Amorphis

Since the close of the twentieth century, Finland’s Amorphis have anchored Nordic metal. Formed as a death-metal outfit, the group moved beyond that template when Tales From The Thousand Lakes arrived in 1994 and folded folk, Viking, and progressive strains into the mix. Am Universum followed in 2001, its keyboard-and-saxophone textures weaving psychedelia through the arrangements. Skyforger, issued in 2009 and widely acclaimed worldwide, balanced riff-driven melodic death metal with hook-laden progressive ideas. Under The Red Cloud, released in 2015, carried that approach to its fullest expression and became a worldwide commercial success. Founding guitarist Esa Holopainen summarized the band’s guiding principle: “We’ll change our style only if we manage to create something ourselves.” Queen of Time, unveiled in 2018, achieved exactly that by merging prog, psych, and driving hard rock; its single “The Bee” rose on international streaming rankings. Halo appeared in 2022, its material marked by shifting time signatures, intricate melodies, choirs, and constantly evolving dynamics that highlighted the group’s singular fusion of folk and melodic death metal.

Esa Holopainen on lead guitar and Jan Rechberger on drums established Amorphis in 1990. Vocalist/guitarist Tomi Koivusaari and bassist Olli-Pekka Laine completed the initial roster. The 1991 demo Disment of Soul attracted industry attention, leading to a contract with Relapse and the self-titled EP that same year. Their first full-length, The Karelian Isthmus, emerged in 1992 under Tomas Skogsberg’s production; its raw, thrash-infused death metal earned European notice and festival main-stage slots across the European Union. Privilege of Evil, a reissue of the early demo, surfaced the next year. Tales from the Thousand Lakes arrived in 1994 and proved divisive: devotees of the debut resisted the new emphasis on folk melody, keyboards, and the blend of clean and growled vocals, yet the wider audience hailed the album as groundbreaking work from a rising force. It supplied the blueprint for the band’s enduring style. Keyboardist Kim Rantala joined as a permanent member just before the supporting tour, supplanting studio-only player Kasper Mårtenson. Black Winter Day, an EP, followed in 1995.

Elegy, the third studio album, appeared in 1996 with a six-piece lineup that included second vocalist Pasi Koskinen and new drummer Pekka Kasari, who replaced Rechberger. Rantala departed in 1998; Santeri Kallio took his place. After signing with Nuclear Blast, the band issued Tuonela in 1999. Its expanded palette of hooky hard rock and wah-wah-laden progressive metal alienated some early supporters, yet relentless touring—including prominent billing on the Nuclear Blast Festival—propelled the record into the German Top 40, marking Amorphis’s strongest commercial showing to that point. Niclas Etelävuori replaced Laine on bass the following year.

In 2001 the group ventured further afield. Working with producer Simon Efemey of Paradise Lost, they heightened the keyboard presence and incorporated saxophone and even a musical saw, reinforcing their reputation for experimentation. Rechberger returned in 2003 to record the sixth studio set, Far from the Sun. Koskinen exited in 2004 to concentrate on family life, yielding the frontman role to Tomi Joutsen. After extensive global touring, Amorphis launched a sequence of concept albums drawn from the Finnish epic The Kalevala: Eclipse in 2006 and Silent Waters in 2007. Joutsen’s commanding yet melodic vocals broadened the audience. Skyforger, produced by Mikko Karmila, concluded the trilogy in 2009. Posted in full on the band’s MySpace page a week before street date, the album introduced more mainstream pop elements into the songwriting, forging a melodic yet heavy approach that proved influential. In 2010 the band revisited its catalog, recasting early material in contemporary arrangements for the release Magic and Mayhem: Tales from the Early Years, and issued the four-disc live package Forging the Land of Thousand Lakes to mark its twentieth anniversary.

Honoring the past did not halt forward motion. The Beginning of Times integrated Joutsen’s clean singing with guttural growls and threaded aggressive death metal through the melodic prog framework. Two years later, Circle was recorded with Peter Tägtgren at the helm, tempering epic scope with early black-metal and folk touches inside an extreme yet melodic progressive-death-metal setting.

A European tour marking the twentieth anniversary of Tales from the Thousand Lakes took place in 2015. That summer also brought Under the Red Cloud, produced by Jens Bogren and featuring guest contributions from flutist Chrigel Glanzmann of Eluveitie, drummer Martin Lopez formerly of Opeth, the Österäng Symphonic Orchestra, and vocalist Aleah Stanbridge of Trees of Eternity. The album charted throughout Europe, topped metal streaming lists, and marked Etelävuori’s final recording with the band after seventeen years.

March 2018 saw the release of the band’s most successful single, “The Bee,” ahead of the twelfth studio album Queen of Time, which followed the next month. Again produced by Bogren, the record welcomed the return of founding bassist Olli-Pekka Laine and incorporated choirs, orchestral passages, and guest appearances by vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen, Loudness guitarist Akira Takasaki, and Shining saxophonist Jorgen Munkeby. Queen of Time also reached the streaming top five. After touring through the remainder of 2018 and most of 2019, the members entered quarantine in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They resurfaced in 2021 with Live at Helsinki Ice Hall, documenting a homecoming performance from two years earlier. Throughout that year they developed new material in the studio with Bogren; several singles emerged, among them “Brother and Sister” and the double A-side “Daughter of Hate” / “House of Sleep.” Halo arrived in February 2022, a wide-ranging, melody-rich synthesis of psychedelic hard rock and progressive folk metal.