Torn’s haunting and at the same time uplifting atmosphere is woven from textures ranging from delicate eerie passages to dramatic soaring torrents of sound underpinned by ball-breaking metal riffs and given wings by the catchiest melodies this side of paradise. Tom Englund’s spirited vocal delivery and heartfelt lyrics sound both anthemic and sincere, restoring faith in authenticity of melodic metal. Guitars talk darkly and eloquently of arcane truths that haven’t been spoken since Led Zeppelin’s Presence, delicate keyboards light the scenery with overcast glow, and on privileged tracks the stunningly beautiful melodies are reinforced by the echo-laden mid-Eighties style production. These layered references to the past, which send you right back to the golden days of Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Foreigner, but also to the earlier decade, together with magnificent pop hooks make it a vibrant, beautifully crafted, and, paradoxically, very modern album given that Seventies and Eighties classic rock is now all the rage. But nuances of production and subtle nods to heroes of the past is not the first thing you notice about this extraordinary record because Evergrey’s focus remains not on the exteriors and embellishments, but on the eternal tension between brutality and poeticism at the heart of their chosen genre, and which this time around they have managed to play out on a huge soundstage with Shakesperian range and conviction. The album debuted at number fourin the charts in their native Sweden and got rave reviews from heavy music press the world over.

So it shouldn’t surprise you that changes have been the predominant theme of Crusher’s interview with Evergrey’s singer, guitarist, and ultimate band leader Tom Englund. Changes in the band’s path, in the way they see themselves, as well as changes within the industry were some of the topics we have touched upon.

ALISSA ORDABAI: Hi Tom, thank you for taking time to do this interview. How many of these have you done today?

TOM ENGLUND: You are… Oh, I’ve lost count… Twelfth?

AO: You must be really tired!

TE: No, I love speaking about myself!

AO: Oh, that’s excellent! Well, first of all – congratulations on releasing the new album. Are you pleased with the way it has turned out?

TE: This is, of course, the most clichéd thing you can ever say about a new album, but at the same time it was the first time I can say honestly that I’m as happy as I could be with an album. Before it’s always been when a few months later you say, “Fuck, we’ve missed that,” and whatever… So I’m very satisfied and very proud to release such a powerful album.

AO: So enough time has passed for you to look at it from a detached perspective?

TE: Exactly. From the past I know how long it used to take, and this time I know that it’s good.

AO: Do you have favourite tracks on this record?

TE: I do. One is called “Soaked”, one is called “These Scars”, and one called “Numb”, so I’d pick those three.

AO: Whose choice was it to make the video to “Broken Wings” and not some other track on the record?

TE: [Laughs] Actually, we sent three songs to the label which we felt were the three songs we’d want to make a video to. But at the same time we couldn’t decide among ourselves, so we let them decide. We’ve been discussing it back and forth, so in the end we left it up to them to decide it.

AO: Tell me about that video. Has it been done already?

TE: Yes, it’s been done, we are just waiting for the preview on MTV in America. So we have to wait until they release it, and then we’ll have a premiere on MySpace or something boring like that. [Laughs] That’s the way things happen these days, so it’s great to spend a lot of money on a video and then watch it on a like two-inch screen.

AO: Was it an expensive one?

TE: Always.

AO: Can you tell me what sort of visual imagery does it explore?

TE: I can just tell you that we are standing on a roof and we have a girl in the story line and we have underwater scenes, you know, cool stuff.

AO: Did you have fun making it?

TE: No. I hate making videos. [Laughs]

AO: What do you think was your personal best on the new record?

TE: My personal best? In what way?

AO: Maybe a performance you were particularly happy with or a particular track which you found especially fulfilling.

TE: This was the record that took the longest time to produce and to write, but not to record. Actually, it was the record that took the shortest time to record. But as far as writing for it and fiddling with all the details, the keyboard sound and everything like that, I think we’ve been doing it for almost two years, which is a long period of time in our measurement, because we usually release an album every other year or so. Well, I don’t really have any favourite moments on here at all. Actually, when I recorded the acoustic guitars for the title track, I remember I felt, “This is really nice.” That was one of those moments that I remember right now. But still, even it was a few months ago, it’s a bit early to say except for the favourite songs I’ve mentioned.

AO: Some aspects of the production on the new album reminded me of the Eighties style, stuff like Def Leppard, or maybe Foreigner and Whitesnake. Was that a conscious decision to go back to that sound?

TE: Definitely. Especially on “These Scars”. I have watched a documentary featuring Mutt Lange who produced studio albums for Def Leppard, so I was soaking up as much as I could, and that was one of the songs in which I’ve incorporated his style of mixing. So I agree, 100 per cent.

AO: Is producing records something you were attracted to when you were growing up or is that new interest?

TE: I don’t know. It just came… I’m a control freak. So having somebody who hasn’t been there writing the songs mess with it is a strange thing for me. Even though I did it for the whole last album. But, you know, as much as I enjoy doing it, I hate it, it’s so much weight on your shoulders when you are responsible for everything. But this time we got it the way we wanted it.

AO: In this context, maybe it’s a silly question to ask, but if you were given a chance to go back to the record and change anything, would you?

TE: Nothing. And, actually, I wouldn’t do it on any album. I would never go back and re-mix an album. That would be stupid. An album as it is has a certain meaning to some people and I wouldn’t change the way it sounds to them. Certain sounds and certain ways of producing things affect people’s lives and they are affecting mine. Those sounds are already made and they have their own life.

AO: In terms of emotional and intellectual effort it takes to make a record, which of the Evergrey records was the most difficult to make?

