When in doubt, Isengard!

No matter how many albums you've done and how well you've prepared, there's always "that feeling" right before the studio starts.

 

Is the material good enough? Should that one song still be a bit faster? What if the album has too much metal and too little weird and fucked up parts? Can we manage to capture the raw energy on the takes? Why does my stomach hurt? It might be something I ate. No, I'm not nervous at all. I'm a seasoned pro, you see. Have I taken care of all the files needed for the drummer? Do we have red wine at home? I need some. In fact, I need a freaking barrel of it. Who's going to pick up the kids from daycare on monday when I'm at the studio? And fuck, the violin notes. I still haven't provided those.

"Blurred vision, no balance, numb tongue. The mind recoils in horror, unable to communicate with the spinal column". It's a train accident of thought, where every fear starts to spin in your head faster and faster until it becomes a swirling mass of self-doubt, inconfidence and sheer, brain-tearing panic, only to be distracted by a faint echo of Facebooks "new message" sound every now and then. Oh, how that sound drives me even more towards the edge every time. But it's my own fault- after all, it was me who messaged everyone first about the schedules, final decisions of the arrangements and about borrowing a guitar. The distraction is a blessing and a curse, as I feel both joy and annoyement when the tiny excuse of a sound informs me of other people's existence. I am not alone.

When discussing about the drum arrangements with Mörkö, I had some trouble trying to explain him how the drumming should sound like. My first advice was that if he ever sounds like Behemoth I will chop his hands off and use them to program drums with a computer for the album. But I guessed it wasn't enough, so I also told him to "play the fast parts like Dave Lombardo and the rest like Fenriz". He was still a bit unsure what I mean by that, so I linked him a great example of an Isengard song. "Every time you are unsure, think what would Fenriz do".
 

"WWFD" - in other words, "when in doubt, Isengard!".


I will just breathe and tranform myself into an Isengard drum track. Doing exactly what is needed without overthinking everything to death. Executive decisions pounded in, one snare at the time. When did you last hear double kick drumming in Darkthrone? Exactly. Multitasking is for dummies.
At some point, the swirling mass of chaos will slow down enough to become infused with different thoughts. Confidence, clear vision, and a frozen river of stillness where time itself stops. Suddenly, I can do all the right decisions simultaneously, and watch myself doing it from the ceiling. My mind is Zen...fuck, I am Zen, and a walking executive producer, a breathing schedule and a skeleton wearing a meat-coat riding through space on a floating rock. And I fear nothing.

This transformation of thought will most likely happen tomorrow morning, when Mörkö starts pounding his drums in for our seventh, yet untitled album at Sonic Pump Studios. I have a very good heads-up on what he's going to play, as despite of the lack of mutual rehearsing with the whole band he's been extremely busy spending time at the rehearsal room himself and sending me countless versions of drum fills and variations to discuss about. When we get the drum sound right and hear him to play I know this is going to be good. And if I start to doubt....? Well, you should know by now. Neslepaks!