De Profundis Finishes Recording New Album

Front man Craig Land of De Profundis has issued the following statement about completing the recording of a new album:

"Bleakest greetings,

"Due to the frankly overwhelming response and phenomenal interest shown in our last missive by you, our lovely fans, I've taken over the mantle of conveying the latest De Profundis news while Roman buggers off on a well-earned holiday to the sunny climes of North Africa. Following his severe bout of cabin-fever, I'm not surprised he chose to holiday on a different continent with a view to getting as far away from his band mates as possible. But more on that later.

"As the title of this blog so mysteriously hints at, De Profundis have now completed the recording of album number 2 (tentatively titled 'The Second Album' as we haven't yet t agreed on a suitably killer title that will do the music justice...). Oh, and the mixing is almost done too. But first let me take you back to where Romans last blog left off.

"Following an enforced break in the recording to enable our producer Fernando 'The Terminator' Pereira to fulfill some obligations at France's Hellfest, we were back at Barking Dog Studios to bash out the final bit of recording - most notably the vocals and clean guitars and guitar solos. The guitars had already begun being laid down, and Roman and Shoi continued to record them intermittently, whenever time was available. I managed to lose Romans magnificent silver Pick of Destiny after he had only been able to lay down a couple of his solos, so if the quality of said guitar wankery is found wanting on a few occasions, I hold my hands up and accept blame. Luckily, from what I've heard so far, one would be hard pressed to hear which solos suffer from the use of a merely ordinary pick, such is the overall quality of both Roman and Shoi's work.

"I spent the weekend of the 27th /28th laying down all my vocals. It was a pretty warm weekend as those living in London will attest to, but the recording booth definately added a few degrees onto that, making for a pretty oppressive atmosphere in the room. On Saturday I laid down all my deep vocals for all the tracks, which went pretty smoothly. The Terminator was very easy to work with, which is just as well as it was pretty tough on my body, but luckily I didn't have to do too many takes. Whether that's down to my sublime vocal talent or the fact that The Terminator couldn't make out a damn word I was saying anyway, I cannot confirm at this time. We worked on the intro, which had started as a minimalist piano / guitar piece but had grown in grandeur, until about 2:30am, when we ended the day with a whisky nightcap before heading to bed.

"On Sunday we emerged around lunch time. Shoi redid a couple of solos that had been bugging him, and laid down a few new ones too. I guess if the Pick Of Destiny had still been about, it's mere presence would have enabled Shoi to nail his solos perfectly first time, but alas, it was not to be. I finished up my vocals with some high pitched stuff and clean bits and bobs at around 7pm, just in time to get ready for the photo shoot, which was to be conducted at a secret location that cannot be revealed or I would have to kill you. The rest of the band arrived, along with our photographer, the very talented Alex York, who has shot us a couple of times on stage (we survived though...), and we spent the following hour or so acting like posers in the fast fading light of a public recreational area. Afterwards, an impressed Alex was treated to 2 new tracks, followed by the refreshment of some well needed beverages from the local pub. We've since seen a couple of the photos Alex took, and they are excellent - very brooding and atmospheric, which will compliment the music perfectly.

"The final bit of recording took place on Monday evening, where a special guest, Pippa Mason, joined Roman, Shoi and Fernando to lay down her parts for the intro, and a bit more for the outro of The Mourner. We have never worked with an outsider before, but it went very well indeed and we are all blown away by her contribution. And don't worry - it isn't female vocals!!! But you will have to wait to find out what her contribution was.

"On 1st July, Fernando 'The Terminator' Pereira, Roman and Nicholas headed up to Parlour Studios near Kettering to begin mixing. It's a great little studio with a self-contained unit adjoining it where we could do what we wanted with no constraints. Luckily there is a pool table and tv, and Nick took his PS3 too, as mixing is not the most exciting aspect of making an album. By the time Shoi, Arran and I arrived a day later, the lads were already suffering with cabin fever, manifesting itself in 2 very different forms. Nick was even more bouncy and energetic than usual (which is amazing considering what he's normally like), and Roman wanted to kill himself and take the world with him. Now if only he could feel like that when we start writing for the next album! After an ace curry in the town and a few beers, Roman did chill out, but went to bed early, trying (and for the most part failing) to escape from the millionth play of 'Ablaze In Autumns Fire'. It took some time to get 'Ablaze...' sounding just right, as this will be the first song on the album, and the sound would form the basis of all the other songs. The rest of the songs went by much more quickly and easily. Russ Russell popped in twice over the course of the weekend and was most impressed with the 2 tracks he heard, namely 'Ablaze...' and 'Nocturnal Splendour', which was nice to hear.

"Unfortunately, and despite hardly sleeping at all and surviving on loads of coffee, we weren't able to finish the mixing in the 3 days we had allowed. In hindsight, 3 days to mix about 65 minutes of music seems a tad unreasonable. Fernando is remarkable though, and earned his nickname of The Terminator as he must surely be a robot. He cannot possibly be human, for not only did he hardly sleep a wink the entire time we were at Parlour Studios, he hardly took a break either. And he was always enthusiastically bobbing his head or playing air drums despite hearing the songs a thousand times. Which leads me to the conclusion that either he REALLY loves his job, he is a robot or he is stark raving bonkers. But the fact that he didn't get tired of the songs bodes well. Having said that, if Roman hears 'Ablaze...' once more I'm sure he will go postal. So the jury is still out - which means you'll have to judge for yourselves.

"We have booked Parlour Studios for the 26th July to mix the final 2 songs, namely 'Cold Is The Grave' and 'Longing', which should be no problem seeing as the hardest part is already done - they just require some tweaking now. However, this will not delay our plans for the album. We have literally recieved the mixed tracks by email 2 hours ago, so we will be sending out promos to labels we deem worthy very shortly. The artwork tender is due to be submitted this weekend for a final decision, after which we will work closely with the artist to create a suitable package to house our music. With any luck, the album, which will definately have a name by then, will see the light of day well before the end of the year."