Guitarist ben varon of finnish metallers Amoral has issued the following update:

"the [new Amoral] album is ready! recorded, mixed, mixed some more, mastered, tweaked, mastered some more, done!

"we've had the album in our hands for a couple of weeks now, and let me just say it sounds Good. been playing it through everything from studio monitors to ipod headphones, car stereos to huge club Pa systems, and I could not be happier with the end result. this thing sounds huge! janne saksa and svante forsbäck have once again done a stellar job with the mixing and mastering. can't wait to get it out for all of you to have a listen and let us know what you think of it.

"right now we're working on... well, pretty much all the things that need to be worked on after the music is in the can. the album artwork is almost done, and from what I've seen, it's going to be beautiful! our longtime friend aki siltala is hard at work getting it perfect as we speak. aki is the man responsible for the 'decrowning' and 'reptile ride' artwork, as well as the legendary (!?)Amoral skull logo, so it's good to have him involved yet again.

"other stuff to keep us busy while waiting for all the business hassle and record label stuff to be worked out for the release: location scouting and brainstorming with valtteri 'wally balls' hirvonen for the next photo shoot, arguing about which songs to include in future setlists (we now have six albums to choose songs from, making it harder and harder) and then actually practicing them (both the new songs — which are a bitch to play by the way — and the old songs we haven't touched in years).

"no release date has yet been set, but we're aiming for an end-of-the-year release.

"the promised first taste of new music is coming soon, so hang on tight and watch this space!"

Amoral's fifth album, "beneath", entered the official chart in finland at position no. 30. released on october 26, 2011, the Cd came equipped with a stunning 18-page poster booklet (made by spanish artist marta nael), expanding the cover artwork into all its glory.

Amoral is:

ari koivunen (Raskasta Joulua) - vocals
ben varon (Grease Helmet) - guitar
masi hukari - guitar
pekka johansson - bass
juhana karlsson (Shear) - drums

(thanks: fireangel of night elves)