Year : 2022 (Japan Edition)
Style : Heavy Metal
Country : Finland
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 143 mb
Bio:
Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including heavy metal, progressive metal, and folk metal. They frequently use the Kalevala, the Epic Poem of Finland, as a source for their lyrics.In 1989, Jan Rechberger and Esa Holopainen played in a thrash metal band called Violent Solution, which Tomi Koivusaari had left the previous year to form the death metal band Abhorrence. Violent Solution slowly dissolved and Jan Rechberger and Esa Holopainen put together another death metal band.In early 1990, Tomi Koivusaari became the vocalist and Oppu Laine became their bassist.During that time, Koivusaari also performed rhythm guitar, leading to the band dumping all original compositions and starting over again.Koivusaari's other band, Abhorrence, split up and he found himself with more time to put into Amorphis. A demo tape, Disment of Soul, was recorded in 1991 by Timo Tolkki at TTT studios.After the band recorded their first studio demo tape, Relapse Records offered Abhorrence a recording contract. Since Abhorrence was no longer active, they sent their own demo in the return mail and got signed to a worldwide recording deal. Soon after getting signed they released their death metal debut, The Karelian Isthmus under the new name Amorphis and later released the Privilege of Evil EP. The EP featured Abhorrence's original vocalist, Jukka Kolehmainen, on vocals on the Abhorrence cover song "Vulgar Necrolatry".In 1994, Amorphis released their second studio album, Tales from the Thousand Lakes, a concept album based on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. This 1994 release, while still rooted in death metal, was their first step toward a new direction as melodic clean vocals were added,provided by Ville Tuomi. Tales from the Thousand Lakes won the band a fan base thanks to its innovative sound and fusion of death metal with traditional folk, psychedelia, and progressive elements. This album went on to influence the signature Amorphis sound.During the subsequent tours Kasper (keyboards) left the band, to be replaced by Kim Rantala. Jan was replaced by Pekka Kasari (ex-Stone), and a sixth member was recruited, singer Pasi Koskinen. The third album, Elegy was released in 1996. Lyrics were again adapted from Finnish mythology, in this case, the Kanteletar, a collection of ancient folk poetry. Pasi and Tomi shared the vocals on an equal basis, with Pasi's providing only clean parts.After a year and a half of touring following the release of Elegy, the band members took a time-out. Their next offering, 1999's Tuonela was a mellow guitar album, although toward the end of the studio sessions, Santeri Kallio of Kyyria was brought in to add some keyboard tracks to the songs. New instruments were introduced (Tomi playing sitar in the song "Greed", Sakari Kukko on saxophone and flute providing a foreign accent) and the death growls were reduced, as all vocals were performed by Pasi.The tenth-anniversary compilation Story was produced, and the band experienced another line-up change. Following the breakup of Kyyria, Santeri joined Amorphis as a full-time member. Bassist Oppu was replaced by another ex-Kyyria member, Niclas Etelävuori, to tour with Amorphis on their third U.S. tour.On August 21, 2012, Amorphis announced on their website that a new album was in the works.On January 17, 2013, the band announced the title and release date for their next record. Circle was released on April 19 in Europe and April 30th in North America. Tomi Joutsen on the new album, "Circle represents integrity. Back in the days, when there was something special to talk about, wise men used to sit in circle. Not everyone was invited to join them. But in this story, the protagonist was invited among the wise men's circle.” On September 16, 2013, Circle won Metal Hammer´s “The Album of The Year” award. Esa Holopainen on the award, "For us, Album of the Year award is a great recognition for the work done so far. Especially when we got it from our 11th studio album."On August 4, 2014, Amorphis announced on their website and through social media that they would be playing a number of special Tales from the Thousand Lakes 20th Anniversary shows where their 1994 album would be performed in its entirety. Tales from the Thousand Lakes 20th Anniversary shows included festivals such as Wacken Open Air, Maryland Deathfest, and 70000 Tons of Metal with many other tour dates and festivals included.The band began demoing new songs at the start of 2015, and in 4 March of that same year, it was announced that Amorphis will begin to record a new in album in April 2015, at Fascination Street Studio, Örebro, Sweden with Jens Bogren and with an album release date sometime in September 2015.The lyrics will be written once again by Pekka Kainulainen, who says "Like 'Kalevala', they are descriptions of natural phenomena, seasons and the human mind. Reoccuring situations where hope and uncertainty alternate. Attempting to gain advice from higher powers. The poems do not form a complete story per se, but they are drawn together by a certain theme. We live under a red cloud and once again, time weighs us."The release of the new album will be followed by a world tour, starting with shows in the band's home country of Finland, then other parts of Europe with Nightwish & Arch Enemy in November 2015.In 15 June 2015, it was announced that the title for the Twelfth Studio Full-length LP Album is Under The Red Cloud, with the artwork and tracklist revealed and with a release date of 4 September 2015.
