amorphis

(*/10) Most of you know Amorphis excellent “Under the Red Cloud” album, which is so far their latest studio longplayer. I don’t spend many words on this release because I strongly assume that you heard the album already. For the ones of you reading this review without knowing ‘Under the Red Cloud” I can just advice the check it out. It’s worth it.

However, there is a tendency these days to release longplayers with a special goodie a few month after the original release date – often labeled as ‘tour editions’. Sometimes there’s a question of ‘why’ these re-releases take place but in Amorphis’ case things are pretty clear. Fans get an extra that is worth to listen to and worth the investment.

This edition comes with an extra disc that’s called “An Evening With Friends @ Juhlaviiko – Huvila”. It contains the recording of a concert the band did in August 2016. The show was part of the Helsinki-festival in the Huvila, which is a big tent in the centre of the Finnish capitol. The band felt very honored of having the chance to perform at the festival and they wanted to make this night to something special.

One of the things that made it to an extraordinary moment have been guest, being invited by the band to share the stage with the band. Anneke van Giersbergen was part of this memorable concert as well as Sakari Kukko and Pekko Käppi, both enriching Amorphis classics with their different musical background. Flute and saxophone are instruments that aren’t associated with the Finnish metal icons. But after having heard the album with these new interpretations I must say that it fits very well. Amorphis songs naturally come with an intensity, which gets an extra layer on this album.

My personal favorite on this live album comes at the end. “Her Alone”, originally part of “Silent Waters” , is performed as a duet. Tomi Joutsen and Anneke Van Giersbergen lift this song to a level that speaks for itself. It’s an emotional moment that is moving, with the saxophone solo as being the icing o0n the cake. This version of “her Alone, a song that was rarely performed over the last years is a great closure of an extra disc that not only collectors should call their own. This stuff is epic.

This edition of Amorphis’ 12^th longplayer makes sense, showing the band from a slightly different angle, which fits very well. A beautiful live recording of a unique concert, done by one of Finland’s best metal bands.

(*/10)

Tracklist:

CD 1"Under the Red Cloud":

1. Under the Red Cloud
2. The Four Wise Ones
3. Bad Blood
4. The Skull
5. Death of a King
6. Sacrifice
7. Dark Path
8. Enemy at the Gates
9. Tree of Ages
10. White Night
11. Come the Spring (Bonus)
12. Winter's Sleep (Bonus)

CD2 "An Evening With Friends @ Juhlaviiko – Huvila':

1. Enigma
2. Far from the Sun
3. Silent Waters
4. My Kantele
5. Silver Bride
6. Sampo
7. Alone
8. The Wanderer
9. Her Alone (feat. Anneke Van Giersbergen)

Label: Nuclear Blast

Genre: Heavy Metal

Release Date EU: February 23^rd, 2017

New Year's Eve is an excellent moment in time to look back on the last 12 months and what's better than scrolling through photos made that year. I challenged myself in choosing my 12 favorites, which was not a too easy exercise. Anyhow, I've chosen these photos from various shows in 2016.

Have a good start in 2017 and keep on rocking. Thanks for all your support \m/

All photos by Markus Wiedenmann

Just in case you want to see them all - HERE they are.

It might become a tradition that Finnish Amorphis embark on a smaller winter tour around Christmas, celebrating the anniversary of milestone albums. It was two years ago when the guys played a few shows between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, focusing on the entire “Tales From the Thousand Lakes” album that was at that time released 20 years ago. This year the six-piece band puts another album into the spotlight. It was back in 2006 when Amorphis released with “Eclipse” another masterpiece, so a ten years anniversary party.

As in 2014 (it was Avantarium) also this year the support act for these shows was very well chosen. It’s Long Distance Calling from Germany that got the role as special guest for this tour, a package that at first glance seems to be quite different. However, after having seen the show I must say that both bands fit together very well which was also proven by the audience that filled-up the venue already during the set from the Muenster-based band.

