Guitarist Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström from Swedish metallers KATATONIA has issued the following studio update:

"After the midsummer weekend, it was time to get back to biz. The recording facalities down in Varberg were changed to David’s own Ghost Ward studio (off the record referred to as “the rathole”) which is located in a suburb north of Stockholm. This week’s schedule was rhythm guitars, so I stepped into the picture together with Jonas and David to find a heavy distortion sound to fit Daniel’s great drum production.

We recently entered a brand new collaboration with with Laboga amplifiers from Poland and we endorse both their Mr Hector and Aligator models. Obivously, the entire Monday was spent fooling around with different configurations of mics, speakers and knob settings. In the past, this procedure could very likely end up taking more than one day, but this time we found the “sweet spot” pretty much right away.

Laboga deliver fantastic quality and I believe we nailed the optimal setup for this record. We’re talking low bottom heaviness, a mid crunch register which we like to refer to as “the drill”, all perfectly pushed through the active EMG pickups of my wicked Mayones axes. The coloring and balance between the amps different equalizers and different distortion levels shows also in the clear high end resonance. Even full 6-string chords ring out beautifully seperated without turning to noise. It sounds expensive and pro.

When we came back on tuesday to start tracking we were disturbed by a foul smell. To enter the studio, you head into this kind of sketchy house located in a industrial area, take a couple of stairs down to the basement and enter a steel door that leads to a corridor where the studio is located like a rathole in the wall. But on the outside of the steeldoor there’s this kinda elevator room with a sliding door, sometimes open, sometimes shut. The smell couldn’t have come from anywhere else but there. We’ve had our suspicions before and they turned out to be true. None of us ever investigated what’s behind the door, until now. A flashlight and a camera revealed that this tiny room is being a residence for bums and junkies and their grotesque needs. What was reeking as we passed by turned out to be piles of excrements and urine on the floor… Yay! We learned that in the upper building is a couple of floors with apartments used as “temporary solutions for temporary people”… Put two and two together. We’re recording in a rathole, in hell!

The following days were just all out busy and pretty much looked the same. Get up at 8 am. Wait for David to pick us up in his Opel and then a quick stop at Coop forum (huge grocery store chain) for some breakfast. Walk down the rathole and pass by the stench of bums which is a wake-up call if your’re still snooze mode. Track guitars. Lunch at Maestro. Track more guitars. Leave at 10 pm and go home to check emails (no internet in the rathole) and try to have a life for 2-3 hours. Get some sleep. Repeat.

Today’s saturday and all rhythm guitars are done. The album has twisted into form and we’re only hours behind schedule. Sunday is a day off and on monday we’ll start with all the semi-dirty and clean guitar sounds. It’s all coming alive!"

View this studio diary with pictures on the Katatonia Facebook page.

As previously reported, Katatonia's eighth album is set for a late October release on Peaceville. Further updates to follow.