We know there have been a lot of rumors flying around about why Michael Nordeen is no longer in THE HUMAN ABSTRACT and the recording process of "Midheaven"...

here's the truth:

Michael Nordeen is one of the nicest dudes and one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for. We originally met Mike when his old band With Passion played a show with us in bakersfield on one of our first tours ever. He blew us away with his stage performance, we kept in contact with him, and when we needed a new bassist, he was at the top of our list. He dropped everything for the band, moved from nor cal to so cal and toured with us extensively for almost a year. Mike played bass live in the band from may of 07 to april of 08. He joined us on tours with it dies today, the chariot, misery signals, shai hulud, warped tour, and take action tour. Ask anyone who has ever met and hung out with Mike, he is a genuinely awesome person, its rare that you run into a brother as cool as Michael Nordeen.

We recorded in jan/feb and April of this year at Red Bull studios in santa monica ca. I could go on about what happened in the early stages of our studio time, but that wouldn't be right, if you really want to know the truth about what happened ask us in person.

When we first started hearing the Mixes that were nearing completion we immediately took the project to a close friend Leonard Simone. we worked with Leonard Simone and Jesse E. String for 3 weeks (which was all the time we had left before our deadline) on re recording as many parts as we could, re-arranging song structures, adding samples and textures to each track, and re mixing and mastering the entire record. Unlike "Nocturne" we did not edit drums, we did not add drum samples to make things sound more machinelike, guitar lines were played straight through, no note by note bullshit, we did not use any auto tune on vocals, everything that you hear on the new record is as we played it. dont get me wrong, record making technology is quite incredible, and we enjoy listening to pristine recordings done with modern day technology, this just wasnt what we were going for with this record. We want to help bring musicianship back into the recording world... nowadays everything that you hear thats so "huge" and machine like is 100% pro tools editing garbage. Listen to some prog rock albums from the 70's those musicians were absolutely incredible! they would have to record everything perfectly live, without punching in or editing parts EVER. It is nice to have technology for convenience, but its a shame that a lot of people rely on it instead of working hard to be good at their instruments. We are extremely proud of the "concept" album that we have created, we pulled from a lot of influences for this record and we have created an album that doesn't sound like anything i have ever heard. For everyone who wants us to create another Nocturne... keep on listening to Nocturne... because we will never write and record the same record twice. It makes sense... bands find a sound that sells, and they copy that same sound with different songs OVER AND OVER AND OVER to guarantee a similar paycheck... where is the creativity or ingenuity in this?

Once we took the Red Bull mixes to Leonard Simone we realized that Michael Nordeens bass takes were nowhere near acceptable. We were forced to make one of the hardest decisions we've ever had to make and we had to let Mike go from THA. For everyone who doesnt know, Michael Nordeen did not record on Nocturne. We argued for days about having to do it, and wanted nothing more than to have Mike stay in the band but at the end of the day, we needed someone who was up to par with his instrument. Sean Hurley, a studio amazing musician, and friend of Leonard Simone recorded all of the bass for "Midheaven" (minus two songs that Dean Herrera recorded bass on). Its truely incredible to watch a studio musician work... Sean Hurley was able to listen to a song once, write down chord charts, and nail the entire song with so much feeling and groove in 1-2 takes.

Allen Eason has been a longtime friend of our singer Nathan Ells. He is currently filling in on bass for live shows. you can check his myspace page out HERE. He is a truly great bassist... watch his videos, you will be convinced.

We are very excited about the release of our new record and our new and improved live show in the months to come. Hope to see you all on warped tour and our big upcoming fall tour. We appreciate all the continued support you have all shown us more than you will ever know.

-THA