It's done. Well, 99,9% of it.

So... it's 12 pm, Monday night, I sit on my computer, suffer from a hangover and for once am not programming the strings, woodwinds, ethnic shit or some godforsaken percussion track of which existence I wasn't even aware of. For the first time in weeks I have a possibility to get some sleep, and not stay up for some 28 hours straight doing Whispered, fall asleep for 2 hours, and then wake up to do it all over again. For the first time in months I don't have anything waiting on my "Whispered: To do -list". Either it means I got fed up with this damn album and went underground or... the motherfucking mixing is OVER!!! Hooray, hippies!!!

Yeah, the harsh reality. Record producing is haaaard work. On Friday we had one last thing to do, we mixed the intro for the album, one I wrote and programmed on Thursday and the following night based on Jouni's sketches. It turned out pretty epic and not your typical gothic pompouse ”loud as hell with church organs and choir” -intro, so we've got a good atmosphere builder for the monster. What monster? This goddamn album! Let me tell you – it seems like we've created a monster. Or, at least for the last months, I have. You might wonder what in dear God's name have we been doing during the time between the recordings and mixing??? Well, we've been busy with the monster-creating! In my dark laboratory, I've been adding flesh around the bones, polishing the details inch by inch, surrounding the basic band tracks with all the ingredients that make the band sound like Whispered. There's choir, there's orchestra, there's ethnic instruments, percussion, synths, organs etc. and all that adds up to incredible amounts of small details in the songs. And, please remember that before the tracks can exist, someone's got to write the music for all the different instruments. And that someone's yours truly. So, we've definitely not been lazy, I tell you. It just takes time, when you have to do everything yourself. Speaking of which, Teropekka did FANTASTIC job with the mixing. Tight schedule, ridiculous amounts of tracks (yeah, we made it to >150 league!), weird instruments, long interludes, all in all a mixing process harder than the trick of licking your own elbow. But, being the pro he is, Teropekka took the music on a half Nelson and beat the living shit out of it. Everything's clear and intense, and still the band sounds as brutal as Bruce Lee on crystal meth.
Judging by the yesterday's pre-master listening party, the long and hard work's not been for nothing. My job here is done, only the mastering's left. What can I say? A long and extremely challenging project that's become like a child for me, and after nearly a year it's finally over. I hope you'll love the result as much as I do.
Behold – this album will rip your heart out and feed it to the dragons, and if it won't, Mr. Evil Samurai Lord Jouni V. will come through your chimney and do it himself! You've been warned.

Godspeed, Whispered.

-Perttu Wänskä