Omer Cordell, mastermind of ongoing prog metal project Trailight, recently released his new album, Sophia. It was mixed by former Annihilator frontman Dave Padden. Cordell spoke with BraveWords scribe Carl Begai about working with Padden in the studio.

Cordell: "I've been working with Dave since The Primitive Mountain (released in 2015). He knows what I want and what I like. Dave is a phenomenally talented musician beyond the scope of a lot of people's understanding. People don't know how talented Dave is and that's a shame. The other thing about him is that his standards are remarkably high. Me being an absolute hack compared to Dave, having him mix the album was a treat. To make a long story short, he polished the proverbial turd. He really pushed me when I was doing vocals, asking me to sing parts over and teling me I could deliver the lines better. He gave me some pointers as to what I could do to make the vocals a lot better."

"And he's an incredible singer. He could front any band in the world, from a bluegrass band to the most brutal metal band. When I recorded The Primitive Mountain, I had no idea who was going to sing on it. If I had done it, it would have been nothing short of catastrophic. A mutual friend suggested I get Dave to sing on that record and he agreed to it, and I met him on the day we were going to record vocals. He nailed the entire vocal array for The Primitive Mountain in two days. I was recording him thinking 'Who the fuck ARE you and what planet did you come from?' (laughs). So on the record new record, it was his standards couple with his experience that were so important to me. He pushed the album sonically to a level that I did not expect it to go."

Watch for the complete story, coming soon.

Tracklist:

"Eon"
"Aftershock"
"Truth"
"The Three Waves"
"Sleepwalkers"
"Island"
"Up In The Air"
"Dance"
"Birth"