"Whew!" That's the sound of Collective Soul breathing a collective sigh of relief. The group is enjoying the success of its third album, Disciplined Breakdown -- a record that almost wasn't.

"Making this record was really difficult for us," says guitarist Dean Roland, who brings his group to Race City Speedway today for the full-day Edgefest festival.

"We went through some trying legal problems with our now-former manager and it was really emotionally stressing," Roland says.

"It was really tough trying to stay focussed and maintain our sanity with all these distractions."

To Collective Soul's credit, Disciplined Breakdown has a natural, effortless feel that doesn't suggest it was made under duress.

However, Roland says the situation "had a lot of effect, especially lyrically for Ed (Roland, the group's singer-songwriter and Dean's brother). A lot of the lyrics are really emotionally inflected and very honest about what he was going through at the time."

Indeed, the record's first single Precious Declaration included a line -- "Can't crash now/I've been waiting for this" -- that expressed Ed Roland's fears that managerial problems might put an abrupt halt on the band's fast rise to stardom.

Disciplined Breakdown follows two multi-million-selling predecessors: Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid (featuring the hits Shine and Breathe) and a self-titled sophomore record (highlighted by the FM radio staples Gel, December and The World I Know).

But Roland insists "we weren't nervous" about the prospect of following up two platinum discs.

"I mean, we felt comfortable with the music and that was the main objective.

"We wanted to, first and foremost, make the kind of music that would make us happy. If it doesn't sell or doesn't meet with people's expectations, at the end of the day we can live with ourselves knowing we didn't make something that wasn't ours."

Still, Collective Soul has never been a favorite of critics, who've claimed the band is merely recycling familiar classic-rock cliches.

"There have been reviews of our work that have been harsh," Roland admits.

"We open ourselves up and put a lot of hard work and honesty into what we do, then somebody rips you up.

`It's hard. You try to ignore it, but it's hard."