Under The Red Cloud was AOTY for 2015 for me and this album is heading in that direction once again. This is absolutely brilliant!

I'm digging it. A couple of the songs, especially The Golden Elk, are kind of in danger of burying the metal, so to speak. But that's hopefully just a production issue, I can't image the core elements being so muted live.

I just checked out all three of the bonus tracks (there are two ones included on most editions of the album and then a Japanese exclusive track called Honeyflow), and, in keeping with tradition, they're all really good. I actually don't know if any of them are better than songs on the album, but they're at least on par. If you compiled all the bonus tracks from all the Joutsen albums you'd have a seriously strong secret Amorphis album.

I agree that all of the new songs would be immense live, it'll be interesting to see which ones they bust out. Currently Pyres on the Coast is quickly becoming my favourite off the album. It's pretty moody and different sounding from the rest of the album - actually reminds me of the Hallatar record from last year.

I am absolutely convinced at this point that Amorphis cannot do any wrong. How in the fuck are they not only in a decade-plus stretch of amazing albums, but they keep getting BETTER with each album? "The Golden Elk" is what convinced me that this album is better than Under the Red Cloud, and that's one of my favorite albums of all time at this point.

Amorphis is the single best band in all of metal today.

I'm gonna try again with this album, but I did not get UTRC and I seem to be in the minority about this band everywhere I look.

The thing is, I can totally see someone getting burnt out on the Joutsen-era albums, because they all do share the same basic skeleton. What prevents fatigue for me, however, is that they change up and evolve smaller elements of the sound over time, and that's what keeps it interesting for me. The big thing about Queen of Time is that it's continuing, and expanding upon, the extra-metal elements found on Under the Red Cloud, namely symphonic elements. It's not to the level of, say, a Septicflesh album, but it's there enough that you notice it, yet still subtle enough that the orchestrations don't overshadow the rest of the band. There's also choir on a couple songs here, which I don't recall ever hearing on an Amorphis album before.

After spinning it all weekend and today going into work it’s by far my album of the year. The Bee, The Golden Elk, and the last four songs are just insanely good. It took me a while to get into Red Coud and I been an Amorphis fan since 93. Daughter of Hate and a few others are growing on me, but those last four songs are gold standard! I’m not a big fan of the Fascination street studio sound, I prefer the albums they did at Sunlight and Sonic Pump, but damn this new album is blowing my mind!!!!

"Queen of Time" is an incredible piece of work. I listened to it twice on Friday and have listened to it once each day since. I honestly can't get enough of it. I'd say my favorite is "Daughter of Hate" - that saxophone is amazing. I've seen a couple people throw around Orphaned Land comparisons, and that's not too far off - some songs have an oriental metal flair to 'em, and sometimes those choirs sound like they would easily fit in on "All is One". It's certainly my favorite metal album of 2018 so far.

Not the biggest Amorphis fan, but got their 2009 album in the Nuclear Blast grab bag from CMDistro ages ago, and like that well enough. Memorable/catchy heavy metal/rock. I was in a buy mode and got Queen of Time the other day, listened to it and nothing really stood out to me on first listen. No melodies or vocal lines stood out to me. I was definitely disappointed, but I'll give it another go soon.

Echoing most of the sentiments here. Red Cloud was my favorite album of 2015, and this is basically the same thing but... more. There's so much going on, it's insane. I'm on my fifth listen and still haven't even closed to absorbed it yet, but it still feels so familiar and yet still new and engaging. How do they keep getting better?

This is exactly what I'm looking for when it comes to polished, modern metal. Songs that are well put together, melodic, great harmonies, and hooks galore. Sure it might not win any "best riff" awards, but it makes up for it in pure songwriting.

Queen of Time is very good, however there is an issue with the production, it's safe over the edge. First Amorphis album with Joutsen where I stuggle to catch the guitars, especially the rhythm but the lead as well. And that really hurts 'cause Amorphis music to me was always about explosively brisk guitars in the first place. There are also other issues e.g. with overproduced growls or lack of prominent piano lines replaced with unnecessary orchestrations (brought by Jens Bogren as well) but nevertheless the songwriting level is so high that I have already played the album more than 50 times. And though it feels like probably the weakest Joutsen era album it's still top quality stuff.

There are very few chicks I truly enjoy listening to (clean vocals). For the most part, if it ain't Stevie Nicks, Janis Joplin, Gwen Stefanie (No Doubt days) or Shirley Manson (Garbage ) than I almost immediately check out.

But this is one of those songs I immediately play again, and it does not get old. Anneke van Giersbergen give me goosebumps at 2:30 every. single. time.

This album has some good moments, but I have no idea why the hype for this album is so over the top. Does the band own this website?

I was quite excited for this album, especially based on singles. But for a lot of the rest, I have to agree with Meatwolf. The guitars got buried, and for as much as I love Joutsen's voice, he got turned up a couple notches too high.

Same here. I did listen to this and (2015) Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud in a row and feels like lame "festival metal" to me.

I wouldn't know about that, but they were the first band added to the site back in 2002.

And about the hype thing, Amorphis has been some sort of a household name for a while now.