The Finns of Amorphis sign their 13th opus with Queen Of Time. Does the album live up to the previous ones?
Amorphis is a band that has never really disappointed its fans. Although he has moved away from the pure death metal of his beginnings (especially with their first album, The Karelian Isthmus in 1992), Amorphis has evolved and brought a lot of relief to his music for more than 20 years. The arrival of Tomi Joutsen on vocals for their album Eclipse (2006) largely contributed to the success of the group, and marked the musical turning point of the Finns. On a personal note, I discovered them with Skyforger in 2009. I immediately appreciated the heavy side of the band, counterbalanced by folk melodies, all surrounded by an epic aura that works really well.
The classic recipe of Amorphis, but not only
When you hear a piece of Amorphis, you immediately recognize their sound and the general atmosphere of their songs. This is one of the strengths of the group.
In this album, this recognizable sound mixes with new ideas, as in Daughter Of Hate. This 6-minute piece opens in a classic way for Amorphis ( albeit in 7/4), then surprises us with a saxophone solo (played by Jørgen Munkeby) and a mystical passage narrated by the band's lyricist, Pekka Kainulainen. This passage takes us back to the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. It is a work with a multitude of stories and legends, and remains one of the biggest influences of Amorphis throughout the years.
Among Stars is enriched by the clear voice of Anneke Giersbergen, in contrast to that of Tomi Joutsen. Note also the presence in Chrigel Glanzmann 's album of Eluveitie on flutes.
The Bee, the song that opens the album, allows the band to deliver us once again a heady chorus, on an orientalizing riff as it has the secret.
Wrong Direction also seems classic for Amorphis at first, served by a rather pop chorus. But the listening is enriched by the percussion of the beginning of the verses, which support the folk passage and the modified voice before the last chorus.
A rich production that grows the album
For the first time in its career, Amorphis called on an orchestra and choir.
Queen Of Time features mythological themes and focuses on the birth and fall of civilizations.
Pekka Kainulainen (the lyricist of Amorphis), always inspired by the Kalevala, explains: "…The lyrics on this album are distant echoes of ancient forest peoples, from a time when meaning was proportioned by the cosmic forces that govern birth and death. If the connection was lost, they sought for a strand of knowledge, found a new direction, and a new age began."
As for Under the Red Cloud (2015), Amorphis worked with Jens Bogren, a Swedish producer and sound engineer who has worked with Dark Tranquillity, Opeth, Moonspel and Devin Townsend. The work of Queen Of Time 's arrangements brings a real relief to the compositions and allows the album to sound extremely epic and massive. With such serious and mystical themes, the album had to sound like that. And it's successful. We think in particular of The Golden Elk where we hear female choirs and string instruments.
The keyboard parts of Santeri Kallio (member of the band since 1999) are very well built and adapt to other synthesizer tablecloths.
Grain Of Sand or Message in the Amber are typically examples of what works in this album. We do not move away from the successful recipe of Amorphis, but we make it more grandiloquent.
Queen Of Time ends with Pyres On The Coast, which once again demonstrates the power of the album. The track alternates quiet passages and orchestral arrangements, followed by riffs that will move any metalhead.
Note also the superb artwork of the album, realized once again by Jean Valnoir Silmoulin.
Rating: 9/10
With Queen Of Time, Amorphis manages to give us a powerful and homogeneous album. The group's recipe does not change, but expands with a certain grandeur brought by the orchestral arrangements. The construction of the pieces is pure Amorphis, although always improved and carried by the talent of its musicians.
