Day 1
I woke up to a beautiful day. Had my morning coffee as usual and thought that today was finally here. I was on my way to do my part on the new OG- album. I was excited because I really had the urge to pour out the new material which was now ready to be recorded. I'd been writing a lot of lyrics for this one which was kind of strange because I usually have a free flow of thoughts which I write down immediately and that is the beginning concept for the song in question. Of course I had had a lot of flashes of inspiration for these songs as well but the amount of lyrics amazed me. The songs for the album had been coming to my direction for over a year now and every time I heard a new one, I had at least three ideas concerning this song in the light of the wider concept of the album. Still there was no difficulty to weed out the half-ready stuff and the material transmuted easily into brilliant OG-songs. I arrived to our rehearsal place, "the wooden-palace" or "mani-talo", in Karhula which the guys had been transformed into a studio. I felt a cosy feeling about the fact that the recording happened in our own premises. Teemu and Markus were there to welcome me. They had been doing some guitars and were just finishing up. I settled in while Teemu prepared the recording- room suitable for singing. Everything was ready but when we started to record we quick noticed that there was something wrong in the microphone. The sound wasn't coming out properly. Teemu tried to fix it awhile but it seemed there was nothing to do. So we had no choice but to get another one tomorrow and start then. Teemu was a bit disappointed because he really digged the sound of that mic. So we dropped Teemu to his place and went to Markuse's place. I quickly went to bed to get a fresh start the next day.
Day 2
After a quick breakfast we went to pick up Teemu and the new mic. Everything was ready in the studio from yesterday and I started to open my voice. I'd brought my acoustic guitar with me and just played and sung untill I felt my voice was opening up. The first song I chose to do was a mammoth track called "Everfields". This nine minute melodic giant is lyrically one my favourites in the album. One side of the lyrics is about this vast region of existence where everything is in a harmonious level and manifests itself visually as a never-ending horizon in every direction. It is like an infinite self-sustaining universe of stilness. "Everfields" is also about the fact that one can face every situation in life with a calmness in the heart. It is a story about discovering something that was always there. That is why in the chorus one asks the question in retrospective: "Where was my heart?". There was no real problem in recording "Everfields". It is a low paced song and tecnichally not so challenging. We added some whispering parts to the second verse which turned out really nice. After that it was time to get some food and we went to pick some from the store neaby. I also bought a couple of beers for the evening which is always nice! The second track I did was a song called "The distance". On the contrary to "Everfields" this song is fast especially the verses have a lot fast tempo singing. I struggled a bit with the fast paced pronounciation but was able to tame the song after a few runs. Lyrically "The distance" is about seeing the world as it is. A perfect place full of imperfection. One has to understand the idea of this paradox to be able to comprehend his or her own actions in relation with the rest of the existence. It is, in fact, a rather joyous ride to self-exploration.
Day 3
It was time to get busy. After the problem with the mic we'd lost a day. I decided to pace things up a bit. Instead of two songs I'd record three. The guys had done such an excellent job with the songs so it was only matter of concentration for me. A song I did first is called "The Nova flame". This is a song that has that typical OG-handcrafted charm. Aggressive but still melodic as hell! I really enjoyed recording this song. I had came up with an intresting solution rhytmically in comparison to the two earlier"Flame songs". Also lyrically it sums up the whole trilogy. I am not going to go here on explaining how the songs are connected lyrically. It is all there for everyone who sees it. The song individually on the other hand is a big cheer to the living-spirit. A celebration of life, if you will. It has this subttle taste of laughter in it and that is always good. Still there is much more to the lyrics of this particular song. Dig deep to fly high friends! The next on the line was a song called "Ego". This is also a rather typical OG-tune. Fast melodic burst of metal. This one had been coming to me in different forms and at one point I was wondering is this song even going to appear in the album. I'm glad it did. The way the song carries itself is just mind-lifting. Punk-ass bastard-metal!! "Ego" is all about strenght. How one is able to carry oneself with dignity and not be bothered with petty insults or other foul-smelling shit that is unfortunately so common in the world. "Ego" as a tittle is an interesting one. It is also a Tibetan word meaning "Can you understand". Last one for day three was a song called "New world shadows". It is one of my favourites in the album. The structure of the song is just so enjoyable and rather ingenious in my opinion. In the "New world shadows" it is discovered that the so called "new world" is but a term amongst others and that one must not seach the shadows too far. It also praises the self- determination that one gets from beeing able to stand straight. It applaudes to every situation in life. One can really make the shadows dance.
Day 4
Now that I've gotten three songs out of the way yesterday I felt good and decided to go with the flow. I would do three songs that day if I felt like it, otherwise I would save the last one for the last day. I chose a song titled "Soul Journeys" to be recorded first. This song contains certain amount of sadness in it. Still it is full of hope. It is quite interesting that the two are not so unlike when deeply recodniced. It is the longing found in them both that bears a similar scent. So I had two to go. At this point I could've gone either way, one or two, it didn't matter. Well I recorded one song that day called "An infinite mind". There is not much to say about this one. We did some delicious speaking-parts to the verses and added also a deep crowl to the second verse. We didn't use any effects when constructing these and that was excellent because I am all against using effects when they serve no purpose. I don't have anything to say about these lyrics. U either get them or U don't :).
Day 5
The last day and the last song. Yea! I had saved the best for the last. For me this particular song has no comparison in the album. For me this really is the "best song". I don't usually have one song that climbs so far above the others but in this album I do and "The deep cold" is just that. The others songs are exellent too of course but there is something in this song that tickles me the right way. "The deep cold" is basically about the fact that one must be able to grow beyond the boundaries of known limits to be able to rule of the fluxuations of life. It is movement in a sense. I hope you have enjoyed the ride. I had fun and was happy to open up the lyrics for you guys a bit. Of course your own interpretations are the most important but I hope this shines some light to the questions you might have.
-over and out-
-J-/OG
The Special Bonus Day
During sitting on the sofa in the middle of listening Jukka's growling and having some coffee moments with "local heroes", we had a special idea and decided to add some shouting choir = mullikuoro spices to the fast song called "EGO". So, we did a fast call to Niilo of Insomnium, who is living very near here and asked him to do some guest shouts also to that song with us. Niilo asked "when?" and we answered "wellll, uhhhm, NOW right away!?, you don't need to hear the song!". And soon the master himself arrived to the studio and shouted few screams before he was busy to leave to Germany next day to tour with Dark Tranquillity. Quick stop, thanks man!
Also our beloved lighting engineer Olli Liukkonen had "the honour" to guest on the mullikuoro thing, and other members of this new art vocal team was me and Aapo and we did some bloody shouts with a big heart! Do it!
Last vocal parts will be made by mister Dan Swanö in Sweden during the album mixing sessions, and surely it's going to be a killer feature to the stuff!!!
So, vox done here and some geetar parts and synth parts were still to be done..
Later,
-Markus
