Long time no studio diary

Ok, so, it's been forever since we last posted about our studio progress. In fact, it's been so long, we had just finished the drum recordings. And since it's been long, we've progressed quite a bit. But of course you knew that already, since you're reading our facebook page, right? Right. Well, I thought I'd type something up in any case.

What we've mostly been dabbling in is guitars. As we're hesitant to reveal too many details about the album at this point, I'll refer to songs by their working title. We've got guitars ready for "kurozu", "lenore", "renssi", "kööri" and "ibn-qirtaiba" as well as some guitars for the intro track. At this point we're wishing we were better at playing our guitars, but also very pleased with the outcome and the sound we've managed to conjure up using the finest in awesome signal processing devices. My personal favourite is the Black Arts Toneworks Black Forest Overdrive, which I purchased just after we recorded the live at studio takes. What we've been going for is, naturally, Soviet tractors and I must say we've come pretty darn close.

 We've also managed to get some bass done. Sami got himself a Rickenbacker and the end result of said acquisition is an even doomier tone than before. He's also taken up a hobby of building himself stompboxes to further benefit the sound. Here's an illustration of one particular sound with the maestro himself plucking on a fine riff. Bass tracks are done on "lenore" and "renssi", with the rest to follow soon after.

There remains also some work for the guitars yet, plus, of course, vocals, and even some extra instruments such as keyboards (don't be scared, they won't be overwhelming) and acoustic guitars.

So, don't hold your breath yet, since while we've made good time, we're not nearly there yet. In the meantime, enjoy good beers and worship vibrations while the moomins circle ever on.

Peace, love and loud noises,
           -Henri

It's alive!

Alright, now we've got the other live cut from the drum sessions available for download. And it comes with a video! It's called "One Joyless Night" and it was originally on our first demo ep, Picturesque, Petrified.

The audio can be downloaded right here!
And the other live cut, Cœur, is here.

Outdoor activities

Swamp wolves

 Monday this week, we set foot to Kruunuvuori (located in eastern Helsinki, Finland), accompanied by the magnificent Miika Karttunen (http://www.lightpictures.fi) to take some promo pictures.

Old pic from Dec 2010

You may, or you may not, remember that Miika was the one who took our previous promo photos as well, and at the same location, even.

Well, as opposed to the snowfall last time, we were having one of the first warm days of the year. This was a welcome juxtaposition, for it aided us in our plan to confuse our audience.

In summation I'd like to urge you all to turn to Miika with your photography needs and of course drink beer and worship Satan.

Love,
        -Henri

Remember to do research before you rent a cabin online.

Oh look, a live track

Did we or did we not threaten with live tracks two weeks ago? Well, we've got one out right now and you can find it here:  http://soundcloud.com/ecwdoom/coeur-live-at-studio

I'm personally rather proud of it, seeing as it was the first time I've done a live recording. Or, well, we did have our first gig recorded, but not with such an arsenal of mics. And, frankly, we played a lot better this time around.



-Henri

The Wolves have left the studio; diary, part IV

Well now, dear readers. The Wolves left the studio less than 24 hours ago. What were we left with?

-Drum tracks for seven songs, ranging in length from roughly five minutes to a whopping fifteen minutes.


-Several mutilated drumsticks. I guess the majority of the drumsticks Niko brought into the studio were decimated.


-Very little time to sleep. Of the 56 possible hours (from Fri 4pm to Sun 12am), we spent roughly 40 hours in the studio! Bar our sleeping hours (3am-10am) the studio was constantly manned by at least three of us. Sheesh.



-All of the drum takes were done several times, in the case that our human drum machine should have done a mistake. (Well, actually, he did. Quite a few. Every now and then when he was not chopping the drumsticks into wee tiny bits (he is a lumberjack and he's okay)).


-Two studio live tracks, with video. One really slow and thick oldie goldie, reworked, and one from the new album. We were joined by three helpful gentlemen in the Sunday evening, who worked three cameras. If the videos and live takes are deemed releasable, we will treat you with a song + a video twice during the next summer!


-80-100 cups of coffee and a handful of beers consumed. Also occasional fits of pizza psychosis were witnessed.



-A promise of an excellent new full-length album full of some of the most intense and dynamic stuff we've created. But when will we record the rest of the stuff? And how? We've yet to decide, but the current consensus is that most likely the recordings will take place over the course of the next summer, starting in early June. The method of execution is still under discussion.



Keep it groovy,

Otto

Studio diary, part 3(3 1/3)

The drums are done, the drums are fucking done!

This guy is laughing.

Now for some live takes of a couple of songs, with video.

Lurve,

       Henkka

Dear studio diary, part II

It's Sunday morning and we're all a bit knackered. The coffee's alright and we'll soon go on with the drum recordings. After spending 17 hours (10 a.m. to 3 a.m.) in the studio, we got 5 tracks done yesterday, which leaves 2 more for today, followed by a couple of studio live tracks. Shouldn't take more than 28 hours, I'd say.

The spirits are high and in the future, when we release a DVD (will there even be DVDs anymore, one can only guess), we'll have some prime footage for the "Behind the scenes" extras. Today's word is "ripuliylipäällikkö", and we will. conquer. the. world.

