Before Under the Red Cloud came around, my two favorite Joutsen era albums were Skyforger and Silent Waters. Skyforger held together really well as an album and Silent Waters, while not as cohesive overall, had some of the finest music that Amorphis has produced on it. Silent Waters had no flaws, it just was so varied that the individual songs did not flow quite as organically from one to another.

Queen of Time reminds me of Silent Waters in that way. It has some truly stunning songs on it and I think that those songs are every bit as strong as anything on Under the Red Cloud. I still give Under the Red Cloud a bit of a nod, though, because it just seems to fit together a little better as an album. Put all the Joutsen era songs in a mix on shuffle, though, and I don't think that anything from Queen of Time will let you down in comparison to their best efforts.

Written by Bad English on 02.06.2018 at 18:12

It was not so good, its like orental mid east bands what plays some kind a folk metal, like Orphaned Land and that kind weird mixture. I don't like such music in whole album. Some songs was good, lyrics was good, but what next, where they go now?

Maybe a Japan?

Is Amongst Stars really considered one of the best songs on the album? By far the most generic song on the album. Otherwise a great album.

Written by Nicko's Nose on 16.06.2018 at 06:24

Is Amongst Stars really considered one of the best songs on the album? By far the most generic song on the album. Otherwise a great album.

For me the masterpiece of the album is Pyres On The Coast, although Amongst Stars is a good epilogue before Pyres

Written by Nicko's Nose on 16.06.2018 at 06:24

Is Amongst Stars really considered one of the best songs on the album? By far the most generic song on the album.

Generic isn't necessarily bad, is it? I think as a song it's a little better than the two that precede it, for example, and I'll take it over something like The Wanderer any day. Not the best song on the album by any means.

Written by Nicko's Nose on 16.06.2018 at 06:24

Is Amongst Stars really considered one of the best songs on the album? By far the most generic song on the album. Otherwise a great album.

Nah, it does a great job of creating diversity in the tracklist though. Keeps the album from sounding stale. Its a good song but the albums best songs are The Bee, Message In Amber, Daughter of Hate, Golden Elk and Pyres on the Coast (not necessarily in that order).

7 in a row now - yet another great Amorphis release!

However, I still think this is probably the least strong of the Joutsen era. Just about all songs are solid, but I never feel any of them reach the same level as the best of the 6 previous albums. This is simply because this album, to a larger extend, lacks the melancholic and emotional moments, which in my opinion is the strongest attribute of Amorphis' music. For example, I miss clean singing hooks, which is something Joutsen undoubtedly masters. 'The Bee' is the only song where he shows this brilliance. Also, the choir and orchestral additions makes the music a little too overblown, and the oriental mood has kind of overtaken the Nordic feel of previous albums. A matter of taste, I guess.

This criticism only emanates from being held up against the absurd high level of the predecessors of this album. On its own, this is great music. And once again, Amorphis demonstrates why they are the most consistent band in exclusively delivering top quality metal during more than a decade now.

So - decided to listen it again, but after some time. Let the emotions fall and try to rate it with calm attitude.

Production is superb, as always. Everything fits and work like charm. For band members there here are no needless elements and it's clear that they knew what they wanted it from this album. They had a plan and they realised it. It's really rare in this times to hit this level. But hey, Amorphis is one of the most solid metal band for a long time.

But. Ha, there are always some 'buts' right? As mentioned over - choir and orchestral additions adding to all this stuff 'too much' feeling. I've listened every Amorphis release and if we're talking about Joutsen era 'Under The Red Cloud' is my 'best of the best' (even my ringtone is 'Sacrifice'). For me 'Queen of TIme' is solid release, but nothing more than it. Why? Album need to have this 'something' factor in it, that makes it alive and emotional. I can't feel it here, like most of the songs are empty. It sounds great, for sure, but somehow there's something missing for me.

Really good album but a bit overrated imo.

Written by Jack_Torrance on 29.06.2018 at 00:31

Really good album but a bit overrated imo.

Way overrated. Under The Red Cloud was so much better.

Good album well written and played, but it's a copy of every Amorphis album since Joutsen joined.
Overrated, as Under The Red Cloud.

