Paul Ablaze, frontman for Montreal's BLACKGUARD, has checked in with the following update:

"I’m very happy to inform everyone that Blackguard are currently putting the finishing touches tracking our third record. During our time on the road and small breaks between tours we were able to do proper pre-production demos for each song ,which is a first for us. And all the preparation has truly paid off and has allowed us to work much more efficiently in studio.

As of last Thursday (April 1st) I finished all my vocal tracking with Chris Donaldson (CRYPTOPSY) at his home studio. That whole week of tracking was amazing. The atmosphere at Chris’s studio made for very relaxed sessions, if you can call screaming all day 'relaxed.' Chris has been a pleasure to work with and I now know first hand why so many established bands like EMMURE, DESPISED ICON and BENEATH THE MASSACRE choose to work with him .

The drums were finished a few weeks before with our old friend Jef Fortin (ANONYMUS). Juice wrote this about the recording sessions:

'Spending time on the road and on stage is what I always wanted to do with my life. But I ‘ve learnt that there's a time when I got more exited than before a tour, and that's when the band presents new songs to the public. And part of that is going to the studio and recording our tracks, which show off exactly where you are musically. I always feel a lot of pressure and stress doing so, (I guess everyone around me feels it too !) and part of this is because drums are first to be recorded.

So I showed up very stressed and tired to the studio, and still a little bit sick. We spent the first day setting up the mic’s (and the leopard design drum carpet) and checking sounds, tuning, ect. Jonathan (who was there, thanks god) helped me a lot, pacing myself and making me smile. The next day we actually started recording and everything went well, Jeff knows what he is doing. After our daily work and coffee, we headed over to Jeff's place, watched some Dexter episodes (thanks to Jeff, I think Jo and I are now addicted) and watching Spam (Jeff’s turtle) being obsess with me. I feel the songs are strong, and I left the studio confident that what was recorded was the best I could do . I'd like to thank Jeff for his precious time and popcorn machine, I feel really good about my tracks!'

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Guitars and bass are being finished up at Jo and Kim’s Silver Wing Studios (http://www.myspace.com/silverwingsstudios), after that it’s time for mixing. Stay tuned for tons more details and updates in the coming weeks!"

Go to this location for information on Blackguard and audio samples.