Actually it was the second time this year that the four guys came to Tilburg. After having played a headliner show in the smaller out of the two rooms at the 013 the band came back this time with a six track opening show. It felt like the band’s growing their fan base since the venue was already quite packed when the quartet entered the stage at 20:00. Compared to last time, when they had singer Petter Carlsen joining them on tour, Long Distance Calling only played instrumental songs this time. However, I don’t think that anybody who was attending the show missed the ‘vocal songs’ since the band started a progressive rock firework that was highly appreciated be the crowd. Songs like the might “Trauma” are excellent and work perfect as being a part of a live show. The band unleashed a lot of energy that was immediately pick-up by the fans. Long Distance Calling was more than an opening act that night. They played an gorgeous show that night that asks for continuation. Hopefully they’re coming back to Holland in the not too far future.

After the standard 30 minutes break it was time for some Finnish metal by Amorphis. The scenery was kept simple and straight-forward. This wasn’t a too big of a surprise since space was limited, considering a six-piece band that had to fit on this quite small stage. However, the guys used every centimeter and obviously enjoyed themselves playing a 90 minutes show in Tilburg.

After an intro, “Kullervo”, the band from Helsinki started with “Two Moons”. This song is the opener of the “Eclipse” album followed by the other nine tracks in chronological order. Each of the ten tunes is a little highlight in itself with “Brother Moon” standing out even a bit more. Since “Eclipse” was released almost one decade after “Tales from the Thousand Lakes” hit the shelves, the entire set was less oldschool tha two years ago and reflected more the current Amorphis sound. The harsh death metal moments have been very limited since the band didn’t go too far back in history. “My Kantele” from 1996 was the ‘oldest’ tune performed that night – in an acoustic version.

And of course it has been two highlights at the end that closed this metallic evening. “Skyforger” and “Silver Bride” both belong to the best Amorphis songs and therefor act as a worthy grand finale.

Like said in the beginning, this kind of winter tours isn’t a tradition yet, but let’s see if things find a continuation next year. There would be a good reason since the debut “The Karelian Isthmus” faces its 25 years anniversary – so, why not….

Setlist Long Distance Calling:

1. Into the Black Wide Open
2. Black Paper Planes
3. Trauma
4. Momentum
5. Arecibo (Long Distance Calling)
6. Metulsky Curse Revise

Setlist Amorphis:

1. Two Moons
2. House of Sleep
3. Leaves Scar
4. Born from Fire
5. Under a Soil and Black Stone
6. Perkele (The God of Fire)
7. The Smoke
8. Same Flesh
9. Brother Moon
10. Empty Opening
11. Intermission (Piirpauke)
12. Enigma (acoustic version)
13. My Kantele (acoustic version)
14. From the Heaven of My Heart
15. Sampo
16. Skyforger (encore)
17. Silver Bride (encore)

Location: 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands

Date: December 1^st, 2016

(9/10) Finland is a beautiful country that has a lot of nature and hoenst, straight-forward people. And the country is covered by a certain melancholy that might be based on the long dark winter times.

Amorphis took this as inspiration for their music and you can hear all those elements coming back in their songs. Last week I had a two hour car ride from Kuopio to Jyväskylä. This is a trip though forest, woods and along beautiful lakes. Amorphis new album was the best soundtrack you could imagine for such a trip. It was an almost perfect harmony of view and sound. It's the mix of death metal, folk element (like in "Death Of A King") and a cineastic expression the band base their sound on that reflected so much what the ey could see.

It was in 1990 when the guys started and they had their break-through in 1994 with the "Tales From The Thousand Lakes". 

After having been on the anniversary tour for the "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" longplayer the band went into the studio again to record their newest masterpiece called "Under The Red Cloud".

Ten new songs made it on the album and I can say that Amorphis became harder again. I don't know if the mentioned tour was the trigger for this or not, however, the heavy parts increased and the growls of frontman Tomi Joutsen got more attention again. Even though the latest longplayers have been excellent ones too I appreciate this development.

Songs you should have listened to are e.g. the excellent title track "Under The Red Cloud". It's a composition that starts with a gentle piano before the song gains intesity. The interplay of great melodies and deep growls are the fascinating element of this track; and Amorphis sound in general.

The last track on the longplayer is another one you shouldn't miss. Chief growler and frontman Joutsen gets support by Aleah Stanbridge which gives the song an even wider appeal.