Album:
AMORPHIS was always high on my must-listen list, but it somehow took the release of “Queen of Time” (2018) for me to fully appreciate their music and dive deep into their discography. It took them a few years to unleash a new record on the world, but at last, the time has come! Their new album, “Halo,” will be released on February 11th, 2022, via Atomic Fire Records. With “Circle,” “Under the Red Cloud,” and “Queen of Time,” AMORPHIS have been putting out excelling records for quite some time now, so we’re here to investigate whether “Halo” passes the test of time and can be added to that list.From the first second, AMORPHIS manage to convince listeners with the opener, “Northwards.” The song is representative of what is to be expected from “Halo” as a whole. For instance, I feel like the band has included more time signature changes and there is just something about the rhythmic section and certain structures that make this album very unpredictable at times. Midway through, there is a beautiful instrumental section with very groovy bass lines and a Jon Lord-esque keyboard solo, after which singer Tomi Joutsen sings at a calmer pace. Afterwards, you’d think the band would switch up back to the chorus, but they leave the track with a banger of a choir, before hitting back to the epic chorus. I love a good twist!More melodic, but no less heavy, is “On the Dark Waters,” a track that is a perfect mixture of “Under the Red Cloud” and “Queen of Time.” What’s so great about it is that if you listen to it a bunch of times, every time you can discover something new, as it’s a very layered track. Furthermore, we haven’t talked about the Oriental influences in the C-part or about the modulation at the end of the track, but they should certainly be mentioned.If you, like me, have been spinning “The Moon” for quite some time, you probably like the stunning combination of AMORPHIS‘ different styles in it. Honestly, what got me hooked was the more progressive note to the song. The chorus consists of the loveliest melodies, the guitar melodies surrounding the song give it a different blend of spices, and it has dynamics to die for. Speaking of progressive, the prog elements continue into the next song “Windmane” (of which guitarist Esa Holopainen admitted during our interview that the working title of this was “Progfart”). The first part of the song progresses very nicely, but things unwind during the beautiful interplay between the guitar and keyboards in the solo section.More leaning towards melodic death metal is “A New Land,” which adds nicely to the flow of this record. The chorus has some beautiful female vocals added, harmonizing beautifully with Tomi Joutsen‘s vocals. Structurally, this track is perhaps the most straightforward, in-your-face track, but it’s surely welcome after the many polyrhythms we were offered so far. The band then plummets into “When the Gods Came,“ with beautiful added keyboard melodies accompanying the song throughout. This is easily the most fun chorus of the record to sing along to, making it a shoe-in to be a super fun live track.From here on, things take a turn a bit. The album gets really heavy with “Seven Roads Come Together,” easily one of my personal highlights of this record. Oriental-influenced heavy riffs are paired with Tomi Joutsen‘s incredible growls during the verses, which gives the song an ominous character. The lighter and poppier chorus forms a nice contrast. That Jens Bogren has decided to use fewer orchestrations, but instead, use them where it’s worth it, is apparent in this track. Only during the last chorus, there are dramatic strings added to the chorus, which give it a more emotional touch.