Amorphis
Am Universum

THE REVIEW

I learned to love Amorphis. I discovered them with their latest "Silent Waters," an album with gray, muted colors that evoke the lake on which the pink swan of the cover swims; I listened to them in the guise that made them appreciated by the wider audience, in that "Elegy" which will surely remain among the pearls of today's metal; I found the dark and melancholic sounds of the last release in "Tuonela," an album that, for me, is at the same level (if not slightly superior) to "Elegy," autumnal and meditative. Now this "Am Universum", a follow-up not only chronological to "Tuonela" but in some ways stylistic as well. Continuing with the metaphor of colors, it's dark blue that I think of when I listen to it. A color, however, that is not solid but rather saturated with nuances leaning towards pink, a color that can at least be associated with the name of a historic band.

Indeed, right from the opening with "Alone", the main influence that the group has throughout the album robustly emerges, the Pink Floyd. The Cambridge band is perceivable in many melodic lines and generally in the atmospheres, sometimes devoted to psychedelia, other times more leaning towards a progressive rock alternating electric outbursts with more intimate sections. The liquid guitars soak the listener and surround them, lashing them over and over with electric blasts and massive electric walls. Pasi, on vocals, completely abandons growl in favor of a very expressive and versatile clean voice that swings between a sharp and disdainful singing to one more recited and calm (used to a lesser extent).

It must be said right away that the album is far from being the masterpiece that "Tuonela" was (just to mention its most direct predecessor), but it still has excellent cards to play.

Besides the already mentioned "Alone", opened by an ethereal intro and developed on generally aggressive and martial lines, "Goddess (Of The Sad Man)" also deserves a mention, remarkable for the vocal interpretation and the enveloping guitar lines (combined with a very precise rhythm section rich with tempo changes), and especially "Shatters Within", a superb track where the whole group plays as if in a state of grace. The track highlights (perhaps for the first but not only time on the album) the saddest and most melancholic part of Amorphis. Very expressive lyrics, a stirring and pathos-filled rhythm (the chorus is beautiful, enriched by keyboard sections of undeniable atmosphere), generally fluid guitars, and an overall subdued and suffering aura (though never resigned) give the piece the gold palm as the best piece of the work.

Following this, I would mention "Crimson Wave", not so much for its actual quality (a good track, slightly inferior to the others) but for the beautiful sax break that will definitely bring to mind for many, once again, the Floyd of the mid-seventies, "Drifting Memories", a piece very close to what was done in "Tuonela", steeped in its same emotional melancholy, and "Veil Of Sin". The latter deserves a few more words. Here, Pasi is accompanied by a beautiful piano that more or less follows him throughout the track, supplanted by an organ in a fabulous chorus, intense, forceful, and poetic, with an expressive strength similar to that heard in "Shatters Within", at times perhaps even more complete, thanks to, once again, the beautiful sax intervention midway through the chorus. Here, one perceives a sense of suffering tied to a nostalgia for something unspecified, almost making one want to curl up within oneself, as if a cold wind were freezing our limbs, yet unable to touch our heart, still beating and loaded with heroic disdain and stubbornness.

The finale, linked to the good "Grieve Stricken Heart", bringing back all the elements heard so far on the album, only confirms the genuine quality of this product.

As a mutable band, with no precise form, Amorphis loves to experiment and pursue their musical idols, reworking them to enrich a sound that becomes increasingly complex and intense with each album. The album, a less melancholic and more seventies-inspired "Tuonela", is certainly an excellent title, truly deserving a place in the group's discography, that, genuinely, knows how to surprise listeners with each release. Slightly inferior to their masterpieces, but no less worthy of attention, indeed deserving of prolonged and deep listens to grasp its true depth.