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AND SO THE KING SPEAKS!

Haters!

I’ll sit my ass down right here on my Secretlab Throne inside The Dungeon and type quite a lengthy read for ya now, so grab a drink of your choice, sit your ass down too and take it all in if you’re even remotely interested in what the fuck is up with the process of completing our 14th album, ok? Some of this you have heard before, but hey, it all needs to be brought up again.

First off, naturally we have to reveal the status of the 6th TPH Donation Experiment as it’s the foundation for us to even be able to record an album, as you know. When I fired this one up I had a feeling it would be the longest and hardest one yet to make a success considering a couple of things! One of them being a goddamn pandemic making people lose jobs and income. Add to that it seems like people care less than ever when it comes to actually buying music/helping to fund a recording.

With the past 5 successful Experiments we have reached the monetary target pretty much each and every time within 6 months, which is absolutely amazing considering there’s “only” been some 200-250 people making it happen, you know. We’re 5 months in now and as of this writing we are quite far off the $10000 goal with 143 people supporting the cause. We just broke the $6400 barrier thanx to some CD Baby sales of older albums and the always mighty 666 SEK donation that some heroes throw in every now and then on top of the incredible people who donate something every month. So, we’re moving forward slowly (we rot) at least, but it feels like this will take a while, just so you know.

And this is exactly why I initially stated that I will start paying everyone involved with the recording as soon as money comes in instead of waiting until the goal is reached, as I have in the past. Coz doing that would delay everyone’s performance for as long as the Experiment’s fulfillment would take, meaning my invaluable co-musicians could start recording this 14^th album in maybe 3-4 months from today instead of being where we are at right now in the recording process, which you will soon be aware of.

But the bottom line is, for me to be able to finalize this 14^th beast of an album down the line, I still need to raise roughly $3600 so I can pay everyone in full and finally get to the mixing process with Dan Swanö of Unisound fame.

If you wanna help out with spreading the word that a mere 150 SEK donation towards the recording will push us further towards the goal, please do so. And no, I’m not asking you to donate again if you already donated, you already did your part, but I’d appreciate if you get the word around. Here’s the link for you to use where all necessary info is available when it comes to The 6th TPH Donation Experiment! Share the link on your Facebook/Instagram pages and/or inform your metal buddies in any other way you see fit. With all that boring-as-fuck-but-oh-so-important bullshit out of the way, let’s fill you fine ladies and gents in on the interesting stuff, yeah?

Here’s where we are at recording wise:

If you follow TPH on Instagram or Facebook you all know that Chief Captain of Grunts, Jörgen Sandström, wrapped up his insane vocal work back in the end of May. If you didn’t know that, you do now. And as always, and it bears repeating, he shows why he is the gold standard in his field.

The Almighty Hate Queen, Ellinor Asp, delivered her insanity in the shape of some 40000 WAV files just a week or so ago. Pardon my language, but Jesus Fucken Christ what an effort she’s put in once again! I will never cease to be completely floored by the stuff she comes up with and the voices she pulls off. It’s like having 100 different women in one when it comes to Ms. Asp. It’s just downright fucken spectacular how much talent and musicality she possesses.

Oh, I also happen to have some mildly talented drummer on board for this 14th album. You might have heard of him. He goes by the name of Dirk Verbeuren. Yeah, I once again have to deal with having the best muthafucken drummer I have ever heard. Life is rough, huh? The fact that I can still have Dirk’s otherworldly playing in my music baffles me every day. I’m so grateful he would have it no other way than to play on his 6^th consecutive TPH album. And what he’s bringing to the table once again is just arse exploding. He wrapped up his stuff a few weeks ago. And yeah, it seems like we finally have gravity blasts in TPH this time around.

Candlemass guitarist/guitar legend Lasse Johansson and I are currently trying to get our schedules in order so he can come visit The Dungeon and record his solos. When that day comes (which shouldn’t be very far from now) it’ll be a joy meeting up with him again and record his magic over a few hours. This part of TPH is so special to me and something I always look forward to; spending time with one of the coolest muthafuckers on Earth who also happens to be one of the best lead guitarists known to mankind, hearing him put down solos in my music! Yeah, it truly is special.

The guy responsible for the artwork and everything this time around, Seiya Ogino of Ogino Design, has fired up some incredible shit. I had a vision for the cover that I shared with him and what I got back was nothing like it, at all. The difference? Well, he took my ideas way further and created something I could never think up which beat my original vision to a bloody pulp. Goddamnit, that guy is so fucken good. I am currently waiting to see the rest of the lay out, but if the cover art is something to go by, well, yeah. This part is nailed.

I know that some of you are curious if I have invited any guests for this album. And yeah, there will be two of them. One has been kind enough to participate in the past; the legend Johan Längquist of Candlemass fame. I was sitting inside The Dungeon with this part that I had a killer vocal melody line for and I wanted a male voice on it! One email later and I had the honor of having Johan’s fantastic voice on a TPH track again.