“War” is a pretty standard AMORPHIS track – the magic only happens midway through the song when there is a beautiful section with grand choirs and things start to shift around again. This is definitely a track that needed a few spins in order to fully appreciate it. The poppier “Halo” starts off with an electronic soundscape, creating a tense atmosphere, after which a melodic riff starts to steal the show. It’s a nice change in dynamics, as this song feels a little bit more laidback and mellow. The female vocals during the second verse add a really nice touch to the whole. Towards the end of the song, the female vocalist does some ethereal atmospheric vocals, after which the chorus starts all over again.If by this point, you were getting a little bit worried about the lack of the word “heavy,” you might find relief in the fact that “The Wolf” is definitely the heaviest track on this record. Midway through, the song gets a progressive touch with a great instrumental section and of course, in what seems to be a trend on this album, a random choir pops up as a plot twist again – bonus points because they’re singing in Latin!Those who have followed my reviews for a while, perhaps know that I am a fervent hater of any kind of ballad. Admittedly, I was not fully convinced at first by the album closer, “My Name Is Night.” However, even I have a soft spot for something that touches the soul (re: Petronella Nettermalm‘s vocals on this track are otherworldly and blend so beautifully with Tomi‘s vocals.) Overall, this is the perfect ending to the album because it totally gives you a relaxing, soothing feeling that you kind of want to experience after the richness and complexities of this very layered record.“Halo” is the third time the band is working with highly acclaimed producer Jens Bogren. We all know that he is one of those names in the industry that everybody likes to work with, but listening to an album like “Halo,” it’s also pretty clear why. I can’t think of a single point of criticism concerning the production of this record. The album is totally carried by the instrumental backbone behind the machine that is AMORPHIS, yet Tomi Joutsen is necessary for this machine to work, as his voice – whether it’s his growls or clean vocals – carries a lot of emotion that conveys the themes of these songs perfectly.To conclude, “Halo” is the kind of album that you can put on repeat for hours, days, months, centuries, eons… you’ll never get sick of it. There is something new to discover in this record every spin because across these songs, there are so many extraordinary details that spice things up a bit, but essentially really make a difference. Whether it’s extra spicy guitar licks, subtle keyboard melodies, or the often groovy bass lines and polyrhythmic drums, this album is truly dynamic and altogether an interesting rollercoaster to the attentive listener.
Line Up:
Tomi Joutsen - Vocals (2004-present) - See also: Corpse Molester Cult, Hallatar, Sinisthra, ex-Funeral Jacket, ex-Käsi, ex-Tuska20, ex-Nevergreen, Feelings, ex-The Candles Burning Blue
Olli-Pekka Laine - Bass (1990-2000, 2017-present) - See also: Barren Earth, Mannhai, ex-Chaosbreed, ex-Nuxvomica, Kiljuvelka-70, ex-Rytmihäiriö
Esa Holopainen - Guitars (lead) (1990-present) - See also: ex-Chaosbreed, ex-Tuska20, ex-Violent Solution
Tomi Koivusaari - Guitars (rhythm) (1990-present), Vocals (1990-1997, 2010) - See also: Abhorrence, Verenpisara, ex-Ajattara, ex-Violent Solution, ex-Jam-Bore, ex-Karuselli, ex-Rebirth, ex-Velcra
Santeri Kallio - Keyboards (1999-present) - See also: Jonne, ex-Kyyria, ex-Tuska20, Verenpisara
Jan Rechberger - Drums (1990-1995, 2002-present), Keyboards (1992-1993) - See also: Jonne, ex-Violent Solution, Grease Helmet, ex-Ajattara
Tracklist:
01. Northwards
02. On The Dark Waters
03. The Moon
04. Windmane
05. A New Land
06. When The Gods Came
07. Seven Roads Come Together
08. War
09. Halo
10. The Wolf
11. My Name Is Night
12. The River Song (Japan Bonus Track)
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
