August 21 [7:55 EDT] -- Boyz II Men gathered the media in New York City on Wednesday to announce the end of their three-year recording hiatus and the arrival of another batch of R&B vocal harmonies on "Evolution."

Given the astounding success of their last effort, 1994's "II," you might wonder why the band took three years to put out another album instead of striking while the iron was hot. However, the group notes that the work required to sell some 12 million records left them in need of some rest, and a chance to "get our minds together."

"After the tour that we had in '94 and Œ95, brothers kind of got burnt out," the group's Shawn Stockman told MTV News after the press conference. "It became really tiring, so we really needed that time away to, kind of, regroup and just refuel. [900k QuickTime] It was definitely needed because now we're ready again. We feel that hunger again, and that anxiousness, that anxiety, to go out there and do our thing."

Of course, once they decided the time was right to begin work on the follow-up to "II," the Boyz started to feel the pressure of measuring up to that level of success.

"After the success of the last album, it was kind of rough to come back after something like that," the Boyz' Nathan Morris said. "I think that towards the end of the project we started getting that warm feeling again, where everything started falling into place. It usually happens at the end of the projects. Every time we start, we're like, 'Awww man... What are we going to do, and is it going to be able to compare to the last... da da da.' And towards the end, you know when we got back in the studio with the Terry Lewises, the Jimmy Jams, the Babyfaces and start feeling that, it was like, 'I'm feeling it again, let's just go do it,' [1MB QuickTime]and that's kind of the vibe we have now."

Fans will be able to catch that vibe when "Evolution" (featuring tracks produced by Puffy Combs as well as the aforementioned Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Babyface) hits stores on September 23. The album will be preceded by the first single, "4 Seasons Of Loneliness," which arrives in stores on September 9, but should start garnering heavy radio play next week.

If you want to see the group in the flesh, you may have to wait a while, as they don't plan to tour in the U.S. until early next year.