VOLBEAT's JON LARSEN On Making Of Upcoming 'God Of Angels Trust' Album: 'It Was A Bit More Spontaneous'

In a new interview with Brazil's A Rádio Rock, VOLBEAT drummer Jon Larsen spoke about the band's upcoming ninth album, "God Of Angels Trust", which will arrive on June 6 via VOLBEAT's longtime label Vertigo/Universal. Regarding the writing and recording process for the LP, Larsen said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " We were told that we were not supposed to go on the road last year, in '24, at all. And in the beginning we were a bit, like, 'Well, what's the meaning behind that? Because we're always touring, we're always playing somewhere.' And our management said, 'No, you're not [touring] this year.' 'Okay. So are we supposed to take a break or whatever?' And they said, 'Well, you can do whatever you want. You are just not gonna tour.' So I was, like, 'All right. Let's do an album instead.' And [VOLBEAT guitarist/vocalist] Michael [Poulsen] had throat surgery a couple of times, so he wasn't really able to sing anyway for live performances because he had to take care of his voice, but, of course, he could write music. So he basically said, 'Let's see what we can come up with.' And within — I think it was within two months or something, we actually had the 10 songs that are now on the album… He was actually going on tour with his other band ASINHELL in the summer of '24, so he said, 'Well, let's see if we can get the songs ready. Then I'm gonna go on tour and you guys can go on vacation or whatever you wanna do. And when I come back, let's go through the songs, see if they work, and then just rehearse them so we can go in the studio in the fall of '24.' And he did, and we did, and so we did. And, yeah, those 10 songs came by really, really quick, actually. And we went into the studio — when was that oc? November, I think, of last year. I think it was November; I can't really remember now. And it took us, like, two and a half weeks. And then we were done. And it was, like, 'Okay, we're done. Then what?' And then we went to Brazil and did the two shows with IRON MAIDEN. And that was the end of '24, actually. And now the album is almost ready to come out. And right now we are still rehearsing, because we've got a tour that starts in two weeks, actually."

Asked what is different about "God Of Angels Trust" compared to VOLBEAT's previous efforts, Jon said: "Well, this one and actually the previous album, [2021's] 'Servant Of The Mind', kind of went the same way, but, yeah this feels more, yeah, a bit more like the old days, like we used to do, when the band was formed and we did those songs that ended up on basically, definitely on the first two albums. It was kind of a little bit going back to how we used to do it. Don't think too much about it — just plug in and play and basically see what happens. And I guess he was extremely inspired, not only probably by doing the ASINHELL thing, but just in general, because he had a constant flow of songs coming in. And like I said, yeah, it was a bit more spontaneous. And that was one of the ideas for this album, to keep it not only a bit like we used to do, but also a bit more spontaneous and get this sort of, you can say kind of a live feel to it. Not that it was recorded 'live live' as such, but one of the things we said to our producer was actually, 'Let's not overthink it. Let's just go in and play and basically see how it sounds. And if, let's say, one of the hits on the snare drum isn't exactly as loud as the other ones, if it sounds good, keep it. And that's a part of the spontaneous thing too. And the same thing for guitar and bass and all that stuff. It had a bit more of a live feeling to it."

On the topic of how the absence of former VOLBEAT guitarist Rob Caggiano and addition of touring guitarist Flemming C. Lund affected the making of "God Of Angels Trust", Jon said: "To be honest, it wasn't really that much of a difference, because even when Rob was in the band, he was based in the U.S. and we were, of course, in Denmark, so usually he wouldn't be around until we had a certain amount of songs. Otherwise it never would really make any sense for him to come over. I mean, he did come over and, of course, once he was there, he would add his two cents to the songs, come up with suggestions and ideas and stuff like that. But in general, it has always been the three of us who basically had this structure of the songs, and then Rob would, like I said, come in and do whatever he would do. Flemming, for his part, the only thing that he actually did on this album were the solos, the guitar solos. Rob used to play, especially on some of the albums, he would play some rhythm guitars in the end and he would do a lot of different things. But this was more like kind of a throwback to how we used to do it back in the days. And Michael would do all the guitars back in the days, except if we had a real solo, we would have somebody else doing it. But he would do all the rhythm guitars, all the themes and harmonies and all that stuff. And he did that again on this one. So Flemming's part was basically to work out, 'This part, there's gonna be a solo. Go nuts. See what you can come up with.' And he came up with, I guess, some different ideas for solos and all that stuff. He and Michael would go back and forth and Michael would say, 'Yeah, this is kind of cool now. Maybe try something a little bit like this.' So that's basically the only difference."

In a press release announcing "God Of Angels Trust", Poulsen stated about the making of the effort: "In the past, I've taken a long time to write and obsessed over so many elements of the songs before finishing them. This time, I wanted to make a VOLBEAT record without thinking too much about it. Instead of following any kind of structure I said, 'Okay, there are no rules. I can do anything I want. I can start with a chorus or do songs that are just a bunch of verses stacked on top of each other. Anything goes.' That was freeing for me and made it exciting to write this album."

Poulsen started working on songs for the follow-up to "Servant Of The Mind" in the summer of 2024. VOLBEAT was taking a year-long break from touring to give Michael a chance to recover from throat surgery and to tour with his death metal band ASINHELL. Driven equally by his excitement to record a new VOLBEAT album and by his determination not to follow convention, Poulsen worked on songs for a mere three weeks with bandmates Jon and bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen. Amazingly, they worked on a new song at every rehearsal. Three weeks into the process, VOLBEAT had arranged half of "God Of Angels Trust". That's when Poulsen decided that having no rules meant he could follow his muse wherever it took him, and he veered off on a different path. He and the band still wrote and rehearsed two songs a week, but they started composing more familiar rock songs that drew from traditional elements.

The band entered the studio with their longtime producer Jacob Hansen in the fall of 2024. As with the songwriting, Poulsen wanted to work quickly and rely on instinct, so they just plugged in and started to play. To keep the music sounding urgent and immediate, VOLBEAT recorded live in the studio, playing as few takes as possible before moving from one song to the next.

When it came time to add lead guitar, there was no question that VOLBEAT would tap Lund, who currently tours with the band and worked with Michael in ASINHELL. A mere 13 days after they started working with Hansen, VOLBEAT were finished.

VOLBEAT will return to the road on the "Greatest Of All Tours Worldwide", beginning in June and running throughout 2025. The tour begins in June with a co-headline Canadian run with THREE DAYS GRACE and special guests WAGE WAR, which will be followed by headline treks in the U.S. with special guests HALESTORM and THE GHOST INSIDE, and Europe with special guests BUSH and WITCH FEVER, including a second show at Copenhagen's Royal Arena on September 20.