Saturday September 25th (day 18)

Guests, choirs & cocktails


A bearded journalist No. 1

A bearded journalist No. 2








A bearded camera man.


Retardo Pagano strikes back!















Recipe for "Nasty Fisherman":

4 cl ice cold Koskenkorva
2 cl water with fish stock cube (to be boiled 1st then cool before serving)
1/2 boiled egg
1 filét of anchovy

Mix the booze and fish water together. Add the egg and anchovy in a tooth pick. Put in the fridge for 20 minutes before serving. Try not to puke!

Thursday September 23rd (day 16)

Today we did nothing metal.

Only 80´s Goth Rock guitars and Best Western country licks.

You see, we are getting really old here in the studio.

Henri likes The Cure and Mitja is Digging The Byrds.

The Golf Stream is getting weak according to the Polish scientists and it won´t saturate the wamth upon us anymore.

Anonymous

Wednesday September 22nd (day 15)

Now this is some serious synth wanking!

This brainless paparazzi hits the studio every single day.

A synth wanker No. 1

A synth wanker No. 2

The sound wasn't quite there.

You can't lose with burzum sounds!

Klaus Järvinen

Pirkko Liinamaa

Jukka Virtanen

And the result was...



Today I had a blast doing some backing shrieks and I found out I wasn't 15 anymore. Couldn't do any Ihsahn, N. Culto, Nuclear Holocausto or Count. Fuck that. It's a really hard task to deliver extreme vox without sounding like a total idiot (who we all are!)

-Marko

Sunday September 19th (day 14)

1. Thursday.

Well, as a briefing on last week from my perspective, my Thursday was filled with work, soundcheck at Tavastia, work again, company party, Finntroll gig and then that Marduk gig. Needless to say, I was a bit worried about how in the name of Gods I can manage all this without fucking something up, but luckily the producer in me guided me through this hell of a schedule.

2. Friday.

As a result, I had a rather unpleasant workday on Friday at the office, but luckily it was later compensated by carrying large instrument to the studio, badmouthing Ville´s vocals and drinking ten beers. You know, strictly for medicational purposes only. Then again, I don´t remember when was the last time I have laughed so much than we did collectively on friday. Combining demo vocal takes, a collective horrible hangover/ tiredness and beer is a godly mixture sometimes for what it comes to numerous hysterical rolling- on- the- floor- laughter seizures, bad wooden- leg- jokes and sheer mistakes on the vocal lines.

Note to self: Next time avoiding using the word "Pedo" on the lyrics in order to avoid this.

3. Saturday.

I felt much better on Saturday, so we ended up doing keyboards for two songs as Ville already wrote. At 8 PM, we decided it was a marvellous idea to drive all four (!!) cars home and organize a split- taxi- ride back to studio for all of the car- owners in order to....yep, you guessed it- drink beer! While the other guys were too busy composing some bad acoustic Irish music and drinking that beer, I spent a couple of hours in the studio booth still polishing the stuff and playing like it was 1997 (yes, insert a bad synth- BM- joke here, please). At 23 I was ready to throw the keyboards out of the window and we decided to spend more time in drinking. A wise choice, I must say.
We spent the rest of the evening listening to bad music and FAGO KVLT BANDS, some going to sauna, all drinking beer and various other alcoholic beverages such as Koskenkorva. Of course raw, you silly. We´re vikings and ÄIJÄ. HEVI! VITTU! JEE MEITSI! 666!

4. Sunday.

So, about that Sunday. This time for real, I swear.

It started well.

Sender: *hidden for protecting random Antifa attacks*
Received: 4:52 AM

ÄIJÄmeininki! Kossua! PS. En tule studiolle klo 11. No problem.
PPS. Jukalla on avaimet.
PPPS. Sieg Heil!

That particular SMS didn´t luckily wake me up, as I crawled from the bed at 9:30, ready to get to the studio. But as you can judge yourself, some people had apparently drank booze until 5 AM, so after a quick call- up- round we decided it would be best for everyone that we´re starting the day a bit later than usual, which still got even more fucked up and we ended up starting 13:00. How professional!

After working for a couple of hours, we got some visitors from a Finnish pop...erm, goth... ERMMM. *snicker*. band. They had a party in the next room´s studio. Fuck no, I thought and squeezed my car keys even tighter in my pocket. While some other guys decided to crack some beers open, I was enjoying my Gatorade.

(Meanwhile, Ville was busy trying to update our public image into a more futuristic one and I tried desperately to re- design Mitja´s guitar FX box.)

