Project Description
AMORPHIS
‘Queen of Time’
(Album review)
by Chris Reid
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Amorphis have had a long and successful career. The Finnish melodic death ensemble have been churning out albums for over 20 years, managing to keep their fans on their toes with each and every release – Amorphis have never been afraid of developing their sound and identity, and this is once again the case with their latest album Queen of Time.
“The recordings have been a lot more intense and more exhausting this time. After couple of hundred concerts in support of Under The Red Cloud, we played our last show of this tour on a Saturday in September 2017 in Helsinki. We had an off day on Sunday – and started rehearsals for the new album on Monday!” – Esa Holopainen
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If you’ve never heard Amorphis before then their 13th album is as good place to start as any . Sure, the now classic ‘Tales From The Thousand Lakes’ is often regarded to be the bands defining work, but I believe this album is a better reflection of who the band are in 2018. Who knows, in years to come may well be considered to be equally important to the bands legacy. Queen of Time is a great mix of all of the melodic, progressive & heavy elements that the band have developed over their career. The album is remarkably consistent and flows exceptionally well too.
“We were able to take the energy, the experience and the routine of the tour and put it directly into songwriting. That has given the process a good boost.”
“We knew that if we continue to work with him, we can excel ourselves.”
– Esa Holopainen
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The 10 tracks on this release are all equally strong. The band released the album opener ‘The Bee’ as a single and I can understand why. It’s a formidable song with a good mix of strong vocal melodies and memorable instrumental passages. But honestly this sentence could be used for any of the tracks on the release. The album will appeal to fans who like good riffs and complex instrumental passages, but perhaps it will appeal the most to fans looking for big chorus’ and anthem style vocal melodies.
“This album turned out as a massive surprise to all of us.” says the band founder. “During the rehearsing and pre-production we didn‘t have any idea that Jens had this huge picture inside of his head about the landscape of the album. Sure, he talked a lot about it, but we didn’t know he was actually going to put all the things he had in mind onto the album!”
“We’ve secretly been looking for this rush, this metamorphosis, for years.”
– Esa Holopainen
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Amorphis have enlisted the services of Jens Bogren again on this release and the results are predictably spectacular. There is absolutely nothing to be critical about from a sonic perspective on Queen of Time. In fact, the band’s sound is even bigger than usual thanks to the long list of guest musicians who have made contributions on the album – Chrigel Glanzmann plays pipes, Albert Kuvezin adds laryngeal singing, Anneke van Giersbergen provides vocals and saxophonist Jørgen Munkeby contributes to the release too. In addition we have an orchestra and a choir filling out the sound throughout. There is no doubt that words like cinematic and dramatic are apt descriptors for certain moments on this release, but pleasingly the album still retains the hallmark Amorphis sound. Despite the plethora of guest appearances and strong contribution across the board from the core members, Tomi Joutsen’s voice steals the show on this release. He is a rare talent who is equally comfortable and proficient growling or singing. Having such a diverse and skilled vocalist really does give Amorphis the edge on many of their contemporaries.
“This time, Pekka tells about the cosmic powers that people believed in long ago in a very universal way: the rise and fall of cultures.”
“The songs of the new album will also set new standards at our live shows.”
– Esa Holopainen
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Queen of Time exceeded my expectations. Amorphis have created a really strong album which I’m enjoying just as much as any of their previous releases and it’s not often you can say that about a band this late in their career. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to other fans of the band or fans of melodic death metal in general.
“When we started to play our first shows together again last summer it all felt so familiar.
“It represents the microcosm that can nevertheless trigger cataclysmic changes. The fall of world empires ushered in by a small sprouting seed. The butterfly that causes a hurricane.”
– Esa Holopainen
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Amorphis’
majestic new album
Queen of Time
on 18th May
via Nuclear Blast HERE
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Follow AMORPHIS:
Facebook | Instagram | Website
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