Love,


        Henri


P.S. We'll post more when there is more to tell. Meanwhile, go listen to KEN mode, so did we.

The Wolves circling the studio, part I

So, the day’s finally here. We managed to drag ourselves into the studio!

So far:

-We arrived to the studio Friday, 27^th of April, 4 pm. With us: a handful of guitars, a bass, drum gear, Trace Elliott V6 bass head and Orange + Laboga for the guitars.

-Actually the name of the game for this weekend is to record the drums for our upcoming album; the guitar and bass stuff we brought are here only for the show. And perhaps for a studio live session, should there be enough time.

-Drums were set up by a bit past midnight, including 20 microphones. Yeah, seriously, 20 bloody microphones. Our drummer Niko and Antti - our trusty old pal behind the desk both in studio and live - went a little crazy with them now that we had access to some great microphones. (Antti stated that the official explanation for this is “Just because we can!”)

-Caffeine levels are kept in check with Henri making us new potfuls of coffee the instant the previous one gets consumed.

-We returned to the studio Saturday morning, April 28^th, finally ready to proceed to the recording itself. The total amount of tracks for the upcoming album is undecided to this date, but during this weekend we are supposed to record drum tracks for seven new songs (ok, one of them is previously released). If there is enough time for the studio live takes, we are going to record one new song from this album and one song that goes way back, to the beginnings of the band.

With bloodshot eyes and high expectations from the studio,

Otto.

Or, in Henri’s words, "let’s get those arm flabs moving, and make some massive stuff!"

Five years and going strong

Roughly this time in 2007 I first had the idea of starting a doom metal band. First it was supposed to be just a solo project for me, and this in mind I wrote the first three songs, "One Joyless Night", "Loveless Moonlight/Cruel Dawn" and "Picturesque, Petrified", all of which ended up on the Picturesque, Petrified EP. The photo on the left is our first "official" promo shot and can also be found on the cover of the EP. If I remember correctly, I came up with the name Ever Circling Wolves, inspired by the Earth song "The Dire and Ever Circling Wolves", in the spring of 2007, before recording the EP, but after the photo was taken.

Download the Picturesque, Petrified EP here (in mp3)!

Or here (in a lossless format)!

Shortly after completing the EP, I started to gather a line-up for an actual band. Musicians came and went and we weren't really going anywhere until the summer/early autumn of 2008 with (left to right in our first proper promo shot, taken by Miika Karttunen) Otto Forsberg (guitar), Arttu Kantola (bass) and Niko Karjalainen (drums) (with me between Otto and Arttu) joining the fold. New eagerness flowed within us and new songs started to take form.

In 2009 we finally got the ball rolling properly. Our first visit to a real studio (Posti Studio) ended with us recording a full-length album instead of an EP like we'd intended. We also played our first proper live gigs, first of them (pictured on the left) at Lepakkomies (Helsinki) with the ever-awesome Temples and Chestburster, and the second at Hevimesta (Oulu) with the very heavy Wandering Midget. Towards the end of the year, more new songs began to emerge.

Download The Silence from Your Room from our bandcamp page!

Working with the new tracks was what we began 2010 with. This, however, got left on the backburner somewhat when Arttu decided to leave the band due to commitments elsewhere (check out his bands: Freedomination, Thomas Nobody and Mojo Waves). Luckily, we found Sami Nevala to replace him rather quickly. With Sami in tow, we resumed our arduous task of constructing new music, and at the end of the year stepped into studio to record an EP, Chapter III, which contains a new track, "In the Trench", and a re-recording of "Picturesque, Petrified" from the old EP.

Download Chapter III from our bandcamp page!

Or buy it from Dethroned Productions!

2011 started for us with the digital release of Chapter III, along with some gigs. New songs were introduced to the live set and they've been received well. We managed to pretty much write our next full-length album during 2011 and at the end of the year also got out a physical release of Chapter III with Dethroned Productions. We also got to play one of the most memorable shows of our career, on a bloody cruise ship!

Here's a live video from one of our gigs in 2011 (not the cruise ship show, however):

What 2012 holds in store, I can only guess. But we do have an album lined up, for one. Meanwhile, thanks for the past 5 years!

-Henri

...and around the next corner, you'll find...

So, Chapter III is finally out in cd form and can be bought directly from us by sending us email to contact(at)ecwdoom.com or from Dethroned Productions (which we recommend if you're outside Finland). And this means it's time to look forward to new things.

We've been busy writing and rehearsing material for a new full-length and we've now gotten to a point where pretty much the whole album is written and we've even managed to play all of the tracks through, save for the intro track, which is still under construction. The new material expands on what we've showcased before, in terms of dark, plodding doomy goodness, and adds new dimensions and dynamics to the mix, making for a (hopefully) more interesting listen than our debut, The Silence from Your Room.

Some tracks we've already showcased live, such as "Lenore", "Cœur" and "Haunted", and one we've already recorded once, namely "In the Trench", which is found on Chapter III, and they've been received well. "Cœur" has also been recorded on video on more than one occasion, and therefore I find it only appropriate to post a video of it here, so you'll know just what to look forward to.



By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes

-Henri