One of several high points on “Escape Of The Phoenix“, both lyrically and musically, is “The Beholder” featuring Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie singing a duet with Englund. As a fan of the band, and crediting LaBrie as playing a key role in his development as a musician, Englund felt the song would benefit from the addition of LaBrie’s performance. It was a sentiment shared by all of Evergrey’s members, and the collaboration came together with a simple e-mail.
Englund: “I just wrote to James and told him about the idea for the song, and that it would be great to have him on it. He really liked the song and agreed to do it. I think the song came out perfectly. There’s a keyboard break in the song, and everyone in the band said ‘We need James LaBrie for this part.’ He sounds amazing on the track, and we sound great together.”
Now this song is out of the reel with the album release of „Escape Of The Phoenix”.
As for calling the new album “Escape Of The Phoenix”, it wasn’t a title dreamed up out of desperation to find something that sounds cool. As with everything Englund does, he had a very clear concept in mind.
“When you talk about the resurrection of the phoenix, that started a mindgame for me,” Englund reveals. “What if the bird doesn’t want to be resurrected? What if it doesn’t want to come back? That sort of resembles things in life; sometimes you get tired of standing up and being strong. I guess that was the main idea. It came to me after we’d finished writing the music.”
The album is available here: https://afm.fanlink.to/EvergreyEscapeOfThePhoenix
