Evergrey have announced the departure of guitarist Henrik Danhage, closing a chapter that — counting his initial run, a break, and his return — stretched across 21 years of the Swedish band’s history.
The announcement came via social media today (Tuesday, April 7th): “Evergrey and Henrik have mutually decided to part ways after working together on and off for 21 years. It is now time for a new chapter for both parties. We wish each other all the best for the future and look forward to new music from both Evergrey and Henrik. Stay tuned.”
The split had been signalled somewhat by Danhage‘s absence from the band’s fall 2025 tour alongside Katatonia, where Stephen Platt of Scar Symmetry filled in on guitar. No further explanation has been offered beyond the mutual parting statement.
Danhage‘s story with the guitar goes back to age nine, when his grandfather handed him a copy of Kiss‘s 1975 live album Alive! and set something in motion. “I was in front of the mirror pretending I was Ace Frehley,” he once told Charvel, “and some of the best guitar playing I ever did was during those two years.” By twelve, he had enough of a foundation to be recruited into a local band called Penicillin with access to a rehearsal studio — two hours a week, enough to keep developing.
The call from Evergrey frontman Tom S. Englund came in 2001. Danhage‘s debut with the band, In Search of Truth, released that same year, is widely regarded as one of the finest progressive metal albums of its era, with his approach to riffs and rhythm playing a central part in its identity. He stepped away from the band in 2008 to pursue other projects, but returned in 2014 and remained a consistent presence through a run of records from Hymns for the Broken to 2022’s A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Treatment).
The timing of the split puts it just ahead of a significant stretch for Evergrey. The band’s fifteenth album, Architects of a New Weave, arrives June 5 via Napalm Records — produced by Tom S. Englund and Vikram Shankar, with mixing handled by Adam “Nolly” Getgood. Days after the release, Evergrey are set to appear as special guests to Iron Maiden on two dates of the British band’s “Run for Your Lives” world tour.
No replacement for Danhage has been announced.
