ELVENKING will release their new album, Era, on September 14th via AFM Records. Vocalist Damna has written his latest Era studio report dubbed, The Helsinki Diaries:

"Here we are... another album, another studio session! Last time I was locked in Piranha Studios in Germany for five days and this time we decided to work at Sonic Pump Studios, Helsinki where we already mixed The Winter Wake and The Scythe. So basically we already knew the place and the guys who work over there very well, especially our dear producer and friend Nino, so it was great to be there once again... it starts to feel a little like being home! Probably because we never lived the dark long winters, but still it was cold and snowy the days I was there recording the vocals... and unfortunately it was a bit of a problem for me... but let’s start from the beginning!

The first day of recordings is always a matter of setting the gear, choosing the right microphone, setting levels and starting to get in the mood. When everything’s in place it’s just a matter of kicking asses! During the first two days I laid down the vocals for 'Chronicle Of A Frozen Era', 'We Animals' and 'Walking Dead'... it was a tough job ‘cause this time the songs were really challenging vocal-wise. For example 'Chronicle Of A Frozen Era' was really hard... not ‘cause it has difficult parts, on the other hand it’s probably the easiest of the lot... but it was really hard to get in the mood and find the perfect way of singing it. In the end I got it, also thanks to the advice I was getting from Nino.

2 days of recordings... everything seemed great... and then what? The third day I woke up with a sore throat and a fucking cold! And that made it really hard. So in the end I managed to do the acoustic song called 'The Time Of Your Life' and some really aggressive parts ('The Loser', 'Grey Inside'), but I had to leave the other songs for when I was back in shape. On one side I was happy for being in that condition ‘cause it gave me the chance to deliver a very intense performance especially on the acoustic track. Anyway that left a lot of free time in the studio... for example I watched the whole Walking Dead tv series (which has nothing to do with our song!!), had some chill out time at the bar and so on. During the last days I still managed to do some smaller parts but I really had to get well before recording the rest of the songs so we decided that it was better to finish the vocals at Sherpa Studios in Italy as soon that I was feeling better. In the meantime we recorded the female guest vocals! Netta Dahlberg is an awesome singer (you can hear her also on AMORPHIS' last album) and she delivered an incredible performance... it was a pleasure working with her and having the chance of hearing such an amazing voice in the studio.

On the last day... well how can a musician go to Helsinki without going to a metal gig and getting drunk as fuck? So that is exactly what we did! Nino, Netta and I went to AMORAL gig who were playing that night and had a 'couple' of drinks... Helsinki nights can be really dangerous... eheh but never as it was some years ago with Aydan... but hey... that’s another story!

Back home. Sherpa Studios. Night after night I laid down all the rest of the songs and actually I had all the time to sing this album over and over again ‘till I was completely satisfied with my parts.I will remember Era recording sessions for being really tough for me. Apart from the flu and the sore throat these songs were really challenging, I gave my heart, blood and soul for singing these songs and I think that you can hear that... it’s for sure the most 'physical' album I’ve ever recorded... I was shattered after every session. This is why I like it so much!"