Shortly before the release of Backstreet’s fourth CD, Black & Blue, the Boys appeared more confident and united than ever. “[Our bond] is absolutely flawless,” says A.J. “People will see us coming like a Mack truck.”

Upon arriving at Backstreet Boys’ management company, the Firm, you can’t help feeling intimidated. Huge gunmetal doors that scream Fort Knox mark the entrance. Once inside you’re led to a sterile conference room where a serious-looking guy greets you, then lays his knapsack on the table. What it contains isn’t the Hope diamond, but it may be something just as coveted: the new Backstreet album.

“I always carry this on my person, “ says Kevin Richardson. “I never check this with my luggage. Ever.”

The eldest Boy (he’s 29) then plays several unfinished tracks from the group’s new record, Black & Blue, and you feel rather smug. Except for “It’s True,” a track included on CDs available through Burger King, the new tunes have been kept under wraps. Almost no one’s heard them yet; not other press, not the guys’ parents and, miraculously, not even those with access to Napster. And the Backstreet camp plans to keep it that way.

“This is one album we do not ant to be all over the place before it gets in stores,” Jive President Barry Weiss says a week later. “We’re being very limited in terms of copies that are around. We’re not even letting copies go out to video directors.”

Why all the secrecy? Especially when ‘Nsync’s 9-million-copies-sold-and-counting No Strings Attached showed up on Napster a month or so before its release – increasing the group’s exposure and perhaps contributing to album sales of 2.4 million copies its first week out? The Firm and Jive – home to both BSB and ‘Nsync – are hoping that holding back the goods until the album’s November 21 sale date will create a Backstreet buying frenzy. And with ‘Nsync as the new holders of the first-week sales record (this past March they more than doubled Backstreet’s previous record of 1.13 million for Millennium), the pressure is on Backstreet to regain its title or, at the very least, give ‘Nsync a run for its money.

calm, cool and collected

You’d think that such pressure would have the Boys stressed out, but by the looks of them at “Teen People’s” cover shoot in a Los Angeles warehouse, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, they appear perfectly relaxed. And Brian Littrell hasn’t stopped smiling since he walked in.

“We’re the tightest we’ve ever been,” says A.J. McLean, 21. “We’ve learned so much together, individually and as a group. During the last three years we’ve been through hell,” he says, refereeing to their contract woes with TransContinental Records and their break from former manager Johnny Wright (who currently oversees ‘Nsync). “Now we have an unbreakable bond.”

Kevin continues: “Now that we’ve gone through a whole album cycle with new management, we feel at peace, and things are more under control.” Plus, he adds, “the past three months we’ve had more time off than we ever had, and that’s been good for us.” Kevin put that vacation go good use: He tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend, dancer Kristen Willits (now Richardson), 30, on June 17. “There’s a peace knowing you’ve got somebody who will love you no matter how many records you sell,” he says. The couple divide their time between Orlando and their newly rented Hollywood Hills home.

As for that constant grin on Brian’s face, in nine days (on September 2) he’ll marry his sweetheart, actress Leighanne Wallace, 31. “I’m very dream-fulfilled to have the career we have now and to have a lifelong companion to share it with,” he says. (The two moved from Orlando to Atlanta earlier this year.) Brian, 25, knows that the next few months will be tough – with a worldwide album release comes relentless globe-trotting for promotion. “It’s a lot to juggle,” he says, “and a lot of pressure to be to her what I want to be, and to be to the fans what they want me to be…. But I’ve got a great family around me and by the time this story runs I’ll have some great in-laws around me.” And perhaps in the not too distant future “some little ones,” he says, the smile growing bigger. “Carry some extra busses on tour for the family.”

Nick Carter is closer with his family these days. Last year it was reported that there was tension between the 20-year-old and his mother, Jane Carter, but things have gotten better, he says. In fact, he just returned from visiting her and the rest of his family – including 14-year-old budding pop star Aaron – in their new home in the Florida keys. On the way to their place from his home in Tampa, Nick stopped in at a highway bar, as he sometimes does, to play the drums.

“Look at these hands,” he says. His open palms sport several red blisters. Playing drums “is like a release,” he explains. Nick goes on to reveal that “when things settle down in a couple of years, I’m gonna do rock. It will probably be along the lines of Brian Adams, maybe a little harder.”

tough times ahead?

Some critics argue that Nick’s opportunity might come sooner rather than later. “Every act has its day, and we very well may have seen Backstreet Boys ride its crest,” says Billboard magazine senior writer Chuck Taylor (although he acknowledges “Backstreet has accomplished some amazing things in terms of popularity and sales”). As for BSB’s chances of breaking ‘Nsync’s record, Taylor says, “’Nsync’s record came out at the peak of youth mania. That will be tough to top.”

A.J. doesn’t think so. “I bet we can break their record and our record combined the first week out,” he boasts.

The Boys began work on their third U.S. CD with a two-233k recording stint in the Bahamas. “We wanted to go to where we wouldn’t be distracted by family and friends,” says Howie Dorough, 27 (whose own recent distractions included a pair of San Juan, Puerto Rico, solo gigs). “It reminded me of when we were starting, the early days when we’d stay at our manager’s house and have a sleepover.”

All five Boys contributed to the writing and producing of Black & Blue. Two of the songs Kevin plays at the Firm are immediate standouts: “Time,” a midtempo number that was produced by Babyface and co written by the group, and “The Call,” an edgy dance tune about a guy who gets caught cheating on his girlfriend.

Overall, the album is “more in your face musically and lyric-wise” than Millennium, says A.J. Adds Brian: “[It’s] much more diverse. We’re dabbling in country, a little rock…” Nick continues: “…a bit of pop, a little R&B.” But, he warns, “you can’t stray too far from the formula. This album definitely sounds like the Backstreet Boys.” According to Jive’s Weiss, that should be more than enough. “BSB is one of the few true franchises in music,” he says. “The fans are hungering for new material.”

In the near future – perhaps by the time you read this – the Boys will provide fans with more music via new artists they plan to sign to their as-yet-unnamed label, a joint venture with the Firm. Their first artist is Krystal, an 18-year-old female singer-songwriter. “her voice is angelic,” says Kevin. “She sounds like Annie Lennox.”

But for now the guys are focused on Backstreet Boys – and keeping thins in persepective. “Everyone wants us to break [‘Nsync’s] record – that I don’t’ care about,” says Kevin. “What I care about is what we’re around in another eight years.”