We got some more songs recorded and even had some time for some serious experimenting. Funeral Church Organ = Viking. Right? Well, at least it´s fucking FUNERAL DOOM.
After goofing around with the synths for 7 hours, we finally had everything we needed and were ready to party....I mean going home. Which I did by my trusty car, thus avoiding the temptation of getting plastered with old friends but propably saving my upcoming marriage. :D

I´m too old for this. Luckily I can´t drink anything alcoholic until the next weekend when we have the choir- recordings. *grabs tighter on his C- vitamined juice bottle at the office*

And guess what, dear diary? I decided to use the Moogs, Burzums (!!) and Mellotrons from the demo versions after all. I´d say that was propably 4-5 hours wasted on keyboard tracks that were played at the studio but never will be used after all. Well, no- one will propably give shit about that, but I can sleep better knowing that the keyboards sound exactly how they should. :)

Over and out,

H



PS: One of the best lines ever done in a song, "Sateenkaari päättyi nakkikioskille" (Leevi and the Leavings: "Pohjois- Karjala", 1986) got even more melancholic and wretched when seemingly, our rainbow ended in...yes, it ended into a pile of emptied beer cans.

Saturday September 18th (day 13)

Keyboard wizardry and magick!

Today was the day. We were ready to unleash Henri all around the control room with his keyboards. Of course, we had to be a bit cautious, all the time.

We started with an official comparison (as approved by Tekniikan Maailma) on sleighs, moogs and burzums. Henri and Markus both had their keyboards, and we used sounds from both depending on where they fit the best. Henri also played some timpani, and Markus played some church bells.

We were left finished with songs #1 and #3, and then went to the sauna.

You see, even the most hard working musicians have to relax at times.

- Ville

Link of the day: www.necrocockworld.com

Friday September 17th (day 12)

Today we drank beer. And some Koskenkorva.

The day began with me and Mitja recording some cool guitars which will not be used on this album.

Henri and Markus entered the studio around 5pm, and Jukka a bit later, each of them lamenting over their hangovers. Sniff. Hear the world's smallest violin play just for you. Who told you to drink that much last night?

Oh yeah, it was me.

Or someone else.

We listened to Mitja's guitar solo and it was, well... interesting. We also listened to Marko's ethnic percussive add-ons. They involved some drums, but also keychains and bare male stomachs.

Most of the evening was spent with vocal arrangements, as I watched Henri throwing half of my ideas to the trash bin and making me do some of the demo vocals again. Now it sounds a lot better than if I did it just by myself, you know, even the most genius make mistakes some times.

And the vocals? I'm just talking about demos here. They will be recorded later on in the middle of the forest, in a location that will never be revealed to the public. Or even to ourselves.

Life just got a great deal more exciting.

- Ville

Thursday September 16th (day 11)

Day Eleven. Not that band though. Time is flying!

I started the day around 9am, when I came to the studio all by myself (such peace of mind!) to record my demo vocals. Now we have at least *something* in place of every verse and chorus, so Henri will have his chance tomorrow to see if some arrangements are to be changed. He'll probably throw all my ideas to the garbage bin anyway, hah!

Seriously folks, I think it sounds massive. We seem to have a lot more vocals here than what we're used to. That of course means a lot more lyrics and helluva lot more torture. More about that later.

Whatever, I am now sauna fresh and anxious to get back into the control room to hear what Mitja recorded for his guitar solo. Meanwhile, Marko is bulding his set of percussives for some supercool ethnic overdubs. Anxious to hear that as well.

As Spede once said, "it's time to take my beer". In a couple of hours we'll hit the road to see Finntroll (where Henri is playing as well) and later on, Marduk (where Henri will be attending as a background drinker).

Sorry, but I have to pick a new album from my iPod.

- Ville

Wednesday September 15th (day 10)

So.

The bass was originally recorded using the clean signal only, because we decided to leave the search for THE bass sound for a later stage, ie. when we would have more time to focus on that. We found THE sound on Sunday and left home happy.

Today we re(v)amped the bass through, eh... a guitar amp and a guitar cabinet, to achieve THE sound we were looking for. It is, in a word, crushing. In more familiar terms, it could sound something like a broken bulldozer. We love it.

Now the drums, the bass and all the rhythm guitars are in order and we're listening to how it sounds.

Mitja is waiting to record his guitar solo, while I am also waiting to record my demo takes for the vocals. You see, I still have to figure out a few vocal arrangements and hence I will record everything at least once to hear how it actually will sound like. Mitja also has to compose his solo first. We won't linger here for too long, but if you don't hear of us after this, don't call the police yet as we will surely continue tomorrow.

- Ville

Sunday September 12th (Day 9)

Today we used acid.

That of course consequences seeing an alien pussy.

These dudes know how to rock.

This guy we hired him only to watch tv. Thank u Spinefarm!

Finally some meaningful photo.

Matrix. Fail.

With this piece of shit we're going to mix the album.

An organic guitar player. Yes it's that hot inside!

As you can see, Marko paid a visit to the studio with his camera. We also re-recorded some rhythm guitars (again), so those should be done with by now. Found the perfect bass sound and will start with reamping that shit on Wednesday. More about that later.

Good night!

- Ville