STREAM OF PASSION guitarist Eric Hazebroek has issued the following studio update:

"With the drums recorded in record-breaking time it was up to the guitar players to enter the Split Second Sound Studio in Tilburg and lay down the huge wall of distorted (and sometimes not so distorted) sound. With two guitar players it's always a matter of getting everything in sync and in the same key. So during the entire pre-production we fiddled around with the details until every note was correct and played in such a way that it became tight as a really, really tight thing. ;)

First day started off with carrying all the equipment in, which included a multitude of guitars and three guitar amp heads. And this was just an addition to all the stuff that was already there, as Jochem owns a freight load of different amps and guitars. The next couple of hours were filled with connecting everything and testing it, moving the mics, searching for that right sound. With a Diezel, a Peavey 5150 and a Mesa Stiletto we had all the sounds we needed.

It was Sunday and time crept forward. And the temperature went down in the process to the point that it actually started snowing. Something that doesn't happen too often in the Netherlands, and when it does it has quite some consequences if you still have to drive home. At some point I decided to leave a bit earlier, as Steve was the person to start the guitar recordings anyway and the fact that I had a journey still to make that normally took 1 hour and 15 minutes. Three and a half hours later I finally arrived home; in one piece, as did my car.

Thursday was the day I returned to Tilburg. Steve had been recording for several days and put up a pretty huge wall for me to play on. I had four days to put down what apparently has become my 'signature' doodling on the guitar. A quite diverse bunch of parts. From melodic themes to different takes on the riffs. Steve's wall was for me to paint upon, so to speak.

Jochem was coming down with the flu though, and we decided to give him a bit more space to cope and prevent the coming sickness. It helped, but it resulted in my studio time being a bit more chaotic and scattered than expected. Despite this change of plans a good time was had in the studio, as Jochem is a cool guy and we both had a lot of subjects to talk about in-between the guitar takes. Two and a half days later all my additions were put down on the disc. And I am very pleased with everything that we added, as it gives a different twist to what was already there. It added a new dimension; more depth in the guitar parts. Some of it was written a long time before I ever hit the studio, and some of it got changed on the spot. We even wrote some new parts to compliment the stuff I had written and recorded. All in all, there's a lot to discover on the new Stream of Passion album, and right now we're only talking about the guitars. The end result will be epic. :)

For all the guitar freaks out there: I mostly used my Mayones Regius customized 6-string (EMG-85 on the bridge position and a Fernandes Sustainer on the neck position) to record my parts. But for some things I also used Jochem's Gretsch (the AC/DC one). I only have to go back to add soundscapes and odd stuff; 'Eric Sauce' to be precise ;) After that the recording part for me is definitely over for this album. Can't wait to hear the final mix!"