2.6.05 Ok... We got a lot of good drumming on tape and the raw sound of the drums sounds great. Jussi`s brother Jaska borrowed us 2 tom toms, thanks.

3.6.05 Today Jussi was one with the grooooovvv! 7 tracks drummed and 2 left. Max did the recording and Nino was building the studio, since it`s not quite finished yet... Maitua purkkiin!

4.6.05 Ok, all drums have now been recorded and tomorrow Tuomo will start abusing his bass. Max has been doing all the recordings and as you can see on the picture >> it`s heavy to record heavy. Max rules!

5.6.05 Tuomo played most of his basslines today except some additional thingies. This time the bass sound will be brutal. Everything has gone really well this far and there`s been plenty of "muffaus" and "klunssi" in the studio.

6.6.05 Today Tuomo played some clean basses. Kasperi also introduced us some of the solos he`s gonna play and they`re fucking crazy shredding. Nino "nännino" Laurenne was pretty excited since his band Thunderstone will warm up Mötley Crue tomorrow. Rock!

7.6.05 We experimented a bit with the guitar sounds and we found 'em. Tommi started playing the guitars on tape and little by little the songs are getting more flesh around their bones. We´re still very excited with the way the songs are evolving.

8.6.05 Tommi played some more guitars today, 2 songs were left for tomorrow. Johannes also started to inject some moods to our pounding and shredding. Max still rules and he`s the patience himself. Many cheerful buggagege rosberg and diskantti tuisku shouts to Max!

9.6.05 Tommi played the rest of his guitars and left to relax. We had to quit earlier today because Grendel came to record drums for their upcoming album. Lauri from the Rasmus stopped by to see the studio today. Our level of intelligence is decreasing with a dreadful pace... and it`s a bliss! Tomorrow we`ll propably play the rest of the keyboards and on saturday we have a day off because we´re going to see Megadeth at Sauna open air. Cheers!

10.6.05 Johannes played his parts today, cool shit.

11.6. - 16.6.05 We had an unvoluntary vacation `cause Max was recording Enochian Crescent`s upcoming album. btw... Dave Mustaine & Sauna open air ruled! (Cheers to the Kiuas camp! You ruled too!)

17.6.05 Kasperi played all the rest rhytm guitars today and he was pissed off `cause he had caught a flu in the middle of summer. Well... he´s mostly pissed off anyway... We also spent time in the lounge, that is finally getting ready. Cheers to the Elvenking dudes, keep it up!

18.6.05 What a perfect day for guitar soloing! Except for the fact that Kasperi was feeling pretty ill and feverish today. Well... you should hear the solos... no sign of illness there, they are sick though ;) speed=emotion

19.6.05 A day off again. boring. Our schedules have sucked a bit `cause the studio isn`t quite ready yet. No need to complain anyway, everything has gone relly well this far. (I should`t write that `cause we`re Ele and we`re made of bad luck...)

20.6.05 Tuomo a.k.a I played some basses again ´cause there we`re some out of tune parts. Nino finally got the mixing process of the Elvenking album finished and was finally able to relax a bit. We also recorded vocals on 2 songs (Human & Escalator) and they sound great. Tomorrow we´ll have 2 friends at the studio to perform some brutal guest vocals. Niko from Amoral and Ari from Dauntless are entering the Sonic Pimp tomorrow. Cheers!

21.6.05 Today we continued with some growling and J sang some things again since he was feeling angrier than yesterday. In the late afternoon our fellow brutalizers Niko & Ari Perkele arrived to da Pimphood. After some relaxing cartoon watching (Happy Tree Friends rule!) and a quick studio sightseeing, J started to explain to our guests about the vocal arrangements. Niko growled a duet with J to Human (which will be the opening track) and Ari did a great job on Escalator as well. (...and don`t laugh at the song title or J will kick your arse and we`ll show you our latest buggage moves!)

We did a pretty long day today. J continued with his own vocal parts until midnight and after that I started to play some clean basses. Luckily they we`re pretty simple parts, since we had been accidently drinking several refreshing drinks with Ari. He also caught some things on video. You can enjoy those by clicking the links below...

VIDEO 1
VIDEO 2

22.6.05 Somehow it seems every time we`re in the studio the finnish climate gets really bloody hot... Well... anyway today I started to play some clean guitars to a couple songs. Max had a really weird guitar for that so we decided to give it a try. I actually had a pretty bad hangover today and the fact that the air conditioning didn`t for some reason work, made it even worse. Somehow we managed to get something on tape anyway... That was all for today folks.

23.6.05 I heard a rumour that J did all the rest of his vocals today. The rest of us had a day off. The next couple of days will be dedicated to getting as wasted as possibly. That`s the way we finns tend to celebrate our nicest feast: Juhannus, or midsummer feast or whatever... the point is, the sun won`t set at all so we have to get wasted?!

