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Rating: The destination of a journey, the endpoint of a path: this is what "Tuonela" represents for Amorphis. Initially born as a purely death metal band, their artistic growth saw them gradually abandon their original genre until reaching the fourth album, which stands as the summa of Amorphis' thought.
From the entry of singer Pasi Koskinen in the previous "Elegy," the seventies progressive twist had become compelling. In "Tuonela," the band decides to fully leverage his warm voice to strip away all the rough edges of their identity and seek a much more rock-oriented dimension. Thus, death metal becomes merely a memory, as the growl in "Greed" is certainly not enough to bring it into play.
So, what remains of the Finns' DNA? Everything else.
The doom matrix, a more or less latent influence characterizing almost all Finnish death bands, becomes the backbone on which the songs grow. They are much more linear in structure, aiming to captivate and enchant thanks to the folk component, never over-the-top, yet always well-present and inseparable from the psychedelia, which instead becomes a fundamental component and allows the group to take the definitive leap forward to shake off the shadowy past. For those accustomed to songs like "Black Winter Day" or "My Kantele," the almost stoner vibe of "Morning Star" or the super catchy chorus of "Divinity" represent a sharp break from what came before, but in reality, if one doesn't stop at superficiality, it becomes clear that it isn’t like that at all.
You find yourself facing a mature group, fully aware of their own value, finally able to express their essence without resorting to force, without giving in to anger, to get as close as possible to perfection. And listening to the album, you can feel that the goal has been achieved, that every moment conveys the right emotions.
However, it is known that these moments of peace and serenity don't last long; in fact, the desire to experiment further will lead the band to lose its bearings partly from the next "Am Universum."
Sooner or later the sun always starts to set, so we have no choice but to console ourselves by listening to "Summer’s End."
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Morning Star (03:51)
You live only for yourself
Or send your soul to the heaven's grace
Been weak as the autumn leaves
Or strong as the growing seed
Swallowed into the black
Search for entrace
Chorus:
Wathc to the eyes of morning star
Beckon for the savior
But it's much too far
Reach for the infinity
The only thing that remains is decay
03 Nightfall (03:53)
As a rot to rape the spring sown seed
A plague sprang forth of his tracks
Churns ran red when cows milked blood
And famine cracked poor backs
Who would hear a lament sad
Under the bright blue sky
That's sung in hovels dark and low
With eyes too weak to cry
But horror be the nightfall's gloom
For the man upon the road
When moon doth laugh at worthless lives
Twice hard for all promise showed
Empty stare upon his face
Nine fathoms deep
He set upon the road again
On ground that bears no seed
04 Tuonela (04:32)
"Sorrow is my bread
And tears I drink as wine
Oblivion my happiness
Ground under teeth of time
For cold be the stone
When frost devoured the land
Consolation is no gift
Of winter's icy hand
Upon a crust of snow
I'll lay my broken frame
What steel and iron won't take
I'll give in winter's name
No good a sullen soul no use a simple knave
No groom for brides of plaited hair
This man old and lame
If only I could breathe
To see the sun of may
but still longer are the nights than days
As I wither away
Came the man of crown
With sound of war drums beat
Said no sword arm's strong enough
Without my two good feet
But not overlooked am I
In eyes of the maid I'll wed
I'll reap the crops of Tuonela
My bride's wealth in death
"
05 Greed (04:18)
Not thirsty am I for the blood
Of redeemer of thy greed
My hunger can't be satisfied
With flesh of thy nazarene
No gilded streets of heaven's grace
Entice me in thy speech
No holy mother doth condone
All your pillage war and greed
But know thee that all oceans worth
Of waters turned holy
Won't change the course of river
That runs inside of me
My blood flows ever skyward
And pools where thy black is white
For woulst thou not carme at my soul
With sword of thy supreme truth
Strike me down on my bended knees
For thy baptism so soothe
My blood flows ever skywawrd
And pools where thy black is white
Alone am I to raise my head
In the starless forest night
06 Divinity (04:56)
Last day brings the grace
for bearers of forbidden name.
Step into five fold mace-
As son as father in a frame
Someday fire wipes the rain
Fears are frozen tears whisper
Things that no one (hears)
Cry now, cry now for me again
Tomorrows pride and pain
Why you kneel before my NAME.
Crushing my belief
and make shape to my relief.
For who you set your prayers-
I can't hear them anyway
Someday fire wipes the rain
Fears are frozen tears whisper
Things that no one (hears)
Cry now, cry now for me again
Tomorrows pride and pain,
Why you kneel before my NAME.
Someday fire wipes the rain
Fears are frozen tears whisper
Things that no one (hears)
Cry now, cry now for me again
Tomorrows pride and pain,
Why you kneel before my NAME.
07 Shining (04:25)
My soul is bleeding
I feel so small
Afraid that this will never end
I can't understand the pain in my bones
I sleep through another trance
Climb over the rainbow
From here you can see so much
I need someone to take me down
But who can you trust
Got so many things to say
But it's something I don't wanna be
Gotta get away case it's time to shine
Like a fallen angel I run
I won't ever see the sun
See the circle is now complete
Yet the harvest remains undone
Where hemlock grows and vermin crowl
All dreams descend with fear
Crushed by the darkness that wells inside
That beast I hold so dear
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Other reviews
By StefanoHab
"Tuonela represents the new, and the new, often, is frightening."
"Amorphis are inspired in Tuonela, no longer as exalted as in the past but still capable of stirring emotions."
