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Reviews
Amorphis: Elegy
10/09/07 || Global Domination
“Elegy” is one of my favorite albums of all-time, one of the records that got me firmly interested in metal, and helped to get me away from the clutches of mainstream rock. Amorphis the band, well, became one of my first loves, a mandatory listen for every time I want to experience some epically composed dark, folkish metal. Only second to the universally acclaimed classic “Tales from the Thousand Lakes” when it comes to my preferences, “Elegy” is a worthy follow-up, and showcases some of their best material. Whenever they decide to put their thinking hats on, Amorphis is one of the most accomplished, original and creative bands you could listen to, and they definitely had the damned hats firmly stuck to their craniums here.
Amorphis has been an ever changing musical entity all through the well defined periods of their career, but their “Elegy” material can be roughly described as a mixture of melodic, keyboard enhanced death metal, enriched with heavy folk influences and some psychedelic tendencies. Bear in mind that I say death metal for lack of a better term, since by “Elegy”, Amorphis had already transcended what we normally associate with the genre. If there’s a band that truly deserved being called progressive death metal, Amorphis was it back then.
Drawing their inspiration from the “Kanteletar”, a collection of ancient Finnish folk poems, they weave here some amazing compositions that mesh their death roots with a remarkably fluid progressiveness, and settle the right mood under which the folkish, poetic themes can flourish. It all goes expertly through the moods, from the nostalgic, doomy and plain depressive as the fucken cold up there in the end of fucken civilization must be, to the happiness of drinking and partying in the old days, to forget all about that wintery bullshit. The Finnish damn sure know what I’m talking about, don’t you, bunch of suicidal drunken bastards?!
The engaging guitar playing, intricate and beautifully structured, is the major selling point of “Elegy”. Koivusaari and Holopainen surely know how to compose and play some damn good riffs, leads and crazily arranged progressions. They cover a lot of territory to be sure, ranging from acoustic and the eastern scales to some plain old deadly chugging. Every song in here has some sweet guitar work, like the opener “Better Unborn” with it’s exotic, middle-eastern main riff, the grand finale of “My Kantele”‘s acoustic version, where a sitar is beautifully molested by Holopainen, the folkish riff and soloing assault on “Against Widows”, and those two masterful riff progressions on both “The Orphan” and “On Rich and Poor”, which are a fucken joy to behold, and try headbanging to while stupidly dancing some sort of drunken Finnish polka.
The keyboards underscore effectively the psychedelic elements and the elegant, polished ambiance of it all. Very good work, without trying to take over the rest of the instruments, and backing up the riffs, as it should be. The bass is worked expertly too, loud and clear for all too appreciate, and contrasting warmly to the riffs with it’s rumbling. The drumming is fairly good too, nothing out of this world, but perfect for this genre, and with the necessary groove to fit in. The vocals are handled separately: Tomi Koivusaari on the growls, very deep and deathly, and Pasi Koskinen, on his debut, taking care of the clean passages in a very accomplished performance. One of my favorite singers, Pasi confidently displays such emotion in his first performance, that it makes sense he has turned out to be one of the best all-around vocalists of metal today.
These are gems all over, not a single weak tune at all. Some songs are fucken classics the way I see it, like the crushing “Better Unborn”, the folkish all-out rocker “Against Widows”, the extraordinary “Cares” with those awesome polka and disco breaks, and both the two great nostalgic, epic monuments that are “Elegy” and “My Kantele”. Amorphis has yet to better neither “Tales…” nor “Elegy”, to me, this was the peak of their creative powers, and the strong songwriting backs up my opinion. This is a truly remarkable record, damn near perfect. I don’t give it full marks ‘cause there’s yet better stuff that I’ve listened to, not ‘cause it may have any problems at all. “Elegy” is a great record that demands to be heard, a highlight of the decade, simply stunning work!
9 elegies to Finnish drunkenness out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 1996
- Label: Relapse Records
- Website: www.amorphis.net
- Band
- Pasi Koskinen: vocals
- Esa Holopainen: guitars, sitar
- Tomi Koivusaari: guitars, vocals, tambourine
- Olli-Pekka Laine: bass
- Kim Rantala: chords, keyboards
- Pekka Kasari: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Better Unborn
- 02. Against Widows
- 03. The Orphan
- 04. On Rich and Poor
- 05. My Kantele
- 06. Cares
- 07. Song of the Troubled One
- 08. Weeper on the Shore
- 09. Elegy
- 10. Relief
- 11. My Kantele (Acoustic Reprise)