After seven years in the band, ARKADIA's founding member Petri Mikael Ala-Louvesniemi decides to step down as the drummer of the band for personal reasons. The band would like to thank him for the enormous contribution and excellent morale that he showed on every training, every gathering and in the studio room since 2003 and wish him the best of luck in future activities to come. He will play one more gig with us - the gathering which will take place at Tampere late in September (see Gatherings page for details). Show up then to witness an unforgettable evening.

For the next weeks, we'll be looking for - and probably jamming a bit with - drummers who might have the potential to continue from where Petri left off. Hopefully we'll find a replacement soon in order to continue our journey at full steam with no extensive interruptions. The place is open and up for grabs - are YOU up for it?

Meanwhile, the cover design for Vindication for the Lost is finally completed and we'll be getting fresh printed CD's out this week to distribute around. Contact us for your copy. If still pondering whether it's worth the damage of 4 euros, by all means download the mp3:s from our Releases page in full quality.

Four months full of studio recordings, mixing and mastering are now history! The following three songs comprising our new demo record, "Vindication for the Lost", have now been released at our MySpace site:

1. "Killing Growing Addiction"
2. "Vindication for the Lost" &
3. "Everything Said and Done"

We're still working on the cover graphics - it will probably take a month to have the printed CD's out for sale and distribution. Until then, enjoy Arkadia vol. 6 at MySpace!

P.S. MP3's of new demo coming soon at this site - stay tuned.

We're 40 % done with the recordings of our forthcoming demo, as last weekend Kimmo Akseli Keipinen played rhythm guitars on the four songs that will form our sixth release. Drums were already recorded in March in Fantom Studio, Tampere and bass guitars in April at our own "mobile studio". Next weekend, lead guitars and keyboards will follow and by the end of this month we'll start recording vocals.

So far we've faced no major challenges - the songs to be released were composed on 2006 and 2007, so we've had plenty of time to finetune the correct approach and attitude. Since his joining the band in late 2009, Kimmo Akseli has had a smooth start in ARKADIA, delivering outstanding performance in the training room, at his first live gathering in Tampere and, now, in the studio.

Amidst this spring of recordings, we've shot the music video of a song to be featured in the upcoming release, Everything Said and Done. Check out these photos from video shootings to see a glimpse of what is to come...

Be sure to tune in to Metal Express Radio today at 16:00 or 22:00 Finnish time (GMT +2) (that is 15:00 / 21:00 CET) for their special feature on new acts, including ARKADIA! More info here.