DVD, filmed in their home city of Gothenburg. Having conducted the interviews, which form a major part of the DVD's bonus material, I recall the excitement of the band during the day we spent filming. After answering lots of questions, they were able to view, for the first time ever, one of the completed tracks.
'A Night To Remember' was certainly a huge commercial success, spending three weeks at the top of the Swedish charts, and winning the band their second nomination for a Swedish Grammy. I wonder, if overall, the project lived up to their high expectations.
Henrik certainly thinks it did.
'This is the thing that I'm going to be showing my grandchildren when I'm old - even if I'll maybe skip a few of the sections!!'
'Usually, when a band releases a DVD, it's just a time filler between albums. But for us, this was a like a real album, because we put so much into it and it was just so good. It was also really nice, to have some sort of closure on the first ten years of Evergrey. And now we are starting chapter two.'
The band is due to complete a month-long American tour as part of a mouth-watering line-up alongside In Flames and Nevermore. They have also been booked to headline the prestigious Progpower festival in Atlanta, where they plan to recreate the DVD set, complete with choir and orchestra.
'It is especially nice for us to do that again,' explains Henrik. 'But the really cool thing for me, is that it will give us the opportunity to pay some homage to Glen Harveston, who organises the festival. He's been a very supportive fan since the beginning. He was responsible for getting the label to come and see us, which led to our signing with Inside Out. So it'll be a nice way to say thankyou.'
The band is also planning a full European tour, which they are determined, will this time, include some dates in the UK.
'It's really stupid that tonight will be our first ever headline concert over here,' says drummer Jonas Ekdahl. 'The crowd always loves us. It's just bad planning that we haven't been here before.'
Indeed, it was only with the release of their last album, that they played their first gig in the UK. Then they came away with raving reviews for the performance at the Bloodstock Festival. I ask Henrik whether the band was surprised at the warmth of the reaction they received from the crowd at Derby?
'We were amazed at the reaction, especially as it had been so hard for us to get any gigs in the UK. We were constantly told that nobody knew of us. Then all of a sudden we are getting amazing reviews in all the magazines. The British crowds were really crazy. You could feel that you were in the land of heavy metal. I told the guys as we came off, that that gig was really special.'
2006-05-16 Colorado Springs, CO at The Black Sheep
2006-05-18 Spokane, WA - Big Easy
2006-05-19 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theatre
2006-05-20 Chico, CA - Senator Theatre
2006-05-21 Sparks, NV - New Oasis
2006-05-23 Tucson, AZ at Rialto Theatre
2006-05-25 Tulsa, OK - Cain´s Ballroom
2006-05-26 Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theatre
2006-05-27 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
2006-05-28 Tallahassee, FL at The Beta Bar
2006-05-29 Jacksonville, FL - Club Rain
2006-05-30 Ft. Lauderdale, FL at Revolution
2006-06-04 Rock Hard Festival (Germany)
2006-06-09 Sweden Rock Festival
2006-06-11 Download Festival, England
2006-06-17 Club Apelsin - Moscow, Russia*
2006-07-13 Arvika Festival (Sweden)
2006-07-14 Masters Of Rock Festival (Czech Republic)
2006-07-21 Earthshaker Festival (Germany)
2006-07-22 Metalcamp Festival (Slovenia)
2006-08-13 Sziget Festival, Hungary
2006-09-15 ProgPower USA VII - Atlanta, GA USA