23.6.-17.7.05 Once again we had a break due to reasons we had nothing to do with. The studio still isn`t quite ready and that`s why there has been some problems with the schedules. Amorphis started to do their album in Sonic Pump as well and Max had to do Enochian Crescent for a couple weeks. We`re on the bottom of the food chain... What a great time to get wasted ;)

18.7.05 Max started the project eternity called mixing an Elenium album. We decided to stay off his way for a couple days since it`s just the pre-mixing phase. After all we haven`t even fully recovered of the Tuska Festival. Tuska was once again a total blast. Amoral totally ruled and J had the honour to get on stage with Omnium Gatherum so our trinity is doing fine. Next year is ours.

19.7.05 Not much to tell about today. Max is supposedly doing fine and the album as well. Ok, I can give you the song list (not absolutely final) of the album:
Human
Challenger of Gravity
Caught in a Wheel
Escalator
Of the Man Who Died
Twelve
Eyes Grow Colder
Trail of Beggars
Velocity
It is (very) possible (indeed) that some changes occur, so please don`t take any tattoos, not quite yet, ok?

20.7.05 If we lived in K-town, now would be the time to say: "helmee setdee!" In other words, we were finally allowed to enter the studio and start to do some serious producing. We were really anxious to hear our shite after almost a months break. We started to seek the optimum Ele sound and definitely found something. By the end of the day we had the first raw mix version of "of the Man Who Died".

21.7.05 Ok, yesterday we listened through the raw mix with our home stereos and found many things, that needed to be paid attention to. We pretty quickly got the sound back on track and it`s beginning to kill. The air conditioning still doesn`t work, so this is propably the worlds first album to be recorded in a swedish sauna. Speaking of which... we had to quit earlier today `cause Max left to a real finnish sauna. We´re still not going for the noose, so the album is doing great you might say. Good night!

22.7.05 More mixing... Today we worked on the song called "To a Bitter Beginning" and I must say it`s a groovy one. Max kept on mixing in his sauna room and meanwhile Johannes, J and I enjoyed some refreshing drinks in the lounge. Max has begun to call Johannes Stalin and me Fyhrer (couldn`t find the right ypsilon...) because of our producing methods. A long day once again, we headed home at 2 a.m.

23.7.05 Saturday. After couple relaxing hours of sleep. We headed back to Sonic Pumpster. On our way, which was an exhausting walk through the city, we decided to wreck a car.
The mixing process has started to roll more smoothly `cause the basic sound is already there. That gave Stalin and Fyhrer more time to concentrate on some rai rai drinksters. Ari Perkele joined us during the afternoon with some light ciders (you shall never rot...) and other refreshments. We played the raw mix of the song "Escalator" with his vocals on it and he liked it. Later on also our mate and ex-drummer Migi joined in with Ismo and we had a mini party in the Sonic Pump lounge.

After several hours of metal DVD watching and drinking, our party had withered a bit. Max was still on fire & mixing, while Fyhrer and A-P had reached the optimum zombie state of mind. Others had already left to the nightlife of Helsinki. At 2 a.m Ari and I got a brilliant idea and we decided to head to Ari`s place and start editing the video material he caught on tape earlier. On our way we decided to wreck yet another car, which was nice. 10 hours later we were ready... The night had passed and we forgot to sleep. Thanks for the whisky dude!

24.7.05 Sunday? I decided not to sleep. After a cup of coffee I bid farewell to Ari and Valendis (his wife) and started my journey back to da Pimstahoodster a.k.a the studio. It took several hours until I actually got there. Max was still sitting in the same position we left him yesterday. I wonder if he`s alive? It sure is a wonder if he survives the co-operation with us all the way...
Nothing new concerning the album. It`s gonna be a killer. The day lasted once again deep into the night. Once again it has to be said: Max is the nicest person to work with and it`s fucking amazing how flexible he can be with the schedules. We could never work with an 8-2-4 type of a guy.

25.7.05 Today Max suggested that we could really use a day off. True. Max kept on mixing on his own and we tried to give our ears and bodies a rest. To rest is boring.

26.7.05 3 more tracks and we can enter the final mixing round. We worked on "Trail of Beggars" and the finishing track "Velocity". Marco Hietala was hanging out in the studio as well and he gave us some condoms with his picture on them. Is that cool or what? Well... none of us will ever get laid anyway... Johannes and J left in the evening, since they have their day jobs. (and it`s killing them) I stayed with Max and tried to play a producer. Before we noticed it was 4 a.m and time to quit for today. Only one track left for tomorrow.

27.7.05 Wednesday. We did the raw mix version of "Twelve". Johannes also palyed a couple things that we had forgotten earlier. After that we went through all the raw mix versions and made some improvements on each song. This took a lot of time and when we finally finished at 6 a.m, even Max was looking a bit tired. We`ll continue on friday, because tomorrow Max is heading to Oulu to do some live mixing for Throes of Dawn.

29.7.-31.7.05 Ok. The final weekend. We´re almost there and Max has been working like an ant.
On sunday evening (=monday morning) All 9 tracks were mixed. We are tired but happy with the result. Now it was time to head back home and get some rest.
We decided to call our latest creation "Caught in a Wheel". Thanks to everyone involved in the making of this album, especially Max! (hopefully you`ll get a day off some day...)

I added some last pictures and one of them is a lesson of what happens if you leave your camera unguarded to Sonic Pump: Thee Koivusaari & Laurenne ultimate pose ;)