Finland’s AMORPHIS are currently hard at work recording their as-of-yet-untitled follow up to 2009`s Skyforger release. Expect a May 27th release in Europe. Guitarist Esa Holopainen offered the following update:

“Dear Fans,

“A little updating on what’s happening in camp AMORPHIS. The album recordings are running smoothly (whatever that means). We are now working with vocals and again we have Marco Hietala producing Tomi. This time everything else has been done at Sonic Pump Studios except vocals which are currently under work at Marco’s home studio in Kuopio.

“We are coming out with roughly 15 new songs and for the album there’s most likely going to be 10-11 tracks. Again it’s a great feeling to start to realize that the songs and ideas which have been in our heads are finally going to see the daylight.

“Pekka Kainulainen has worked really hard with lyrics. The album is going to tell the story of the most important character of Finnish mythology and folklore. He is the Finnish god Väinämöinen who was described to be an extremely powerful old wise man who had a magical voice. Some believe that Väinämöinen was creator of the world; an ancient hero and very influential shaman.

“Having a subject as strong as this it was pretty obvious that making music for the album was going to be a challenge. There are lots of musical elements which have been heard on previous albums but there are much more. Needless to say that we are keen to give all the material over to Mikko Karmila who is going to start the mixing at the end of this month.

“Travis Smith is currently working with the album cover and the coming art looks so far no less than amazing.

“Stay tuned folks!”

Check out a studio video here: http://royalartistclub.com/amorphis/blog/2011/01/24/recording-vocals