Elegy

At this point in Amorphis’ career, it’s safe to leave the term ‘death metal’ behind when describing them, and start pondering upon what the hell genre they’re playing. Actually, the best way to listen to Amorphis is to not even consider genre; clearly something they don’t take into consideration, as they’ve never been confined to one style for too long. It seems that this band just aim to create original and solid music, which is more or less, what they’ve always done.

Before recording Elegy, Amorphis made a very intelligent decision; recruiting sixth full-time member, Pasi Koskinen, to handle the duty of clean vocals, which are much more prominent on this release than past ones. In fact, Pasi and Tomi (harsh vocals) share the duties at about an even rate. Pasi was just what Amorphis needed to take the quantum leap from their death metal roots to their progressive future. In this sense, Elegy is a transition of sorts, but certainly its own entity.

The songs are not based on guitar riffs like its predecessors, or even the guitar-driven Tuonela after it, but are made entirely of melody. These melodies constantly vary, from the catchy eastern-sounding opener, Better Unborn, to the sheer beauty of My Kantele, to the excellent acoustic strumming of Weeper on the Shore, the musicianship is topnotch. Don’t worry, if you were in love with riffs from Tales From the Thousand Lakes, there’s still a potent atmosphere to be discovered here. Amorphis didn’t forget their old tricks, which is apparent to listening to a song like My Kantele. This truly is a masterpiece. The clean intro will mesmerize you in a matter of seconds, leading you into a catchy verse and then throwing in a clean chorus to make this a true classic. Just to milk this song for everything it’s worth, Amorphis have also included an acoustic version at the end of the album. Thanks! Other than this, Amorphis pull out new tricks such as the seven-plus minute progressive endeavour that is the title track. All of the instruments come together beautifully on this track, and Pasi’s singing is a great highlight.

Although this album is more easy to get into than Tales From The Thousand Lakes, I see Elegy as an album built up of stand-out songs, rather than a single, flowing essence. It’s not that Elegy doesn’t have adequate flow, it’s just that the atmosphere conveyed throughout the album is not quite as captivating as its forerunner. Other than this, there’s not much room for improvement here. One aspect that I usually try to ignore is the utterly bizarre techno interlude in Cares. The song breaks off from metal to branch into a dance section reminiscent of a boss battle in an old arcade game. It’s not that I don’t love retro video game music, it’s just that when placed in the middle of an Amorphis album, it comes off as quite awkward.

It truly amazes me that Amorphis can so drastically change their sound with each release, but always be successful in what they do. Another surprising aspect about this album, is the fact that the cover art was done by the famed Necrolord, the only Amorphis album he has provided art for. I highly recommend this album for anyone looking for a diverse, and consistently enjoyable listen.