In between those two tracks you will find a lot of good stuff too. The density of excellent metal anthems on this disc is impressive. Amorphis can look back on a lot of good albums in their discography. But with "Under the red cloud" the guys from Finland excel themselves.

"Under The Red Cloud" became another milestone in Amorphis' history. The band  builds the album in total on their roots, their trademarks and their heritage. Well done and I'm looking forward to see them on tour this autumn.

(9/10)

Tracklist:

1. Under The Red Cloud
2. The Four Wise Ones
3. Bad Blood
4. The Skull
5. Death Of A King
6. Sacrifice
7. Dark Path
8. Enemy At The Gates
9. Tree Of Ages
10. White Night

Label: Nuclear Blast

Genre: Death Metal

Release Date EU: September 4th, 2015

It seemed that this Northern metal package also brought the winter to the Netherlands. After weeks of almost spring feeling the temperature went down and snow has covered the country.

The snow is almost gone in the meantime and the temperature increased again, but what stayed is the very positive impression of the show from Amorphis and Avantarium.

Amorphis decided to play this mini tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of their milestone albums - "Tales from the thousand lakes". The band decided to celebrate this moment together with their fans and with the special guest they invited for the tour. Swedish shooting star Avatarium is returning back to Tilburg for the opening slot.

Avatarium played their first show outside Sweden and their second show in total in Tilburg. This took place in spring as part of the Roadburn festival. In the meantime Avatarium played a few more shows and returned to Tilburg as special guest for Amorphis. And again the show was something special, since the 013 was the first venue they actually played twice.

At 20:00 the band entered the stage and started directly with the mighty "Moonhorse" into the show. What a riff. Unfortunaltely the venue was half empty, what changed during the set. Avatarium managed to get more and more people from the bar/smokers area towards the stage and at the end of the show the 013 was pretty crowded. A good sign which shows that the five-piece band is still increasing their fanbase with every show they play.

The setlist contained seven songs including the two new songs "All I want" and "Deep well". Not to forget the band highlights like the mentioned "Moonhorse" and "Avatarium".

Compared to the first show in Tilburg the Stockholm-based band performed more tight and it was also obvious that they have played a few shows together since I have seen them the last time. The stage acting reached another level compared to earlier this year. Marcus Jindell was, next to his excellent guitar play, animating the audience a couple of times and also Jennie-Ann Smith seemed to feel much more comfartable in her role. It's anyhow great to see hoe she 'lives' the songs while performing them. But I also want to mention Anders Iwers on bass and Lars Sköld on drums. Both provided the solid foundation for the songs together with the sphereful keyboards sounds of Carl Westholm.

Avatarium did a great job as being the opener and maybe next time they come back as headliner with a new album in the backpack.

Than it was time for the headliner. I have to say that it was my first Amorphis show. I followed them from the "Tales of the thousand lakes" days, but for whatever reason I never managed to see them live. This changed now.

After a shorter break the guys from Finland entered the stage. As said in the beginning it was the 20th anniversary of the milestone album which built the base for this tour. And knowing that Amorphis started as a death metal band everybody expected a heavy night in the 013.

The 90 minutes showed what kind of development the band made during time. Having a more dark metal approach today the beginning phase of the band was focussing in heavy riffs and deep growls. But already in those days the keyboard has been intergrated and the music included also a melodic framework.

However, the first part of the show was reserved for the "Tales..." album. Amorphis played the entire album - meaning all the ten tracks from the original release. This included also songs like "First doom", "Forgotten sunrise" and "To father's cabin" that haven't been performed live since 1995. So it was really a special evening.

While saying this I have to add that after those ten classic death metal tracks Amorphis went even further back in time. The intro "Karelia", "Sign from the North side", "The gathering"  and the Abhorrence cover "Vulgar necrolatry" are taken from bands debut that was released in 1992. Really oldschool stuff what the six Finns played that night. And while I was listening to all those songs I was thinking that it would be actually something good to re-record the "Tales..." album since those songs are really good and could get an extra charm by a new production. Or a live album would have been a good idea too.

The last part of the show was paying attention to some highlights from the "Elegy" album that was released in 1996.

