Amorphis – Silent Waters

Release date: 2007 Label: Nuclear Blast
By: Elvira Visser

  The Finnish band Amorphis has been making music for quite some time, they have
  released 8 albums and you can say that their music has always been developing.
  From a more death metal band into a more melodic rock/metal band nowadays.

  The name Amorphis comes from Amorphous which means: without determinate form,
  shapeless. This band has also seen changes in the years of their existence.
  Pasi Koskonen joined the band in 1996 and with him, it can be said that the
  music changed as well. In 2004 Tomi Joutsen replaced Pasi Koskonen and the band
  delivered their cd “Eclipse”. Beautiful melodic metal which showed
  the capabilities of Tomi as a vocalist. This new album “Silent Waters”
  shows he had not showed us his all.

  The lyrics on this album are based on the Finnish National Epic: Kalevala,
  like their other records. Using the Kalevala as a source for their lyrics, combined
  with the use of piano and organ, it creates a folkish atmosphere. It seems that
  with this album, Tomi adopted the band’s sound totally and started to use all
  he is capable of: perfect clean vocal lines mixed with a great growls. The band
  really take their own musical sound one step further compared to their album
  “Eclipse”.

  I personally think this album is amazing. It starts off quite hard and heavy,
  which sounds more like the earlier years of Amorphis. One thought I had was
  “Is hard and heavy the new road their heading, after their last more melodic
  album?” But I was asking questions to fast after only 2 songs. From that
  point on the music on this album slows down a bit, beautiful melodic melodies
  appear. They clearly take off where they left us after “Eclipse”.
  This album again, guides you through the great and beautiful stories of the
  Kalevela. Amorphis own unique sound creates this special world and the use of
  the Kalevala as origin of their lyrics just completes their sound.

  The first song “Waving the Incantation” is that first aggressive
  song. Timo shows off his grunts and growling but a female harmonic melody keeps
  it to the Amorphis sound. The song goes back and forth from aggressive to calm
  and peaceful to explode again when an acoustic guitar joins in.

  This harder/heavier tone continues with the next song “A Servant”.
  The fast metal drums are present and the guitars are raging with great speed.
  The guitars really make this song, in my opinion. A great guitar solo. It proves
  that Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari also show what they are capable off.

  The next song start with a single piano tune, which takes me back to their
  Previous work. The song “Silent Water” is indeed more silent than
  the other two but still has those great guitars but with the clean tone of Tomi’s
  voice it creates a beautiful melodic song.

  “I know how to fight, I know how to sing, I know the way” comes from
  the song “Towards and against”. Tomi knows how to sing, and the band
  seem to know the way. Although the song starts surprisingly with some electronic
  beeps.

  “I of Crimson Blood” is the second song with a great piano intro
  which gives you that special melancholic melodic Amorphis feeling, at least
  to me. With “Here Alone” the songs stay a bit softer but it does not
  lose your attention. At “Enigma” Tomi shows he lays more emotion in
  his voice, together with a little choir in the background and an acoustic guitar
  this song is quite different from the other songs.

  ”Shaman” starts a bit the same as Enigma and I even wonder if I am
  not listening to the same track or that the tracks sound much alike but after
  half a minute they prove me wrong. The electric guitar and present drum sounds
  enter this song which takes you back to the first songs, even the electric sounds
  return in this song. Maybe a combination of the whole album in this song. But
  I am not totally convinced if it is an electronic sound or a snare instrument
  such as the Finnish Folk instrument Kantele.

  With the second last song “The White Swan” the intro is a bit heavier
  to calm down again to burst out in some screams from hell. Need to give it all
  before the and of the cd. Again a song for me that combines every strong point
  from Amorphis. Melodic and beautiful with clean vocals combined with great guitar
  solo’s, fast drumming and some growling.

  The last song “Black River” the piano intro makes me a bit sad, knowing
  this is the last song and when the vocalist starts to whisper they really done
  it. There is nothing left to do then just to admit this is a great record, really
  one everyone should have. Very diverse but they still truly kept to their own
  musical sound.

Links:
Amorphis Official
Amorphis Myspace
Wikipedia: Kalevala