Norwegian gothic metallers TRISTANIA have issued the following update from Anders Høyvik Hidle (guitars/vocals):

"You have waited patiently for news from the studio, and it's about time we reveal some more details regarding the upcoming album. These are hectic times and we are working around the clock to keep up with the time schedule, but we are extremely happy with the process this far, and the final result shows promise to be great. One by one the bricks are falling into place, and the album is becoming more complete every day.

Right now we're in the middle of the third week of recording. Drums have been recorded in Tanken Studio near Oslo, and for the moment we're doing bass and guitars in Stavanger. Østen took a break from the diapers and milk bottles to record his vocals last week. He did a terrific job, and his vocals sound great.

We have now just finished recording all bass and main guitars, and will spend the next days recording additional acoustic and electric guitars plus my vocal parts. We're going back to Oslo next week to start the vocal sessions with Mariangela, Kjetil and Ole in a different studio.

Now let's move to the proper news...

There will be big classical choirs with Latin lyrics included in all the songs on the new album! No, sorry – it won't.

However, we are proud to announce that we just had a very special guest in studio who you might already know: The one and only Pete Johansen will once again appear on a Tristania album with his fantastic violin playing.

During the writing process of this album we figured that Pete's violin would fit perfectly on some of the new tracks. Only a couple of weeks ago I sent the tracks to Pete and asked him if he would be interested in doing something together again. Luckily, he was. Pete, Ole and myself had a great time in studio last weekend, and it turned out really well. We worked with Pete for two long days, recording both acoustic and electric/distorted violins, and the result sounds truly amazing. We will probably release some musical teasers whenever we can find the time to this.

I've had the pleasure to work with many great musicians after I joined Tristania nearly 14 years ago. Still, Pete is probably the one I admire most of them all. This is the fourth album where Pete contributes, and each time I've been mindblown during his studio sessions. Pete is a rare musician; full of ideas and with a very distinct signature to his violin playing. It was fantastic to work with him again – exactly ten years after our last studio collaboration when we recorded World of Glass in Mariseille, France.

During the following weeks and months, we plan to put stories and news, photos and videos from the studio on the website. Those of you who are curious about the new album should also check out our MySpace site once in a while – plus Twitter, where Ole is posting news and comments from studio on an almost daily basis."