The self-titled debut album from GREASE HELMET, the new Finnish band featuring former HANOI ROCKS guitarist Andy McCoy alongside members of AMORPHIS, has entered the official chart in Finland at position No. 22.
GREASE HELMET was founded in 2009 by Niclas Etelävuori (bass; AMORPHIS) and Jere Garcia (vocals). They were eventually joined by Jan Rechberger (drums; AMORPHIS) and Ben Varon (rhythm guitar, AMORAL) and McCoy.
According to a press release, “Grease Helmet” “travels from present time to the history of rock with flavors of funk, blues, classic hard rock and psychedelic colors.”
Commented the band: “We wrote the songs together in rehearsals from different ideas and riffs. They tell many stories. There is a message from Andy to all non-believers. Songs tell also classic rock stories and bring along L.A. vibes, celebration of rock, pretty women, fast cars and the true spirit.”
GREASE HELMET‘s first single, “Keep Your Helmet Greasy”, “represents traditional hard rock,” while the single’s “B-side, “Mustang Bebe”, “respects the early years of rock’ n’ roll with sounds from the ’50″s,” according to a press release.
Finnish melancholic dark metal forerunners AMORPHIS have entered the studio to begin recording their as-yet-untitled 11th album for a March/April 2013 release via Nuclear Blast Records. Production and mixing duties for the follow-up to 2011’s “The Beginning Of Times” are being handled by HYPOCRISY and PAIN mastermind Peter Tägtgren, who has previously worked with such bands as CHILDREN OF BODOM, CELTIC FROST, IMMORTAL and DIMMU BORGIR. The recordings are taking place at Petrax Studio (NIGHTWISH, CHILDREN OF BODOM, KORPIKLAANI) in Hollola and 5K Studios in Helsinki.
The third in a series of webisodes featuring footage from the studio can be seen below.
Commented AMORPHIS guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen: “The recording process is going well. We’re done with most of the instruments and now Peter Tägtgren and Tomi Joutsen are working their asses off with vocals
“To reveal something, we have recorded real church organ and our cameraman has witnessed paranormal activity and spent time with Shaman at a Finnish forest. The document we are filming from recording sessions is going to turn out quite a horror movie. You’ll see that the album is going to turn out a real spiritual metal journey.”
Regarding the direction of the new AMORPHIS material, Esa said, “Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had some really intense rehearsing for the forthcoming album. Originally we laid down around 20 new songs as demos, now we are proceeding with 14 tracks.
“I’m really thrilled about the idea to take a major step away from the so-called routines that we’ve had with our last records.
“While promoting ‘The Beginning Of Times’, we started to feel that we were giving the same explanations over and over again when people asked about the studio process and how the songs came about. Even though the music was very strong, the making process didn’t offer any surprises and appeared to be quite secured. Now the addition of a new dimension to the developing process has inspired us to focus on our material even more. The songs are extremely strong, bombastic and skull-pummelling.
“Though it’s too early for a statement like this, I’d already love to say that we’ve created the best AMORPHIS album ever. We’ll do our best!”
“The Beginning Of Times” entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 16 — the best chart position ever scored by an AMORPHIS album in that country. The CD also landed at position No. 1 on the Finnish chart.
Finnish forerunners of melancholic dark metal, AMORPHIS, have entered the studio to record their as yet untitled 11th album. The follow-up to 2011’s highly successful The Beginning Of Times, will be produced and mixed by no less than HYPOCRISY and PAIN mastermind Peter Tägtgren.
Check out the first and second of several video reports that will emerge during the sessions, below:
Amorphis guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen previously commented:
“We had to face the fact that if we want to develop our music and sound we need a producer who has a vision and whom we can accept as an authority, for I know that we’re not the most flexible guys when it comes to letting outsiders into our camp for telling us how to do things. We spent one evening at our management office, talking about the right producer and the recording sessions in general. As usual the best decisions are not far to seek. We’ve been talking to Peter about him producing Amorphis for ages – I think the first time we spoke about this was when we met first at the Nuclear Blast festival tour in 1994 and it was in Helsinki around a year ago when we last speculated about the idea. We’ve been following Peter’s career – he’s developed as a musician and especially as a producer over the years. Plus he’s one of the true survivors from the ’90’s death metal scene who is still around just like us, so we share kind of an “old school” mental level.”
Amorphis’ 11th studio album is planned for a March/April 2013 release via Nuclear Blast Records.
