Darkest Hour's IndieGoGo for its new album ended in March, giving the band over $70,000 to work with (132% of its goal). Darkest Hour has now announced that it has chosen Kurt Ballou, who produced the most recent Trap Them and Nails records, to record and produce the new album over the course of the next month.
The real news here is that for the first time since 2008, guitarist and shred expert Kris Norris will be collaborating with the band! Norris was in the band from 2002 to 2008, and performed on and wrote for Undoing Ruin, Deliver Us, and Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation. Darkest Hour says Norris s there to collaborate on a few tracks and "possibly a guest solo or two."
Here's what Norris had to say.
“When the guys contacted me about the idea of a collaboration, I was excited because it has been a really long time since I’ve worked with them all. I’ve stayed in touch with them over the past years and it’s really awesome to see that they keep trying new things on every album and growing musically. I’ve always felt there was a really good writing chemistry and it’s awesome to see that it’s still there.”
Guitarist Mike Schleibaum added that while adding Norris into the mix isn't an effort to go directly back to the band's old sound, it does serve "to capture the spirit and energy of those early records this time." Whatever the reasoning is, it's still really exciting to see Norris back in the mix!
