recording the debut album

[Days 41 - 46] – In the dusk of Mournful moon

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:53:33 +0200

Greetings once again from the icy fields of nothingness, referred by some as Zero Nexus, a surreal parallel universe amidst the humane slumber. From the ageless marshlands we summon thee, ye mortals.

Cypher Commander has now completed his not-of-this-world vocal parts. Inhumane voices from the deepest pits of the unknown disintegrated from the tonsils of this bizarre Messiah like creature. Even the Commander himself was surprised. And so were we.

In addition to that, we had another visitor on our "Chinese Democracy": Enter Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow. I picked him and Kalmos (Ajattara and Barathrum) up from a rather well know Finnish journalist's home, where they had been partying the night before. To cut it short, they were in a "cheerful mood" when our threesome crossed the threshold of the studio.

After ridiculous amounts of alcohol consuming, Ville growled like a hyena in heat on the song Denied Memories. Man, what a great time we had at night – until the reaper almost harvested us in the morning. I swear I heard veins popping in people's heads as the hung-over of the century unfolded it's true nature.

Once Ville and Kalmos left, me, Jack and Jack's friend Janne got a little crazy in the studio… Result: Yhden Tähden Sheriffi, a project dedicated to the colossal joys of the infamous Finnish booze Jaloviina (part cognac, part vodka). You can listen to the Ennio Morricone, Ismo Alanko and Mokoma influenced pieces of intoxicated art at www.mikseri.net/sheriffi.

Well, enough about the side projects and bullshit. Jack, Albert and I have started mixing the album. To clarify, Jack and Albert, the studio geek twins, are taking care of the technical side of things. I'm there just to piss them off with my inexhaustible well of "groundbreaking ideas" and "illustrious humour".

So here we go. This is the final track list in an alphabetical order (the track order of the album is not decided yet):

Angel (feat. Rotten)
Beneath the Silent Cities (feat. Rotten)
Buried in a Swamp
Cult of Joy
Denied Memories (feat. Ville Sorvali & Rotten)
Flaming Rain (feat. Rotten)
Horned Serpent (feat. Rotten)
Locked in a Coffin
Son of the Moon (feat. Jules Näveri)
White Noise

Until the heavens stop the rain,
Max Power & The Illusionists of the Subconscious

[Days 37 - 40] – Altered state in the dominion of pandemonium

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:55:52 +0200

Greetings, our fellow gloomsters. Oceans of time has yet again passed the last entry, but have I got some major news to unleash upon you this time…

The release of the album will be postponed to an unknown date, which shall be published later. We're guessing April or May. The postponement is due of course to the fact that the album will not be completed on schedule, simple as that. Which brings us closer to the present state of things.

First of all Kole decided to focus only on guitar, and leave the screaming duties for another serpent tongue. "Fuckity fuck! Who? WHO?!", you might scream in agony. Well, I'll tell you in a short while. Have patience, my young padawan.

I guess now would be an appropriate time to announce a couple of guest vocalists that have contributed their share on hard disc. The first dude, the one we recorded the punk song with, answers to the name Rotten. The tattooed übermaestro, formerly of Deathchain fame, growled his guts out on five tracks, making the Chaosweaver album his first major appearance since he left his post as the poster boy of the biggest deathrash band in Finland. Oh my fukken Gods that boy can roar!

The second guest star recorded his parts yesterday. It was obvious since the birth of the song Son of the Moon, that it requires clean vocals. I bumped into Jules Näveri ( Profane Omen, Enemy of the Sun ) a few weeks ago, and asked him to do some vocals on the album. His response was: "Sure!" and added: "But only if I don't have to do it today."

Needless to say, he did an amazing job with his inhumanely wide vocal range. A lot of people are going to soil themselves, when they hear it. It's huge, bizarre, evil and ridiculously megalomanic. Don't believe me, eh? Fortunately a journalist from Miasma magazine was present with his camera and recorder. Ask him! Since the recordings went down so smoothly and cheerfully, me, Jules and Jack went out to celebrate, but that's another story…

But here comes the biggest news: The lead vocalist on the album is Cypher Commander. Noises of the sickest and most brutal kind burst out from his pitiless tonsils, the possessed bastard he is – believe you me!