It's really a good album for sure. But does it really worth this much stars? Hmmm... well, half of the songs are good but none are epic to rate it this high....8 stars is perfect.

Written by Jack_Torrance on 29.06.2018 at 00:31

Really good album but a bit overrated imo.

totally agree.

I prefer Queen of Time more than Under the Red Cloud because it has a little more to offer, but overall both albums are pretty much on the same level. Queen of Time is a bit more progressive and explorative, which for Amorphis doesn't mean much but I appreciated them adding a bit more variety. I liked every song on the album including the bonus songs, they all seemed well executed and there was a nice flow through them. The instrumentation and writing are both excellent, Amorphis is still on top of their game even if they still sound mostly the same as before. There are a few surprises through the album which helped to add a few new vibes and I felt like everything meshed really well. Tomi sounds fantastic on this album as usual. I can't think of any real criticisms other than they still sound mostly the same as usual, but Amorphis is nowhere near as bad as bands like Insomnium when it comes to that so Queen of Time is definitely another solid release that doesn't feel tired or forgettable.

The whole album is great, but I'd say the standout tracks for me are: We Accursed, Heart Of The Giant, Message In The Amber, Pyres On The Coast, Amongst Stars, and the bonus songs.

Written by Bulletpr00fMonk on 21.06.2018 at 04:02

However, I still think this is probably the least strong of the Joutsen era. Just about all songs are solid, but I never feel any of them reach the same level as the best of the 6 previous albums. This is simply because this album, to a larger extend, lacks the melancholic and emotional moments, which in my opinion is the strongest attribute of Amorphis' music. For example, I miss clean singing hooks, which is something Joutsen undoubtedly masters. 'The Bee' is the only song where he shows this brilliance. Also, the choir and orchestral additions makes the music a little too overblown, and the oriental mood has kind of overtaken the Nordic feel of previous albums. A matter of taste, I guess.

I actually quite like the Oriental feel of the album, we have Nordic themed albums in spades, but there is for sure a dearth of oriental feeling albums. We have Orphaned Land and a few very obscure other bands like Omb (I really don't like Myrath), so I'm glad they tackled that sound with this album. I think they did it very well, perhaps a little better than the Orphaned Land release from this year

Amorphis is like Marvel movies, even when they do average movie but its very polished, everyone lose their minds... every time they release new album and see the ratings in here, I go give a listen, and don't know why people rate it so high, its not that it is bad album, no its really good, but nothing special to make one of the top albums of all times

Every single Amorphis album is among the top 200 of all time according to this website!

Melodic death metal on MS is overrated? You don't say!

Amorphis keep high their name for once more. Though still not one of their best, despite the rating here. I think the reason for this, is that nowadays we got fewer good releases in this genre. Loved the "Bee" and I believe Amorphis should return to this kind of electronic elements, it fits nicely to them. Positive to every track from the beginning to the "Heart Of The Giant". Also, while I like Anneke, I did not like "Amongst stars" at all...

Wait why is this on the charts again?

For me (and responding to people who think this album is overrated) I think the mastery of this album is that it tells you something as simple as bees and makes it look like an epic story.

And now it vanished from the Top 200.
Wow, I thought this would never happen.

My First Amorphis Album I ever got. It's quite good. Might get more of their albums from the Tomi Joutsen Era at some stage.

So overrated, I must be missing something, I don't understand how this album is close to a 9 rating.
I like the vocal performance, but overall not that impressive. Also it seems the band is starting to sound predictable.

Written by JoHn Doe on 28.04.2022 at 10:32

Also it seems the band is starting to sound predictable.

Some people who are more casual about the band have said some of the musical elements were actually surprising, and there's even the odd journalist who thought the band would lose a lot of fans because of the choirs and symphonic elements. There are of course people who don't like them, but that assessment was way off the mark.

I personally think a rating of 8 might be too low.

Why is the best song on the album a japanese bonus track?

Written by Cthulu on 19.11.2022 at 00:56

Why is the best song on the album a japanese bonus track?

It kinda sounds like it was produced to be exactly that.