BATTLELORE Check In From The Studio - "Getting The Songs Closer Towards Perfection"

 BATTLELORE began work on their new studio in early June at Sound Supreme Studios (Finland) with Janne Saksa. Following is a studio update:

"Maria and Jyri's week started with Maria heading to the studio on Sunday night with all her stuff (keyboards, flute, stands, laptop etc.) and checking up on all the sounds, notes and orchestrations she had planned for the songs. Oh, and of course drinking the first studio beer. Nothing can happen before that!

On Monday morning Janne (Saksa, the producer) came to the studio and the first thing was to get everything organised and ready in the recording room. So we had to do a lot before even being able to record anything - especially since we wanted to check up on some new sounds and software stuff to get the latest and most suitable sounds for us. After all the physical labour it was time to go on to the creative part of things and 'mental work' (or however you want to put it). The melodies and harmonies flowed by beautifully, and everything sounded really good. The song skeletons got more flesh around them, so to say, by getting the orchestrations and harmonies. Our bass master T. Honkanen had added some great bass lines on a few songs, which completely changed the chords on those particular parts and Maria had to improvise new chords/melodies etc. The great bass lines rule the world! Other than that, everything went by smoothly as it always does with Janne 'the golden ears' Saksa. He has an amazing ability to hear the chords, movements of chords and changes that happen in less than half a second, and then educate us of the impossibility of certain chords or changes. Unless we absolutely want them to sound like that - for half a second or less. Our answer is usually something like: 'Umm... Huh?' Amazing ears...

As you know - studio life isn't all work. Mostly we do normal working days, something between 9 am and 5 pm, sometimes a bit longer depending on the day. And all work and no play... Well, you know. So, this week we (Jyri and Maria) walked around Hämeenlinna like tourists, taking pictures of cannons and the castle etc., and decided to go and play minigolf one night. Due to a series of unfortunate events we ended up missing the minigolf and found ourselves in a bar instead. Strange indeed. After the first bar we ended up in another bar. Maria got herself a 'special studio edit' drink that the bartender came up with on the spot - she was the first one to get this drink! Don't really know what was in it, though. Some blackcurrant wodka and stuff. Great drink though, not too sweet! After the bar hopping we returned to the studio to our good friend, Juno (a really nice red wine), and our beloved pinball machine (Back to the Future, which was renamed Back to the Torture ). Even after such a hard mental training Jyri still wasn't able to beat Henri's record of over 14 million points in the pinball machine - he did say that he wouldn't leave the studio until he'd win. Only the future will tell if we'll ever see him again outside the studio.

By the end of the week Maria was done with all of her keyboards/orchestrations recordings, Jyri still had a few more songs to go for the next week with Kaisa. On our way home we visited Aulanko (right next to Hämeenlinna), which has one of the most beautiful natural views in Finland. The last picture is taken there. This week ended with the Midsummer's Eve Feast - rai rai! Next week... getting the songs closer towards perfection by our vocalists Kaisa and Tomi!"

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As previously reported, the legendary Dan Swanö (EDGE OF SANITY, BLOODBATH) has been tapped to mix the album; and early fall 2010 release is expected. Check out the band's latest video blog from the studio below: