AMORAL Completes Work On 'Beneath'

Finnish metal/hard rock outfit AMORAL has completed work on its fifth studio album. "Beneath" was recorded at Sound Supreme studios in Hämeenlinna, Finland, and was produced by Janne Saksa and guitarist Ben Varon. The CD will be released in late 2011, with the first single out by the beginning of summer.

"I'd describe the album as 'three steps forward, one step back,'" says Varon. "There are several nods to our past in form of long songs, intricate riffs and growling vocals. But the main focus is still on the strong melodies, big choruses and catchy riffs, just as was on our last album, 'Show Your Colors'."

"Beneath" marks the recording debut of AMORAL's new guitarist Masi Hukari. Hukari — who joined the group late in the songwriting process — immediately wrote two songs together with Varon, both which ended up on the album. Another first is that, from now on, AMORAL has two lead guitar players.

"Masi is such a talent, it would have been a crime to make him 'just' the rhythm guitarist," Ben explains. "It's been killer to be able to do lead trade-off for the first time in the band's history, for example. Masi is responsible for many of the guitar highlights of the album."

The band documented the recording of "Beneath" in their studio blog, which was updated daily during the session. You can check out the blog at this location.

AMORAL will end its months-long break from playing live by doing a one-off show at On The Rocks in Helsinki on June 3. The idea is to break in the new guitarist, as well as try out several brand new songs onstage for the first time.