A minor report from the studio for Swedish/German melodic death metal brigade Arch Enemy. Vocalist Angela Gossow was recently interviewed by Queens Of Steel, taking a few moments to enlighten us as to how the follow-up to 2007's highly-revered Rise Of The Tyrants is taking shape.
According to Gossow, the recording process actually wrapped up in February and the album is currently in the hands of Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Nevermore) for mixing. No big shock to the system there.
However, the ravenous vocalist also revealed that this time around, Arch Enemy's penchant for recording a few cover tunes while in the studio might have gotten out of hand. There's not any new material on the as-yet unnamed effort; it's actually just a collection of fresh versions of their own dusty catalogue.
In other words, the band selected some of their favourite Arch Enemy tunes from the three album with former vocalist/founder Johan Liiva and re-recorded them. Gossow has been belting them out since 2000, so by now she's given them her own treatment and the band felt it was time to give them their proper respects. As for the process itself, Gossow says,
"We approached it in an 'old-school' way of recording. We recorded only two rhythm guitar tracks, used mostly the first takes and I sung the lines through, one vocal take, 12 songs in four days. It's as basic and 'no frills' as it can get for Arch Enemy!"
She also justifies the exercise by informing that the tunes have been heavily tweaked. Enough so that while still discernable, those expecting flat, straight-forward renditions will be surprised.
"I have tightened up the rhythm pattern and I do sing completely different than Johan Liiva, in terms of pitch and attack. The songs do sound very different from the originals when it comes to the vocals."
According to Gossow, the recording process actually wrapped up in February and the album is currently in the hands of Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Nevermore) for mixing. No big shock to the system there.
However, the ravenous vocalist also revealed that this time around, Arch Enemy's penchant for recording a few cover tunes while in the studio might have gotten out of hand. There's not any new material on the as-yet unnamed effort; it's actually just a collection of fresh versions of their own dusty catalogue.
In other words, the band selected some of their favourite Arch Enemy tunes from the three album with former vocalist/founder Johan Liiva and re-recorded them. Gossow has been belting them out since 2000, so by now she's given them her own treatment and the band felt it was time to give them their proper respects. As for the process itself, Gossow says,
"We approached it in an 'old-school' way of recording. We recorded only two rhythm guitar tracks, used mostly the first takes and I sung the lines through, one vocal take, 12 songs in four days. It's as basic and 'no frills' as it can get for Arch Enemy!"
She also justifies the exercise by informing that the tunes have been heavily tweaked. Enough so that while still discernable, those expecting flat, straight-forward renditions will be surprised.
"I have tightened up the rhythm pattern and I do sing completely different than Johan Liiva, in terms of pitch and attack. The songs do sound very different from the originals when it comes to the vocals."
