Cerebral Mist was a 2000s melodic death metal band from Joensuu, Finland - or barely had time to be.
Its founder Antti Parviainen died abruptly in February of 2018, leaving behind him six demos, which were to serve as the backbone of an upcoming album. Parviainen was 32 years old.
The band’s vocalist and other composer Antti Argillander, bassist Erno Venalainen and current music producer Erno Sallinen - all of whom had played together as teenagers - met at the funeral and swore that one day they would finish what Parviainen had started.
In the summer of 2021 Sallinen finally took the bull by the horns and started the production of the EP later to be named Age of Mist. Apart from the vocal recordings plagued with calendar problems, remote work and even a corona case, the production was finished in a couple of months.
“The project was interesting due to the fact that everything needed to be arranged around Parviainen’s demo guitars”, Sallinen recollects. “No guitar tracks were re-recorded, unless absolutely necessary.” The final product is not without changes, but - thanks to studio magic - 95% of the guitar tracks are still played by Parviainen.
Finally the project ballooned in to a full-blown work party, when others wanted to support a good cause as well.
Argillander’s vocals were recorded by Elmo Kroger (also currently in Kings of Guilt) and the backing vocals were sung by Nevicate’s Anni Kokkonen. The record was mixed and mastered by Joona Muistola of HAW Studios, and the cover art was drawn by Sinni Jensen.
The EP is released by Inverse Records, and it’s available on all major streaming platforms on the 31st of March 2022. For those interested to dive deeper, the original untouched demos of the songs are available at Cerebral Mist’s Bandcamp site.
“Parviainen was a wonderful person and a great friend. Making music with him was a privilege. I believe he would have been proud of this release”, Argillander states.