The other guest is guitarist Simon Johansson, you should know him from his work in bands such as Wolf and Memory Garden, as well as being in charge of renowned SolnaSound Recording in Stockholm, Sweden. Awesome guy, awesome guitarist and awesome beard. I’m so happy he chipped in a beautiful solo and now there’s two Johansson’s doing solos on a TPH album! Majestic!

Last but not least… What is my role in the middle of all this? Once again, if you follow TPH on Instagram you know at least a little… But what you see on social media and what I actually do in reality is obviously quite different. Not only do I add some small additional guitar and bass things here and there, every now and then, on top of the absolutely massive wall of existing guitars and bass, nope! Usually I put in at least an hour or 2 a day, every day, when I have to attend the day job. Now I have vacation! Now it’s a different story altogether.

I go up around 04.00 in the morning, enter The Dungeon and fire up the list for what I have to do with each and every song. And then I get to work. All day (almost), every day (almost). With the occasional break thrown in for good measure. Thanks to everything unholy that I have the most remarkable wife possible by my side when it comes to this part of the process.

You know, I have always worked extremely hard with the music for TPH, but this is definitely the most time I have EVER put into an album. By far. And I still have quite some work left to do before I will feel “finished”. And then, then comes the mix. Phew!

But yeah… This is what I am. This is what I do. It’s not something I recommend for everyone. I suggest you do something more straight forward with your music. Vocals, guitars, bass, drums. That’s a great recipe. I understand it and I also do it from time to time, but I can’t do that with TPH. That’s not what I hear in my head. To me, what is brought forth music wise with TPH has to be far more intricate and complicated to satisfy my whole musical entity. Pretentious, huh? Sure it is. It’s also the truth. I love this shit.

So, comrades… I have to continue my work here. Got stuff to do. The list is getting shorter day by day, which is awesome, but typing all this shit takes away from what’s most important to me; the music of TPH.

Again, please spread the word about the Experiment. As said, “just” $3600 to go before I can pay everyone in full and we can start the process of mixing our 14th masterpiece as soon as my remaining work is completed.

Album title? Well, here are the first letters of every word:

S.V.I.T.E.O.D.

Bring on your guesses!

Cheers, Haters!

THE TPH DONATION EXPERIMENT VI IS ON!

Haters!

May Your King have your undivided attention for a while? That’s what I thought, so get ready for yet another beautiful rant!

As you can see, I have decided to fire up the 6th installment of The TPH Donation Experiment.

SIXTH!!!

(in case you wanna get directly to the details about how to help me in the cause of making a 14th TPH album, scroll to the bottom where it says “DONATION INFORMATION” in RED, ok? But if you feel like spending a few minutes scrolling through some much needed blabbering, keep reading!)

As I said, this is the 6th Experiment! It’s definitely insane to think back on the previous Experiments and realize that you guys have made the last 5 TPH albums a possibility through your donations. It truly is mind boggling and I am forever grateful for it, and that is something I will repeat time and time again coz it really means the goddamn world to me, you know. Without your monetary contributions none of those albums could have been created. Pat yourselves on the backs, you deserve it.

It crosses my mind every now and then that with each album I do with TPH there are between 200 and 300 truly devoted people who make us reach the budget. Every time. Come to think of it, we have like 5000 or so followers on Facebook. That’s not a lot, nope. TPH is nowhere near a “big” band and still we have 13 of the best albums ever recorded in our discography. Boom! I like that.

But as I said; 5000 or so followers on Facebook. That makes it even MORE fantastic, the fact that “just” some 200-300 Haters have made each Experiment a success, making me able to pay everyone involved for their efforts. It’s actually downright spectacular! You men and women are championship material, obviously.
But back to the thing at hand.

I am ALWAYS doubting that these Experiments will actually work, but now more so than as we live in very weird times with this Covid-19 shit that causes people to fall sick, lose jobs and loved ones among other terrible things. And perhaps it’s incredibly foolish to think that it will be possible to raise funds for our 14th album in a reasonable amount of time with the current status of the world in mind. Trust me when I say that this has been occupying my thoughts quite a bit lately.

And now comes the time when I have to hand out my deepest gratitude possible to Jörgen Sandström, Ellinor Asp, Dirk Verbeuren and Seiya Ogino, coz not only are they absolutely amazing artists and people, they are also so genuinely awesome I’d take a bullet for them any day (actually, I wouldn’t go THAT far, but you get the point).

But “why the gratitude?”, I hear you ask.

Well, they have all agreed to help me out with album 14 without even knowing when I can pay them for their invaluable efforts. And I can never thank them enough for that coz it reeeeeeeaaaaally makes things easier for me and prevents postponing the next TPH beast longer than needed. IF we reach the budget, that is. And that’s a big “if”, considering the global situation, as mentioned. I am very aware of that. But hey, sometimes you got to take some chances, I guess. These people obviously believe in me for some weird reason, to the extent they will put in some serious amount of hours to deliver their magic without getting paid first. It blows my mind. You guys are phenoms. Thank you!

