When INGURGITATING OBLIVION (ex-OF TREES AND ORCHIDS; for more detailed information see infos below) guitarist Florian asked me if I was interested in visiting the band at their recording session I didn't hesitate too much: of course I would go! But I didn't have to: we met and he even took me to the recording studio... well, not really a recording studio, they were working on the new material in the SENESCENCE rehearsal room.
A digital 8-tracker was used to do the recording this time as the band wanted to try the recording on a "low budget" basis in order to maintain and increase the rawness of the material ­ according to Florian of INGURGITATING OBLIVION it's also a good experience for a band to have total control of the development of the recording. Another reason is that Metal Heads are always short of money, of course. A relapse? Not necessarily.
We arrived at about 9p.m. and both Karsten (guitar) and Sascha (bass) of INGURGITATING were already there as well as Tim (guitar, vocals) from SENESCENCE as the producer. Why him? Well, the new INGURGITATING (...) CD will be a concept split album together with SENESCENCE!
Unfortunately the light wasn't working that night so there was some gloomy kind of atmosphere. Drums and guitar tracks had already been recorded, so it was the "night of the bass".
The intro had just been completed so Tim played the tape for me. Whew! Hell! I bet one night they sneaked into the MORBID ANGEL studio and came back with this! No, honestly, as Voices... editor Frank once mentioned: one can hear their influences but they're far from being copycats!
Then Holger from SENESCENCE ­ the second "responsible producer" joined us with some beer (thanks for that, man!) and so I thought I was prepared for a long night.
The bass tracks of the next two songs had to be played by Florian himself, as there had been quite a few changes since the last INGURGITATING rehearses and Sascha didn't know the new versions yet Florian and Dirk had developed in the meantime.
There was a brand new song for example ('Slumbering In Relativity') which they had planned as a rather untypical two minutes song, a song that had been composed very spontaneously in the INGURGITATING rehearsing room one week before the recording sessions began. But when Florian and Dirk recorded the first guitar line and the drums a few days earlier, Dirk (drums) stopped where the song originally was supposed to end only for the blink of an eye and then went on blasting even faster and constantly for some more minutes! This is an idea Dirk and Florian brought up when both of them were rehearsing this very song one week before.
Obviously the way OF TREES... , sorry, INGURGITATING OBLIVION worked that song out turned out to be very tricky. There was even sweat on Florian's face (okay, I admit it was quite hot in that room as well). So frustration might have become relatively strong if Godzilla and Tim had not been there!
Tim (SENESCENCE) is one of the funniest guys I've ever met with this typical North German sort of dry humour. Very refreshing! Godzilla was the mascot of the recording session. With that Tim tried to chase away Mothra's children (all the mosquito swarms that were upon us), unfortunately without any success. For example, he called INGURGITATING OBLIVION "OF CHEESE AND ONIONS" when they still operated under their former name. Is that the true reason why they finally changed it?
When those tracks were finally done, Sascha took over the bass for the other material but at this point the recording session kind of started getting on my nerves. That was because the only one who heard the complete sound via headphones was the bass player. The only sound all the others (including me) was just the bass parts and if you're not a bass player or a bass fetishist this might make you nervous after three hours indeed.
Finally, at about 2 o'clock in the morning the bass tracks were more or less recorded and almost ready for post-production. I was ready for the asylum as I still hear some of the bass tracks in the back of my head now in December (sorry, I was lazy).
The friendly and funny atmosphere (and the beer) was obviously a great help for the bass tracks being finished that night.
What remains is to say thanks to Florian and Co. for this experience and to point out that very soon there will be a highly interesting CD out, so check their websites: www.oftreesandorchids.de www.senescence.de 'till then: get your hands on a copy of their other releases as well!

Finally, here is some information from INGURGITATING OBLIVION about the upcoming Split CD:

Florian, how did you come up with the idea to make a split CD with SENESCENCE and please explain the concept behind it. It's about a picture, isn't it?
"Of course I can, Ramon... by the way, thank you very much for your great support once again. I really appreciate that and for us it was a pleasure to host you in our luxurious recording room. Before I relate to the idea behind this split-CD project I briefly want to explain the change of our band's name: it's definite now that OF TREES AND ORCHIDS have altered their name into INGURGITATING OBLIVION!!! This matter of fact has the following reason: The former band name just didn't represent our intention, idea and general motivation behind the band anymore. We have been discussing the whole matter for a long time within the band now and eventually we came to the conclusion that we would make this step. We are aware of the fact that this will cause some confusion, but we are desperately trying to spread this information as thoroughly as possible and would be very grateful if people took the time to forward this news ­ thanks in advance!!! We are a lot more content with the new name now; it rather expresses our feelings we digest in our music ­ that's it!
You asked me concerning the idea behind the split CD we will release in the course of December / January with our friends of SENESCENCE. Tim and I just had the idea to create something together with both our bands when we were working at the design of the second OF TREES AND ORCHIDS CD "Thought-Cathedral". We agreed that the whole project was meant to have a uniting motive, something in common, which sort of connected the binary structure of the CD. We had several ideas: we thought of a poem, paintings by various artists, possible concepts we could develop. Finally Tim and his band mates came up with the idea of choosing a picture by Joel-Peter Witkin as the "thing in common" for the project. He presented the photograph "harvest" to us and we all were thrilled instantly. Then the music and lyrics were created. I think the CD will be a very interesting work. The combination of the music of both bands ­ SENESCENCE and INGURGITATING OBLIVION ­ and the design of the output create something spine shuddering. I am looking forward to holding this release in my hands. Don't get me wrong, haha; I just think that it's incredibly exciting to create music and all the things that are connected! Over and above I think it's a nice occasion now to sincerely thank our friends of SENESCENCE for all their passion and dedication they have put into this output. I especially want to thank Tim for all his help and support!!!!!!!!!!! So ­ if you are interested in this output contact us via the addresses below. The INGURGITATING OBLIVION material of the Split CD will be featured on a Mini CD called "Cadence And Perspective In Desolation" as well ­ this output will serve label applications. Another important news is that INGURGITATING OBLIVION are currently supported by Necrotican Records. But we are still in search of interesting label offers because no contracts have been signed yet ­ so contact us if you're interested!!! Here's the message I have already mentioned above and that is supposed to be forwarded:

Contact: Florian Engelke, Im Timpen 18, 26903 Surwold, Germany, e-mail: thought-cathedral@gmx.de, gallery.of.darkness@gmx.de, websites:
www.oftreesandorchids.de, www.ingurgitating-oblivion.de, www.gallery-of-darkness.de