Obviously the band enjoyed playing those songs very much. It seemed to me that playing these shows are balancing a bit what they might miss a bit in the modern 'growl-less' approach of Amorphis.

I guess what pushed the band even further have been the enthusiastic reactions in the audience. It is amazing how many people came to an oldschool Amorphis show. The 013 was not totally sold out, but it was quite crowded giving the evening the right ambience.

To sum up. Amorphis took a very good decision to play this anniversary mini tour, since it was an exciting view back into the early days of the band. The show was highly entertaining and I can't imagine that there was anybody in the audience who didn't enjoy those 90 minutes. It was the right energizer after the Christams days and I hope, that it wasn't a once in a lifetime thing.

Tracklist Amorphis

1. Thousand lakes
2. Into hiding
3. The castaway
4. First doom
5. Black winter day
6. Drowned maid
7. In the beginning
8. Forgotten sunrise
9. Th father's cabin
10. Magic and mayhem
11. Karelia
12. The gathering
13. Sign from the North side
14. Vulgar necrolatry
15. Better unborn (Encore)
16. Against widows (Encore)
17. My kantele (Encore)
18. Folk of the North (Encore)

Tracklist Avatarium

1. Moonhorse
2. Bird of prey
3. All I want
4. Tides of telepathy
5. Deep well
6. Pandora's egg
7. Avatarium

Location: 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands

Date: 29.12.2014

... review and more pics will follow.

Swedish 'newcomers' Avatarium had a great year 2014. Their debut album was received very well by the metal community. Also the EP, that was released a few weeks ago, got a lot of positive feedback. And last but not least Avatarium played also quite some enthusiastic shows in 2014. That included their first gigs in Sweden as well as in Europe.

Since Avatarium had published the new EP and due to the fact that they will be on the road together with Amorphis between Christams and New Year it was the right moment for getting some further insights from Marcus Jidell, guitarist of the band. Enjoy reading.

MHMB: Hi Marcus. Great to have you on the phone. How are you?

Marcus: Thanks. Good to be here. I’m fine, eventhough it’s pretty dark and rainy here in Stockholm.

MHMB: End of the year Avatarium is coming back to Tilburg - the city where you have played the first show outside of Scandinavia. I guess coming back is something special for you.

Marcus: Indeed. It is a nice thing coming back to Tilburg. We all, except Jennie-Ann, have played there many times before and the 013 is a very nice venue. Therefore it’s a great thing to come back. And since last time it was one of our first shows we ever played, I hope that we will do an even better one this time.

MHMB: I think it was already a pretty good concert that you guys played as part of the Roadburn. I enjoyed it a lot.

Marcus: Yes, that’s right. It was quite OK, but we can do better. We always try to improve ourselves. We are still a new band and every show helps us to get better. We can see already at that stage a bigger improvement comparing the latest shows we did with the one in Tilburg from spring this year. For Avatarium it was on the one hand something very exciting to play already quite big shows in the beginning. But there is also the flipside of being new and maybe not having all the details perfectly in place.

MHMB: And it was a nice extra to find three songs from the mentioned Roadburn show on the EP.

Marcus: It was done by purpose. We wanted to show that Avatarium is not only in the studio – we are a live act. For us it is important to perform the songs and they are always a bit different when we play them live. Doubtless, we are playing our songs, but there are constantly some details here and there that make them sound slightly different. We don’t want to play them exactly the way they are on the album. It is fun for us to ‘experiment’ a little bit around with the music and we hope that it is entertaining for the audience too. We are a real live band that enjoys being on stage. We always try to give our best and if we get the energy back from the fans we become even more enthusiastic.

MHMB: Avatarium was very well received by metal fans from all over the world. I guess you guys have been really overwhelmed by this feedback.

Marcus: Yes, right. With both, the album and the EP, we did what we enjoyed and what we liked. Of course we have been thinking about how fans will receive it. That’s why we have been very happy; but also surprised by the huge amount of positive reaction from people. Almost every review I read was a positive one and that was something very unexpected. Then we worked on the EP and we have been curious what the fans will think about the two new songs, since we tried a few things that are a bit different. And again we got a great feedback.

