QUEENSRŸCHE's MICHAEL WILTON Talks 'Condition Hüman' Production, Cover Artwork

In a brand new interview with Metal-Rules.com, QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton spoke about the band’s new album, “Condition Hüman”, which will be released on October 2 via Century Media. The CD was recorded in part at at Uberbeatz Studio in Washington with producer Chris “Zeuss” Harris, who has previously worked with ROB ZOMBIE, HATEBREED, SOULFLY and SHADOWS FALL.

Said Wilton: “This body of music that we had created was more suited to someone that had more of a modern grasp in the industry, because it was such a large body of music. We recorded 15 songs, [and] Zeuss was the perfect guy for it. We knew he had done work with SANCTUARY and he had just finished recording an album with Rob Zombie. In speaking to him before the recording, he was very interested in expanding his horizon with the different types of bands. He said QUEENSRŸCHE was a great way for him to put his fingerprint on. We talked about him and he knew he’s a fan of the first six albums. His idea, after listening to the songs, [was]: ‘I really want to bring back that magic, the way you recorded the instruments, but do it in a 2015 modern situation.'”

He continued: “We really wanted to really portray our deep-rooted influence in our instruments — for example, my guitar playing. if somebody listened to that 25 years ago, and then somebody listened to this album in 2015. I would hope that they’d go, ‘That guitar work sounds like QUEENSRŸCHE.’

“What [Zeuss] did was really bring me arrangements into our deep-rooted past. But in a modern way of 2015, so it sounds current.”

Regarding the “Condition Hüman” production, Wilton said: “As far as [we wanted] sonically, we discussed with Zeuss, and we said, we don’t want the overlay compressed metal sound. We want something that’s a little more warm and something that’s not so brick walled in the industry standard these days.

“I think when you do listen to the CD, you are going to go, the sound and the way it was recorded it’s not ear fatiguing. It’s like something you can listen over and over, and that’s just the way Chris Harris mixes. It’s not overlay bright, it’s not overlay compressed. It’s right in the pocket and it sounds really good.”

Wilton also talked about the “Condition Hüman” cover, which features a painting by Joe Helm, in which a little girl is depicted standing on a stool, wiping mist from a window, revealing the Tri-Ryche logo, with the Seattle cityscape in front of her, while all sorts of hidden objects representing the songs on the album appear in the foreground.

“It’s kind of a symbolic art piece that we depict a pristine innocence, which is symbolized by the little girl all in white,” Wilton said. “She’s wiping away on the window and the Tri-Ryche appears, which is our symbol. She is surrounded by a vast darkness, a world of uncertainty. The symbolic gesture is, where does pristine innocence fit in such a dark jaded world these days?”

He added: “We had to give [Joe] some guidelines. We had to kind of direct to him visually what we were looking for. He was on the same wavelength and he was quite an undertaking. He had to do it fairly quickly, like in a two-week span. He was very expedient and we’re really happy with the outcome of that.”

Read the entire interview at Metal-Rules.com.