The Cypher Commander let it rip on five tracks in two and a half days. I'm not even going to go into details, but let's just say your ding-dong daddies and ping-pong mamas are not going to be pleased. You might though, you sick, sick freak…

The self-made messiah returned to the studio later and nailed the track Angel. So as for vocals, we've got three more tracks to go. In addition to that, we'll spice up the orchestrations. Until then, let chaos spread like wildfire in the garden of gasoline.

Ilmapallona kaktuspuistoon,

Max Power & The Riddle-hissers of the Second Sun

Day 36 - Greetings to the worms of the Earth

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:04:52 +0200

This is the first time I say anything about this studio session. I'm so shy, and the others have more to say.

Everything seems to go in the right direction, even in my opinion, and hopefully yours as well! As you may have read, we have recorded all other instruments except some orchestral parts.

Last night I recorded second to last vocal parts with Jack. And guess what, we had some weird problems with the computer again. Suddenly the stupid Mac was missing its hard disk! Luckily there were two computer maniacs around.

I went to panic, but Jack managed the situation like a pro. He dug up the back-ups of the files and restarted the software. That did the trick, and we successfully recorded everything we had planned.

Afterwards it was once again time to head back home. Every time it has been really shitty driving weather: snow, rain, darkness, old invalids...

Until next week

Kole

[Days 31-35] Desperado housewifes

Wed, 9 Jan 2008 21:34:26 +0200

I arrived at the studio Thursday night, January 3rd. Don't even remember what we did that day since I'm writing this on Wednesday, January 9th, and I'm totally exhausted.

I'm guessing me and Jack worked on some vocal arrangements and orchestrations, as usual. Man, am I fucking beat or what. Gotta have a break from the session, before my brain goes pop. I hear voices inside my head, seriously.

Move on to the next day, people, there's nothing to see here…

Chastening land,

Max Powerless & The Cubidos of Misfortune

SATURDAY

I told you I'd come back later, and I kept my promise. It is time to tell you, our beloved reader, what kind of shenanigans we did on these foggy days of morbid mayhem.

I arrived at Oitti train station on Saturday about 17.00. Max & Mr. Tyger came to pick me up, and after a quick trip to Alko & S-Market we drove to studio. At first it was cooking time, the recipe was escalloped macaroni. The head chef was Max aka "the mom", I washed the dishes (and btw, I HATE IT!!) and Jack did some cleaning, weird eh? A bunch of bitches says I… After eating the delicious food, it was time to write a masterpiece!

The idea was to do orchestrations and synths, and in addition we also recorded some vocals. Under construction was one kick-ass song called Beneath the Silent Cities. After a few beers and some Jaloviina I growled some noises, and Max did some serious talking on tape. It started to sound awesome as the night turned darker. It is actually one of my favourite songs at the moment. We worked on that piece for the whole night, along drinking and other mischief.

SUNDAY

Jack didn't leave his bed at all, except to go to the toilet once. He caught a flu yesterday, and was pretty down. Surprisingly I was the first to get up!!! I went for a walk and found myself buying candy and juice, cool eh? We did nothing the whole day, except consumed a lot of our beloved Pepsi Max, went to buy food and watched movies. Ice age 2 was THE movie of the day.

MONDAY

Jack had left the building before sunrise. To do some "real" work, he said. It was my turn to record Kole's vocals. He arrived in the morning, and after I woke up at about 3:30PM, we drank some coffee and entered the studio. First Kole nailed down some infernal tatters to Beneath the Silent Cities, and after a coffee brake he shouted at the devil for a masterpiece called White Noise. After Kole left, we watched Ice Age 1 and The Bourne Ultimatum.

...And headed to bed.

TUESDAY

I was last to wake up, about 12:30PM. Max was already in studio and Mr. Tyger was resting his ass off on the couch. After a quick coffee, I headed to studio also. Max had it going great with some cool Twin Peaks type of piano stuff.

So we started to do an intro for Silent Cities, but were interrupted by the first guest vocalist… We recorded his vocals for a couple of songs, before I left back home in the middle of the session, and left Max, Jack and the soon-to-be-named stranger to do some serious growl vocals. I can tell you that Mr. Stranger's vocals sounded grrrreat! Who is he, where is he coming from, what is he like, what is the meaning of life? You will know in time my friend, in time…

From the land of the dead,

Albert von Fleischer and The Wicked Ones

[Days 25-30] Denigration and Procreation Triumph Over the Sinister Nation

Thu, 3 Jan 2008 19:27:36 +0200

A moon spin has passed since the last update. The days grew darker, nights longer, and our minds clearer. I kid you not – the album will be something you've never heard before, a bizarre piece of dark metal art that can not be ignored by the shrug of shoulders by any extreme metal fiend.

The recordings are progressing nicely but slowly, since we've had long breaks from the studio and a PLETHORA of orchestrations to compose. And that's what we've been mainly doing: having days off, composing orchestrations and working with the vocal arrangements. But let's not get in to that quite yet.

Mr. Ezzymania 2000, the guitar shredding maniac, paid a little visit to the infamous Studio Perkele. After enslaving Evolution Soccer 5 with Jack, he whipped the wildest, weirdest and by far the most uncanny solos imaginable. Multiply that by a hundred, and you'll get the picture. Basically he nailed all his parts in one day. The source of inspiration as usual: Sibelius (or Finlandia Vodka as some like to call it).

Thab has been struggling with some health problems, so me and Jack have been sweating our nuggets off with the orchestrations. I'm not going to details, but I'll brief you on the present situation.

There will be ten tracks on the album, and…
- we've recorded all the drums, guitars and basses for each of them.
- about 70 % of keyboards and orchestrations are done.
- half of the vocal parts have yet to be executed.

In addition to that, we are going to have some very fucking prominent guest stars on the album! I'm not going to reveal the names yet, because their parts have not been recorded yet. But let's just say, if everything goes as agreed, you're in for a big surprise. Old school meets new school, fresh sounds from the ancient gallery… The legends shall rise again.

I'm heading back to the studio tonight, and Kole will join us tomorrow. Wait, my phone's ringing…

Just received a call from one of the upcoming guest performers. His share will be recorded next Tuesday (or the week after that). Hell yeah! I'll force him to write something here as soon as his parts are done. That way you'll get a more "objective" picture of our sonic perceptions that are inevitably heading your way.

In the hall of the mountain king,

Max Power & The Doomsters of Doom

[Days 19-24] Star Trekking in the Twilight Zone

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 14:57:07 +0200

Do you recall the very first studio diary entry from the beginning of November? The opening paragraph echoed the words "Enter the land where time bends". More than a week has passed since anyone of us wrote something here. Time really does bend in this strange location.

But let us guide you through the past days.

On Monday 26th of November, Kole drove down here to execute his remaining guitar parts for three songs. Despite of some minor technical problems, everything went rather smoothly. So, we've got all basic guitar tracks on hard disc, only Ezzy's solos and leads to record.

Me and Thab left to Helsinki on the same evening, because we were going to have a day off on Tuesday. And so did Kole.

When Thab returned to the studio on Wednesday, he and Jack managed to orchestrate the first couple of songs (Angel and Buried in a Swamp). Man, are you going to be surprised… The character of the songs is very different from everything we've ever done. In a good way, I might add.

Kole recorded the first vocal parts of the session on Thursday. He nailed Angel, but Buried in a Swamp was a bitch of a job, since the instrumental arrangements have changed drastically from the demo version. We're going to have to work on that song some more.

I arrived back to the nuthouse on Thursday night, on my fiancé's birthday. Thank you very much for coping with our shenanigans!

The next day was an important one. We had to go through all the guitar and bass tracks, because we were to return the ultra superior, grand luxury Mesa Boogie amp to Shade Empire's Sirkkiä on Saturday. And so we did. With the help of "Goldie Wang" Albert's notes, me and Jack re-recorded all the parts that needed improvement.

On top of that, I jammed the all the basses and the remaining guitar tracks of the album ender on hard disc. While me and Jack were busy as bees in the studio, Thab and my girlfriend drank ALL the booze, wine and beer of the house! A lesson well learned: never leave alcohol unguarded…

Saturday was another day off. Well, at least for some. I had to drive all the way to Kuopio to return Sirkkiä's amp. What am I complaining, I had a hell of a good time in the heart of Sawo, as always. Kuopio rocks the hardest. Period.

On Sunday Thab, Jack and yours unfaithfully composed orchestrations for a new tune. It's called Locked in a Coffin. In my opinion, it's one of the most intense tracks on the album – a fokkin' masterpiece! It's got a movie soundtrack vibe to it, and the riffs make your banana shrink.

Yesterday, 3rd of December, 2007, we went nuts again. Me and Jack drove to Riihimäki, bought a few bags of food, a saucepan, a case of beer and a 1,75 litre bottle of Finlandia vodka. You can pretty much guess the rest.

