Amorphis are one of those bands that can do little wrong in my book. I am even unable to follow the rant I ended the review of last album ‘Silent Waters’ with, as the band have finally announced their debut UK headline show in October (but then again I do live in London and others within the whole of the British Isles may well be cursing still). Amorphis have had what can only be described as a bit of a renaissance since singer Tomi Joutsen joined and are now releasing the third album (of which I have seen loosely described as a trilogy) with him in their ranks. Playing them all back to back the other day kept me smiling and banging my head in appreciation for a couple of hours and these are all fantastic in my book. I still rate ‘Eclipse’ as a favourite though, despite being the singers introduction to the band he never lacks confidence and each and every one of the songs are pure killer with memorable hooks and storming choruses. ‘Silent Waters,’ although along the same lines is slightly more dour and downbeat at times on reflection but listening to it again was an entirely pleasurable experience and it has been dragged out of the boxes of promos to get a few more airings before it is returned.
So that takes us onto ‘Skyforger’ and another trip into the realms of the Finnish kalevala this time an ode centred around a blacksmith who believed he was the creator of the skies (hence the title which has nothing to do with the actual Lithuanian band of that name themselves). Although getting off to a slow paced start with ‘Sampo’ you are instantly bewitched by the rich instrumental flow and the strong beseeching vocals. The chorus is catchy although not that strong; nope this is just a build up for things to come. After power chords and piano passages and even some low growls from the singer we get to the more tempestuously charged ‘Silver Bride’ a song picked as both single and video by the band. Weeping guitars weave around and the tale builds up with almost spoken words before the chorus hits. I have to admit it reminds just a bit of old Welsh rockers The Alarm or even Big Country, it has the massive stadium rock vibe about it that’s for sure and becomes ever more powerful and embedded in your head as the song develops. By the end try not singing along and playing air guitar.
“Is this album number one in Finland yet?” Is the only question on my mind as we go into ‘From The Heaven Of My Heart’ a love song with such yearning emotion running through it and another jaunty uplifting guitar rhythm that is totally infectious, so you are pretty much floored on the first listen. ‘Majestic Beast’ is well named as it is the number that has the growling beastly vocals pushed to the forefront at the beginning before adopting a more free-flowing air about it. Some of the guitar chops here are classic sounding Amorphis too harking straight back to the old glory days of the band.
Again this is one of those albums that at the half way mark I am finding almost impossible to not at least mention every song, they are all confident, strong songs that are pretty much as good as it gets within the genre. Still having said this, with 10 or so listens under its belt, only time will tell whether it will ahem eclipse ‘Eclipse.’ It certainly has a go and winning me over especially with the powerhouse anthem of the title track, which is barnstorming in every sense. The only thing I could possibly say about this in a negative sense is that I do miss the splash of psychedelia that used to rear it’s head in the bands songs around ‘Elegy’ (they still hold the crown to best cover of a Hawkwind song I have ever heard, and I have heard plenty with ‘Levitation’). That aside I doubt any fans of the band are going to be complaining at all here and if you have never heard them before it’s a good point to start, before finding yourself scrabbling to pick up the back catalogue. On looking into things I discover the single went straight into the charts in Finland at number 1 and the album hasn’t solely as it’s not out yet. If it doesn’t follow I will happily eat something other than the hat I am not wearing.
http://www.myspace.com/amorphis
http://www.nuclearblast.de/