TE: I would say that this one was really hard. In the middle of writing it I’ve had some personal problems within my personal life. So that has sort of put a stamp on the songwriting mode. And the situation I was in at the time has helped the album to sound the way it does today. So I’d say this album has been the most heartfelt album for me.

AO: A lot of changes have taken place within the band as well this year – you’ve singed to a new label and you’ve also changed your management. What were you hoping to achieve by doing that?

TE: Anything. Really. I mean, we just needed to make a change. We’ve been working with the same people, recording the same albums, and it comes to a point where everybody feels too comfortable with the whole situation, and it begins to stagnate and there’s no edge to it at all. You know, music isn’t supposed to be like that. It’s not supposed to be a compromise of a working situation with your label or whatever.

AO: Your tour of Sweden begins very soon. Is your audience in Sweden any different from the rest of the world?

TE: I would say that… Well… That really depends… You can’t really categorise if the audience is different in America from the audience in Europe. Europe is so many different countries and so many different cultures that… Yes, it’s different when you play in Southern countries like Spain and France maybe because they like to wear their hearts on the outside, I don’t know why. But, at the same time, when you play in Sweden, for instance, the audience is slightly different, and in America we have mosh pits, all this crazy stuff. But it’s pretty much the same, it depends on the night, I would say, and not so much on the audience. But then again, of course, we did an East European tour last year and it was great for us.

AO: Over there they’ve been deprived of rock music for such a long time that they really appreciate it now.

TE: Probably, yeah.

AO: So what would you say is the ideal venue size for you these days?

TE: Ideal? Wembley! That would be ideal for me! [Laughs] I would say like a 800-seater maybe. That’s when you can still keep it intimate and at the same time it’s a large capsule.

AO: Do you have any plans to take the new album on tour to the rest of Europe?

TE: Most definitely, but as we have said now, we are going to make every decision for this album. We are not going to jump on tours just for the sake of going on tour. We are going to chose our tours and spend our money on the right tours, not just go out and play. Because we can do that, we can go around Europe and play to anything between 500 and 2,500 people. Maybe not in England, maybe in England it would be something like 200, but at the same time it’s like preaching to the converted. We need to go out on the support tour and have somebody bring us onto another level.

AO: Is there any country where you haven’t played before but would like to?

TE: We haven’t been in Asia, that’s pretty much the only place we never visited and I doubt we ever will.

AO: You’ve been in this business for fifteen years now…

TE: Fifteen years?! Is that it?!

AO: Hasn’t it been fifteen?

TE: Jesus fucking Christ! Is that it? No, it’s not! It’s been twelve years.

AO: Oh, my apologies!

TE: How old do you think I am?

AO: How old do you think "I" am? I’m beginning to show signs of dementia. But what I was trying to find out, is your take on the changes that are taking place in the music industry these days. The way bands relate to their fans these days, free downloads and sites like MySpace and YouTube. Do you welcome those changes?

TE: I’m a kind of person who feels that if I don’t have a choice, if that’s the way the world is today, there is no point for me to sit there like a grumpy old man to say that it’s not the way it was before. Because it’s never been that way before. And I could sit here and speculate what we could have sold if the internet wasn’t there. But that’s the way it is and that’s the way it is for everyone. And unfortunately it’s going to lead to higher costs when people come to your town on tour. And it is going to be fifty quid where it used to be maybe twenty. And it’s already happening. So that’s the way the bands earn back their money.

AO: Would you say that being a musician has changed in any major profound way since the time when you were growing up?

TE: No. Not at all. For me, it’s just become better. I think that metal is also lucky in that way that we have our loyal fans. For example, today we’ve jumped to the fourth position on the Swedish album charts.

AO: Congratulations!

TE: It’s the best we’ve ever done, and we’ve beat a lot of people. Not Metallica, but pretty much everybody else.

AO: Metal has gone through so many transformations over the years – trends came and trends went, and you’ve witnessed it all. What do you think is the future of metal?

TE: I don’t know. I don’t know what to think of the record industry at all. Even though we sell more albums all the time, it’s not something that is going to bring the record industry back on its feet, you know. I think we are going to have to have a smart guy like someone from Apple to come up with a thing that would revolutionise the industry in order to be able to continue doing this.

AO: Would you say that the industry is in need of a change?

TE: It is definitely, and I don’t understand why it should be so hard to… I mean, today kids don’t know what buying an album is. And it’s not their fault. I’m not blaming them for downloading stuff. How could I? That’s the way their life has been from the day they were born if they are 14. [Laughs] So it’s hard for us to be grown-up and point your finger and say, “Hey, you shouldn’t be doing that, think of the artist or whatever.” You have to come up with an alternative.

AO: Let me ask you a goofy question. If you were able to send yourself a letter that would travel back in time, a letter to your younger self, what would you write?

TE: “Don’t become a musician.” [Laughs]

AO: Is it really as tough as you are portraying it to be?

TE: No, I’m not portraying it as tough at all!.. At least I’m not trying to! I’ve had such good times with this business doing what I want to do. For the last six years I’ve been living off it, but at the same time I’m looking at my friends who are bosses for Vodafone and whatever, and then you start wondering, “What the hell am I doing?” But at the same time I’ve been all over the world, pretty much, except for Asia, and I’ve seen so many cultures and people, and that also has a major value for me as a person. So I was pretty much kidding when I said, “Don’t become a musician.” It has brought me happiness. I don’t know what I would say. “Get an education,” as well.

AO: Do you think education is still valuable these days?

TE: I don’t know. At the same time, the world is changing. If someone told you ten years ago to get a certain education, you can’t find a job with that education today. So I don’t know.

AO: Well, thank you for such a great interview! It’s been enlightening in the ways I didn’t expect. Good luck with the tour! Break a leg!

TE: You bet!