So, I’m sure you want to know how the 14th album is coming along then, no?

Well, we released “Purgatory” in April last year. I took a well deserved break after that (as I always do after completing an album; creating TPH is nothing short of MASSIVE work and even a King needs a breather at times) which lasted not very long. I had all the songs for album 14 ready when winter came about. When I say “ready” I mean “ready” as in”all song structures, drum programming for Dirk, lyrics and mock vocals for Jörgen, Elli’s parts picked out, guitar and bass foundation recorded, song titles, album title – ALL DONE!”.

But that’s not even remotely close to me being “done” with my work as I have all the orchestral stuff left to compose and the electronic elements need to be attended to. And THIS takes time, to put it mildly. While I’m working with these parts of our sound, everyone else included have been recording their stuff when their schedules have allowed for them to do so which means progress has been made in all areas and the plan is to have all of their contributions delivered in full to me come the start of summer 2021!

This means I am HOPING to be able to release this new monster later this year, but it all depends on when/if we meet the monetary goal. This is where this 6th Experiment will differ a little bit compared to the past ones; I will simply have to let this run until we reach the budget and pay everyone as we go along. Will it take 6 months? A year? 2 years? I have no idea, obviously. I actually didn’t plan to fire up this 6th Experiment until the album was actually recorded in full, ready to be mixed, but it doesn’t feel right having everyone do their work for free for who knows how long. And had I waited until it was done, judging from past Experiments, it could take anything from 6-10 months before I can pay them! So, this is where we’re at. I better fire it up now and hope for the best.

I will, as always, keep you informed on the donation process with each $1000 level reached so you all can see how it’s going.

With all that said, please spread the word about the 6th Experiment being up and running now, and let’s keep our fingers crossed that this works out again rather sooner than later. Last off: you can follow the progress on how donations are coming along both at our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Thank you for your time, we’ll talk again as soon as something of significance happens.

—

DONATION INFORMATION:
 
Here are all the details you need if you want to be a part of bringing a 14th TPH album to life.
 
– THE BUDGET NEEDED IS $10000.
 
– Donating 150 SEK will give you the following digital versions when the album is completed: CD MIX (MP3), CD MIX (FLAC), HDR MASTER 44,1 24 BIT (FLAC), HDR MASTER (INSTRUMENTAL FLAC). Links to the downloads will be e-mailed to you upon release.
 
– You can of course donate more if you feel like it.
 
– Donations are preferably made through PayPal to theprojecthate@gmail.com. Please make a note saying”ALL HAIL THE KING!” with the payment. Or you could just say something else. Also, I will ALWAYS confirm your donation within 24 hours of receiving it, so if you don’t hear from me within that time frame, well, then something fucked up. Simply e-mail me then, ok? If my fellow Swedes prefer another paying method, you know where to reach me.
 
– The album will, as always, be mixed and mastered by myself and superhero Dan Swanö of Unisound fame. Anything else would be ludicrous.

Darkglass FTW!

I want to hand out the hugest thank you possible to Darkglass Electronics’ Chief Operating Officer Marcos Barilatti for bringing me even further into the realms of Darkglass’ magic when it comes to bass tones. Over the last couple of years I have been using the incredible Microtubes B7K Ultra (seen in my right hand) from this very company for my sound. The B7K Ultra is a pedal that will never fucken ever leave my set up and it has brought me the best tone I’ve ever heard. And now I add the equally as insane ADAM (short for Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine, aka The Green Beast that I hold in my left hand) to my arsenal. I couldn’t be fucken more ecstatic. This goddamn thing is crushing all kinds of shit!

Bass has always been ridiculously important to me when it comes to TPH, which obviously shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who ever listened to what I do. Just ask Mr. Swanö of Unisound AB who’s had the immense pleasure of trying to satisfy me in this department when he’s mixed our albums up until this day. And he sure has done a terrific job with it. Swanö also deserves yet another thank you since he is actually responsible for making me aware of Darkglass Electronics in the first place. Thanx to their products he’s having less of a hard time dealing with me when it comes to mixing my stuff. Smart move, D! You’re the fucken best, dude!

With all that out of the way; let me finish up by saying that I can never show enough gratitude to Mr. Barilatti and Darkglass Electronics for the fantastic support and for getting me the ADAM. I’m truly honored beyond words.

Now if you excuse me, I have some bass playing and tone settings to take care of.

Stay safe, everyone.

I salute you all!

All ordered beanies were sent out a few weeks ago!

In case you missed out on this, make sure to always follow our social media accounts as those are more regularly updated with quick updates than this, our official site.

On Monday the 30th of November, all beanies were posted. Now it’s up to the postal service to get your stuff to you safe and sound. Keep in mind that with the Covid situation going about it might take longer than usual for your shit to arrive at your doorstep. Be patient. And no, I can’t send you any tracking number if you didn’t pay for registered mail, so don’t ask me about it. This was made crystal clear when the ordering information was put up initially, you know.