Fortunately we got some good stuff done even though we were caught up in the party mode once again. The basic elements of Horned Serpent's orchestrations are now done, and I blabbered away some spoken word parts to Buried in a Swamp and Cult of Joy. I haven't listened to them sober yet, but at least they sounded okay last night…

As I'm writing this documentary to you, I have a revealing confession to make. I'm sorry to announce that Jack and Thab are seriously addicted to Evolution Soccer 5. They are at it again, and it doesn't look good. They are entering unknown fields of weaving the chaos. Oh, those hooligans…

With chaos by our side,

Max Power & the national soccer teams of Brazil and France

Day 18 - Enslaving the cryptic

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:29:46 +0200

Since Jack is a big sleeper and he wasn't home till afternoon, the film watching marathon continued. This time it was Donnie Darko's turn. Disturbing and intriguing… I'd rate it as a four star piece of motion picture art.

When Jack aka doctor Love returned from his girlfriend's house, it was time to finish what we've started – for bass that is. Or actually we'll do the album ender sometime later, but that's another story.

Even though me and Jack were stressed and worn out, we succeeded in getting the job done! The bass tracks are done, hell yeah!

Unfortunately we ran out of beer while recording, so we celebrated the joyous occasion by watching the movie 300. I thought it would suck big, fat donkey dick, since the whole thing is shot on blue and green screen, but it didn't actually matter that much. It was surprisingly good stuff, to be honest.

Drawing down the moon,

Max Power & the draggers of Luna

Day 17 - Scotch tape finger bondage

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:04:55 +0200

On Saturday the trouncing continued. I decided to get some of the harder stuff on tape, so we began with another new tune. The riff-oriented ball buster kicks ass like a harebrained bull on acid! You'll crap in your pants, when you hear it… We also recorded the bass lines Cult of Joy and Horned Serpent.

My left hand fingers were so sore from yesterday's pounding, that I had to roll scotch tape around them. It looked quite ridiculous – or so I've been told… Well, at least I got the job done, and the pain was somewhat endurable.

Jack went to his girlfriend's house for the night, so me and Thab watched a Finnish film Tyttö sinä olet tähti, which was actually pretty good for whigga hipidi-hop movie.

Bleeding for pleasure,

Max Power & the aching digits

Day 16 - Welcome to darkness

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:27:59 +0200

Finally I got a chance to join the recording session of the album. Me
and Max had drove to the studios on the day before, day 15 that is. My
first impression was that it really is damn dark on the outside here
in Studio Perkele. Almost spooky. Maybe it's just that I, as a fully
urban man, can't handle countryside with it's lack of artificial
light. How pansy is that?

After a night very well slept, we start a full working day. Kole and
Albert had to leave the place the day before, so it was just me, Max
and Jack. The latter two start doing the bass parts for the album,
whereas I'm sitting in the living room, aka studio B, working on the
keyboard arrangements.

The day goes almost surprisingly smoothly. Max and Jack manage to find
the right bass sound, and end up nailing three of the songs during the
day. I work on my keyboard stuff until I feel like I've got steam
coming out of my ears. A sign I'd better stop, I suppose.

So, I decide to devote the rest of the day to playing Pro Evolution
Soccer on Xbox. First I play against the machine, then against Jack. I
win the first match on penalty shoot-out, but on the second Jack beats
me 2-0.

As far as eating goes, being both a lazy bastard and a vegetarian
hippie (how gay is that?), meaning I have to make my own food, I
"cook" spaghetti with pesto. Not the healthiest meal ever, but at
least it was special "fiber up" spaghetti is has much more fiber in it
than the usual
spaghetti. Pay attention to your fiber intake, kids.

Rock on,
Thab

Low tone resonance of annihilation

As the recording of the album is progressing, the schedule is getting tighter and tighter. This means longer days and more work for each day. I was supposed to thump all the bass lines on hard disc this weekend. Did I succeed, you might ask. Read the next pages and find out.

While Thab was working on the keyboard arrangements in "studio B", me and Jack started hammering away the low tone resonance of annihilation. We started with Angel, the first Chaosweaver song ever written. Since it went down relatively smoothly, we moved on to Buried in a Swamp, and finally a new tune – name of which shall be published later.

After 10 hours of hard labour, we were exhausted. Me, Thab and Jack had a couple of beers, watched the horror classic Omen and went to bed. Quite a productive day.

In search of the morning star,

Max Power & the bringers of light