Finnish melancholic progressive metallers AMORPHIS have entered the studio to begin recording their new album, due later in the year via Nuclear Blast. According to a press release, "the pre-production process is already done and most of the recordings have been finished. But this time, the band didn't rush at all and took their time to focus on details so there'll be also some really amazing surprises: additional recordings with real strings and flutes, as well as orchestra arrangements and choirs! In addition, this is the first time that people will be able to hear their lyricist Pekka Kainulainen on the album as he contributes a speech in Finnish!" AMORPHIS's new album is once again being produced by Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with OPETH, AMON AMARTH, KATATONIA, SEPULTURA and KREATOR, among others. Longtime AMORPHIS bassist Niclas Etelävuori exited the band in April 2017 over management issues. AMORPHIS's latest album, "Under The Red Cloud", was released in September 2015 via Nuclear Blast. Keyboardist Santeri Kallio described the LP in an interview with CrypticRock.com as "a continuation from [2013's] 'Circle'. For 'The Beginning Of Times' [2011], we were thinking that the songs were... I don't know. [2009's] 'Skyforger' was such a big album for us and for the audience — I mean, we toured our asses off for 'Skyforger'. I think we went, from my point of view, we went too poppy, or too mellow and mid-tempo in sound with 'The Beginning Of Times'. When we performed live, the songs were not aggressive enough. So I would say it was not Peter's [Tägtgren] production, but the songs we ourselves were making for 'Circle' were heavier and faster. With 'Under The Red Cloud', we were going even heavier. Jens Bogren came in and he sped up some of the songs, like in 'Bad Blood'. He suggested instead of a vocal melody, how about this grunt-type vocal. That's what the great producers do — they extend what the band wants. I think Jens heard in our demos that we were going heavier. He helped us achieve that. We were already going that way, you know, because after 'The Beginning Of Times', we couldn't possibly go any mellower or we would be only a hard rock band."
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