Prior to that, fans can catch Amorphis live at the following shows:
October
5 – Sweden Rock Cruise – Stockholm, Sweden
12 – Metal Invasion – Straubing, Germany
December
5 – Teatria – Oulu, Finland
6 – Lutakko – Jyväskylä, Finland
7 – Rytmikorjaamo – Seinajoki, Finland
12 – Tavastia – Helsinki, Finland
13 – Bar Kino – Pori, Finland
14 – Klubi – Turku, Finland
29 – Pakkahuone – Tampere, Finland
Finnish melancholic dark metal forerunners AMORPHIS have entered the studio to begin recording their as-yet-untitled 11th album for a March/April 2013 release via Nuclear Blast Records. Production and mixing duties for the follow-up to 2011’s “The Beginning Of Times” are being handled by HYPOCRISY and PAIN mastermind Peter Tägtgren, who has previously worked with such bands as CHILDREN OF BODOM, CELTIC FROST, IMMORTAL and DIMMU BORGIR.
The first in a series of webisodes featuring footage from the studio can be seen below.
Commented AMORPHIS guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen: “We had to face the fact that if we want to develop our music and sound, we need a producer who has a vision and whom we can accept as an authority, for I know that we’re not the most flexible guys when it comes to letting outsiders into our camp for telling us how to do things.
“We spent one evening at our management office, talking about the right producer and the recording sessions in general. As usual, the best decisions are not far to seek.
“We’ve been talking to Peter about him producing AMORPHIS for ages — I think the first time we spoke about this was when we met first at the Nuclear Blast festival tour in 1994 and it was in Helsinki around a year ago when we last speculated about the idea.
“We’ve been following Peter‘s career — he’s developed as a musician and especially as a producer over the years. Plus he’s one of the true survivors from the ’90s death metal scene who is still around just like us, so we share kind of an ‘old-school’ mental level.”
GREASE HELMET, the new Finnish band featuring former HANOI ROCKS guitarist Andy McCoy alongside members of AMORPHIS, will release its self-titled debut album in Japan on September 5 and in Finland on September 19.
GREASE HELMET was founded in 2009 by Niclas Etelävuori (bass; AMORPHIS) and Jere Garcia (vocals). They were eventually joined by Jan Rechberger (drums; AMORPHIS) and Ben Varon (rhythm guitar, AMORAL) and McCoy.
According to a press release, “Grease Helmet” “travels from present time to the history of rock with flavors of funk, blues, classic hard rock and psychedelic colors.”
Commented the band: “We wrote the songs together in rehearsals from different ideas and riffs. They tell many stories. There is a message from Andy to all non-believers. Songs tell also classic rock stories and bring along L.A. vibes, celebration of rock, pretty women, fast cars and the true spirit.”
GREASE HELMET‘s first single, “Keep Your Helmet Greasy”, “represents traditional hard rock,” while the single’s “B-side, “Mustang Bebe”, “respects the early years of rock’ n’ roll with sounds from the ’50″s,” according to a press release.
According to Timo Isoaho of Soundi magazine, Finnish melancholic dark rock/metal icons AMORPHIS will enter the studio in September to begin recording their eleventh studio album for a March/April 2013 release via Nuclear Blast Records. The as-yet-untitled CD will be helmed by Swedish producer/multi-instrumentalist Peter Tägtgren, who has previously worked with CHILDREN OF BODOM, CELTIC FROST, IMMORTAL, and DIMMU BORGIR, among many others. The initial sessions will take place at Petrax studio (CHILDREN OF BODOM, NIGHTWISH) in Hollola and 5K Studios in Helsinki. Lyrics will again be crafted by Pekka Kainulainen, who already collaborated with AMORPHIS on the previous three albums.
“We wanted to approach the recording sessions in a completely new way and we decided to hire a producer to oversee the project from start to finish,” AMORPHIS guitarist Esa Holopainen told Soundi.
AMORPHIS‘ latest album, “The Beginning Of Times”, entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 16 — the best chart position ever scored by an AMORPHIS album in that country. The CD also landed at position No. 1 on the Finnish chart.
Released on May 27, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records, “The Beginning Of Times” was described as “the most challenging AMORPHIS album so far in terms of both music and lyrics.” Its central character is the iconic hero of Finnish mythology, Väinämöinen, whose tale has been masterfully retold by lyricist Pekka Kainulainen.
“The Beginning Of Times” was produced by the band; vocals were recorded under the guidance of Marco Hietala (NIGHTWISH, TAROT) in his home studio in Kuopio. Like its predecessors, the album was mixed by Mikko Karmila. Its cover artwork shows Travis Smith‘s magnificent interpretation of the mythological birth of the world from a goldeneye’s egg.
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