MHMB: You mentioned that a few things are slightly different on the EP. When I heard the new songs the first time I had the feeling that they are more classic rock, while the debut went more towards doom metal with mighty riffs. The new songs are for me more inspired by bands like Deep Purple and Rainbow. A scream from Jennie-Ann on “All I want” reminds me to Ian Gillan and some parts of “Deep well” sound like from the early Rainbow times.

Marcus: As said already, we wanted to try something that is a bit different. But it wasn’t that we said like ‘hey, let’s write a Rainbow song’. It was more that when I heard the last guitar solo on “Deep well” with Jennie-Ann singing I had all of a sudden the feeling of ‘wow, this sounds like Rainbow’. So it was something totally unplanned - and I like it, esp. since I love Rainbow. It was in the end a good thing that we experimented a bit, because it gave us the chance to see how much we like these little twists and also see how the fans will perceive it.

MHMB: You guys have a very special sound. Avatarium can be easily recognized and I was thinking about where it comes from. Is it the very diverse influences each of you brings into the band? Leif coming with the Candlemass experience, you having played in bands like Evergrey and Jennie-Ann has a total different musical background. Is this the secret of the band’s sound?

Marcus: Right. I think it is like that. We all have a few bands in common that we like. But we also want to bring in our personalities into the music. The songs need to be ‘us’. But it’s also the way Leif writes the songs. He’s thinking about my way of playing guitar and also about Jennie-Ann’s vocals. He is thinking about how I could continue working on the songs and how Jennie-Ann could. Leif is a very clever songwriter. Another thing is the fact that Jennie-Ann puts so much effort and energy into the vocals. She wants those to become her own. She tries to put all the feelings and emotions into the songs.

MHMB: How did the success story with Avatarium actually start?

Marcus: I was jumping in for Lars Johansson in Candlemass and also played with Krux for a few times. That’s how Leif and I found out that we have a lot in common when it comes to music and personality. Leif contacted me at a certain moment in time to work on a few song ideas. That was the start of Avatarium. The next step was that I asked Jennie-Ann if she could give it a try to do the vocals for Avatarium. We actually contacted also few other singers like for example Doogie White before we asked Jennie-Ann. No one had time at that moment and when we tried out with Jennie-Ann we had the feeling of listening to something we have never heard before. Her voice opened the door for us to write new music since she is very different from other singers. As said, she adds a lot of emotions and feeling to the music of Avatarium. You can feel the music.

MHMB: Is it also Jennie-Ann who is writing the lyrics of the songs?

Marcus: No, it actually is Leif that writes most of the lyrics. Jennie-Ann just did some of them like for e.g. “Deep well”.

MHMB: The songs and the lyrics have that kind of melancholic vibe. Where does this come from?

Marcus: Honestly, I don’t really know. Some people say that if you live up North with the all the darkness during winter time you get into this melancholic mood. You will also feel this special atmosphere by listening to Swedish folk music. However, we are happy people and what might help us is to put all the melancholy into the music.

MHMB: We mentioned Leif a few times. How is he doing right now?

Marcus: He is getting better. He is not 100% back yet, but we are working on new songs already. Live we still have Anders Iwers supporting us and that works very good.

MHMB: Looking on the success you have as a band, do you feel an extra pressure put on the band when it comes to the next album?

Marcus: I don’t think like that. Of course there is a certain pressure if you get such a great response, but we try to focus in what we want to do. We try to be as good as we can while staying honest to ourselves and our music. Our aim is to do another great album followed by another great album and to be able to tour in between.

MHMB: While you mention a new record from Avatarium – can you tell us already a bit on what to expect?

Marcus: We are right now in the beginning phase for the new album. We recorded two tracks that are in an early demo level. It’s basically that we have the foundation for the tracks done. So I can’t tell a lot about it at that stage. I guess it will be kind of mix between the debut and the EP when it comes to the sound. But it’s too early to say more about it.

MHMB: That sounds already very positive. Good to hear that there is a new album in the pipeline. I’m very much looking forward to it. I would like to say thank you for your time and I’m looking forward to see you on tour end of December together with Amorphis.

Marcus: Thanks for having me and thanks for supporting us.