Swallow the Sun's third album, 'Hope', was recorded during September and October of 2006. It was engineered, recorded and mixed by Sami Kokko, the very same guy who has been with Swallow the Sun since the first demo. The recordings took place at Seawolf Studios, a studio complex in Helsinki.

Here are some reports from the pre-listening session of the album which was organized for media during this year's Spinefeast!

There's also an interview done during the studio sessions at noise.fi

The most luminous death/doom-metal act of Finland, Swallow the Sun, got started in the turn of the millennium when the guitarist Juha Raivio collected a group of friends around him.

The first recording was well prepared during few years and now a rare collectors item, "Out of This Gloomy Light" was recorded in January 2003. This demo brought the first record deal with Firebox Records. Debut album, "The Morning Never Came" was released in November 2003 and brought Swallow the Sun to the knowledge of metal world. Inferno-magazine chose the band as the newcomer of the year and Kerrang! gave full 5 K's to the album and quoted it as "One of the doom metals finest moments to date!".

Swallow the Sun took hold of the live scene by touring clubs and festivals in Finland and abroad. Even though they spent many hours on the road, the work for next album was already on its way and the recordings for "Ghosts of Loss" started in February 2005. First single of the album, "Forgive Her...", went to Finnish Official Album Charts, positioning on fourth place and stayed there for six weeks. And more success came in following August when the album climbed to position eight and stayed weeks on the charts. Both these rare occasions in Finnish metal scene made the ground even firmer under Swallow the Sun's rocketing success, in the rain of overwhelming reviews.

Once again, after touring Finland and other countries, the band closed itself in September 2006 to an island next to Helsinki to record their coming album "Hope". "Atmosphere on the island truly gave change to focus deeply on the work and of course a nice place to host our guests", says Juha Raivio. Swallow the Sun had the privilege to have Jonas Renkse (Katatonia) and Tomi Joutsen (Amorphis) to appear as guest vocal on the album. The album has already received high praises in closed listening sessions and on 7th of February 2007, "Hope" will be released worldwide via Spinefarm Records. First single and it's video, "Don't Fall Asleep", will be released on 10th of January 2007.

Check out the studio diary here!

Hope -CD

1. Hope
2. These Hours of Despair
3. The Justice of Suffering
4. Don't Fall Asleep (Horror pt.2)
5. Too Cold for Tears
6. The Empty Skies
7. No Light, No Hope
8. Doomed to Walk the Earth

Don't Fall Asleep -CDS

1. Don't Fall Asleep (Horror pt.2) (edit)
2. These Low Lands (originally performed as 'Alavilla Mailla' by Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus)
3. Don't Fall Asleep (Horror pt.2)