Happy New Year to you too, Neil! Thanks, it feels quite nice to be here
I just sent you a looong mail, by the way!
Thank you, vessal1, it's nice to hear that you like it! And to all of you for taking the time to comment on it - much appreciated indeed.
Well, the release date is not set yet, first comes the mix! This has been a very slow and long project (Erik is actually finishing his last bass tracks as we speak) for many reasons, one being that I moved from Norway to Portugal a year and a half ago. By then I had recorded maybe half of the guitars and I spent the following months preparing for the rest and finishing lyrics and vocal lines at home. We did the last part of the recording in August/September 2004 - or so we though... Then the good Mr. Ken Golden of Laser's Edge and Sensory (hello!) asked in the most unrefusable way if there might be a little more music lying around - which, unfortunately, there wasn't. That meant another round of writing and recording, which we did in October this year. After that, Erik and Leif has done some last vocal-work, and Erik is, as I said, laying the finishing touches on the bass this week.
And that's the short version of our recording sessions
A little note on Leif's vocals: It seems people either loves or hates his voice, I've heard the comments throughout the years, all the way from the work he did with us even pre-dating the Spiral demo. Personally I love his voice and I'm incredibly happy that he has once again come to my rescue, but matters of taste are of course as impossible to discuss as the weight of weather. Regardless, I will say this: One of the reasons I like working with Leif, apart from the obvious ones (a very nice guy, very musically flexible, and very professional in a studio environment), is that he is NOT a metal vocalist. It is true that his first band (at least I think it was his first) was a genuine metal act in the vein of old Ozzy and the likes, and he does a yearly summer concert with some friends performing all kinds of hard rock and metal classics, but mainly he is more of a straight rock singer. To me, this gives a different approach to the vocals which I very much enjoy within the framework of our music. And also, his voice is not too far from my own in terms of pitch and timbre (although pretty far off in terms of quality, I'm afraid...), which makes it a lot easier for me to explain what I want - since I'm the one writing the vocal melodies.
