There were no jobs out there for us, so it was just us and the rehearsal room. “When we started the band, we were 17 or 18 and nobody knew who we were. “It was really fun and rewarding because it was like being back in the old days,” he says. He was almost always happy with the original arrangements, so as soon as he finished one song he moved on to the next. He worked methodically, and every time he picked up a guitar and plugged into a practice amp, molten metal, rock and rockabilly riffs poured out, along with a long string of undeniable melodies. So that’s what we did.”Īlthough he’s not interested in creating the band’s next record under such a narrow timeline, Poulsen enjoyed creating Servant of the Mind. “We thought we’d be back on the road after four or five months, so I thought I had only four months to write and record it. “No-one had any idea how long the pandemic would go on for,” Poulsen says. They figured they were under the gun to deliver a new album and get back on tour. So why did Volbeat work on such a tight schedule when they were off tour for so long and didn’t release Servant of the Mind until last December? Simple. I thought I had only four months to write and record it. Unlike the band’s last few albums, which Volbeat wrote between tours and took as long as 18 months to complete, Poulsen bashed out the songs for the new record in 10 weeks and finished the lyrics in an additional two.Īdd that to the two-and-a-half weeks Volbeat spent in the studio with producer Jacob Hansen and the result is a spontaneous, back-to-their-roots album that Volbeat (Poulsen, lead guitarist Rob Caggiano, drummer Jon Larsen and bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen) didn’t have time to belabor or overthink. There’s another reason Servant of the Mind is Volbeat’s most aggressive, consistent and fluid release to date.

Best volbeat album