Prolific is an understatement when it comes to Evergrey. The band have been at it for 13 albums now, and their new release, A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament), out May 20 via Napalm Records, reveals that the band show no signs of slowing down. On this record, like many bands in 2022, their lyrics take a hard look at the direction of humanity.
“(A lot of the lyrics are) me being scared of where humanity is going because, I mean, we all use social media, but the younger ones of us have not necessarily had the education in terms of evaluating media,” vocalist and guitarist Tom Englund says. “I just want to sort of put it out there that you need to figure out who you are yourself before somebody else tells you who to follow.”
Despite the fact that the band have a lot of music under their belt, they have no plans to slow down anytime soon. They have signed a contract with Napalm Records for three albums, so there will be more music after this one. The plan is to keep touring, keep making music, and ride their massive wave of success and interest for as long as possible.
“It’s just ridiculous to be honest,” laughs Englund when asked how he feels about the bands’ longevity. “I mean, I figured if I was lucky, we would make three or four albums, and that would be that. Now I’ve been doing this for 13 albums, almost 30 years, that’s more than half my lifetime. I’m grateful that people are still interested, and we’re not huge, but we’re still climbing. It might be a slow upwards climb, but that means we never had a dip. We still get fans every album, and we don’t lose anyone.”
And while it’s true that they gain fans with each new record, Englund also cautions against having any assumed ideas about what this new offering from Evergrey is going to bring.
“I think people have a sort of preconceived mind about things, and most of the time, they are wrong.” He adds, “So just take a chance. Listen to the record and you will figure out if you like it or not.”
Watch the video for “Blindfolded” here:
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Photo courtesy of Evergrey
