Evergrey Join Iced Earth & Chi

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For Immediate Release:

Sweden’s Evergrey Releases Ambitious The Inner Circle & Embarks on Extensive Spring North American Tour with Iced Earth and Children of Bodom

The career of Swedish melodic metal outfit Evergrey is a far-reaching journey; a kaleidoscopic expedition that ventures deeper into the human psyche with each progressing release, while simultaneously broadening the band’s sphere of musical vision. April 27th, 2004 will see Evergrey enlighten the world with The Inner Circle, an adventurous conceptual album exploring the nuances of religious cults and the depth of Evergrey’s expanding musicianship. The album will be released through Inside Out Music America.

The follow-up to 2003’s lauded Recreation Day (which yielded 2 videos still in rotation on MTV’s Headbangers Ball: “I’m Sorry” & “Blinded”), 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) unleashes 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 5 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.”

Audio clips for “A Touch of Blessing” and “More Than Ever” can be sampled here: http://www.evergrey.net/audvid.php.

In bringing the complex and evocative endeavor to life, not only was the Gothenburg Symphonic Orchestra employed “to make the production more interesting, more organic and dynamic,” but Englund also enlisted the services of his wife Carina to perform angelic, choir-like vocal melodies throughout the album. Carina Englund has actually appeared on every Evergrey studio album to date.

InsideOut Music America, in recognition of Evergrey’s achievements and potential, has recently reissued the band’s first two stylish and inspired albums, Dark Discovery (1998) & Solitude Dominance Tragedy (1999), neither of which have been previously domestically available. These editions feature new liner notes by Tom S. Englund, and each contains an exclusive video track (Dark Discovery features “For Every Tear That Falls” and Solitude Dominance Tragedy features “The Masterplan”).

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, 3 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.”

Tour dates include:

04/18/04 Cleveland, OH The Odeon
04/19/04 Sauget (St. Louis), IL Pop’s
04/20/04 Chicago, IL Metro
04/21/04 Minneapolis, MN Quest
04/23/04 Milwaukee, WI The Eagle's Club
04/24/04 Detroit, MI Harpo's Concert Theatre
04/25/04 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
04/26/04 Toronto, ON, Can. The Guvernment
04/28/04 Montreal, QC, Can. The Medley
04/29/04 New York, NY BB King's
04/30/04 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
05/01/04 Worcester, MA The Palladium
05/02/04 Springfield, VA Jaxx
05/04/04 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
05/05/04 Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues
05/07/04 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
05/08/04 Houston, TX Engine Room
05/09/04 Austin, TX The Back Room
05/10/04 Dallas, TX Deep Ellum Live
05/12/04 Denver, CO Ogden Theater
05/14/04 Vancouver, BC, Can. Commodore Ballroom
05/15/04 Seattle, WA Graceland
05/17/04 San Francisco, CA Avalon Ballroom
05/18/04 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
05/19/04 Scottsdale, AZ Cajun House
05/20/04 West Hollywood, CA House of Blues

www.evergrey.net * www.insideoutmusic.com