VOLBEAT's MICHAEL POULSEN On Making Of 'God Of Angels Trust' Album: We Tried 'Not To Overthink Anything'

In a new interview with the JJO Discover New Music podcast, VOLBEAT guitarist/vocalist Michael Poulsen was asked if he and his bandmates tried to do anything differently on their ninth album, "God Of Angels Trust", which arrived on June 6 via VOLBEAT's longtime label Vertigo/Universal. Michael said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[We] basically [tried] not to overthink anything, because the way that I also wrote the ASINHELL [Poulsen's death metal side project] album was also quite fast. The thing is, when you've done so many records, like VOLBEAT [has], you start thinking about, 'Okay, how should the next record sound like?' And our great friend Rob Caggiano, who was [the guitar player] in VOLBEAT before, he loved to be in the studio forever, where I'm a little bit the opposite. I like to shoot straight from the hip so the spirit stays in the riff and in the performance. There's just two different ways of working, and power to him for wanting to work like that. So, for me, it was like trying to jump on an old bike again, going into the studio where I could pretty much, with the other guys, do it like we did back in the days, because we always allowed Rob to use the time that he wanted to use. There has to be a certain compromise. Just as much as he wanted to be in the studio longer, and we didn't, it's just as much as we wanted to do it very fast and he was not into the fast takes. There's a certain compromise then. But he's a very talented guy, and we love our brother Rob."

Poulsen continued: "I'm just trying to explain the kind of mindset we went into with this record. And that was pretty much how we started recording some of the first albums. And there was something really refreshing about that. And sometimes you manage to find that youth, even though we're all in our fifties. But the most important thing is that you don't force it because you will fail. It has to come naturally. But the thing is that sound, that style is so much in our DNA. It was just kind of revisiting some of the things we did in the past and then mix it up with stuff we like to do now. Because it's not like we want us to be nostalgic or anything. We like to go out with a new album that sounds like a new album, but we also want it to be very recognizable for listeners. And you know what? I think we could try to do something different and it will still end up sounding 100% [like us]. Just as you think you've done something different, there'll be people saying, 'Oh, that's typical VOLBEAT.' Yeah. But that's a gift. I look at that as a gift, because a lot of bands, performers are struggling to find their signature sound or just their style. So by the time they release so many different albums and you cannot really tell what band it is. So for us, we feel very blessed that from the very beginning we had that sound, we had that style, and we can pretty much just add a few ingredients for every time we make a new album. It's like when you buy a MOTÖRHEAD album, you know what you're gonna get. If you buy an IRON MAIDEN album or an AC/DC album, those kind of bands, you know what you're gonna get. But they always manage to put something new on the top so it sounds like a new album. And I think we managed to do that with the VOLBEAT records."

VOLBEAT kicked off its "Greatest Of All Tours Worldwide" on June 7 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

"Greatest Of All Tours Worldwide" launched 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.

VOLBEAT has scored ten No. 1 songs on the Billboard Mainstream Rock airplay chart, the most ever for a band based outside North America.

Poulsen started working on songs for the follow-up to 2021's "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 drummer Jon Larsen 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 Flemming C. 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.