After listening to this some more, I don't find myself going back to it too often, save for a few tracks (Death of a King, Under the Red Cloud, and Dark Path are good songs). I think they're starting to go into "more of the same" territory. A bit of a letdown I think after Circle, but that's my opinion.

You sure? I'm finding the opposite - wanting to go less to Circle. Though that might be because of the production. It was awful on Circle. But I love just listening to Four Wise Ones, Dark Path, Tree of Ages, Bad Blood, Under the Red Cloud and the bonus track Come the Spring. All are fanrastic.

Written by CobiWan1993 on 16.11.2015 at 23:52

I think they're starting to go into "more of the same" territory.

Kinda strange opinion, this being their most adventurous album with the current line-up. For me it's actually Skyforger that's lost some magic during the years, though I still consider it great.

Written by Doge of Venice on 23.11.2015 at 05:58

You sure? I'm finding the opposite - wanting to go less to Circle. Though that might be because of the production. It was awful on Circle. But I love just listening to Four Wise Ones, Dark Path, Tree of Ages, Bad Blood, Under the Red Cloud and the bonus track Come the Spring. All are fanrastic.

I agree that the production is much worse on Circle, but I don't know, this new album hasn't really "clicked" for me in the same way I guess. I may boost my rating soon.

Written by CobiWan1993 on 23.11.2015 at 19:31

Written by Doge of Venice on 23.11.2015 at 05:58

You sure? I'm finding the opposite - wanting to go less to Circle. Though that might be because of the production. It was awful on Circle. But I love just listening to Four Wise Ones, Dark Path, Tree of Ages, Bad Blood, Under the Red Cloud and the bonus track Come the Spring. All are fanrastic.

I agree that the production is much worse on Circle, but I don't know, this new album hasn't really "clicked" for me in the same way I guess. I may boost my rating soon.

That's fair enough.

I did enjoy Circle (much more than Beginning of Times and Skyforger) but it had no real standouts. It was a very consistent album. I feel this album os the same, it just has a few standouts on top.

Written by Doge of Venice on 23.11.2015 at 20:31


That's fair enough.

I did enjoy Circle (much more than Beginning of Times and Skyforger) but it had no real standouts. It was a very consistent album. I feel this album os the same, it just has a few standouts on top.

I've actually thought the standout tracks on Circle were pretty obvious for me - it's one of my favourite Amorphis albums, but Narrow Path, Nightbird's Song and Enchanted By The Moon have always been the clear choice cuts for me.

As for the production, I never really found production to be an issue with either album - I think UTRC's is a bit better and more suited to the more extreme nature of it, but I've generally found Circle's production pretty satisfactory. In any case, I'd probably put UTRC just above Circle, but for me they both (along with Eclipse) are my favourite of the Joutsen albums - and I really like the other three too.

I'm quite amazed that this is still best rated album since Enslaved axioma ethica odini

This album still gets played a lot on my ipod what a great CD. Glad it's got so many 10's!

It's a decent album but I didn't get as hyped as most did unfortunately. Also it's funny that the bonus song Come The Spring is much better than any of the non-bonus songs.

Just came across the Japanese bonus track "The Wind" - it's not quite as good as the main album tracks or even Come The Spring, but it's a good listen for those who are curious or want more Amorphis

In my opinion this is the best album with Tomi Joutsen and one of the best metal albums of 2015!

Despite the great reviews i believe Circle was better... Bad Blood and Death Of A King are the best songs IMO...

Written by Deadmeat on 26.02.2016 at 23:54

Despite the great reviews i believe Circle was better... Bad Blood and Death Of A King are the best songs IMO...

At first I considered this to be superior to Circle. Now I'd say they're equally worthy of being called Amorphis' best album.

Amazing album! As good as every song is great and original. Perfect production. Captivating atmospheric sound from keys and song. Great power from guitars and growls, which might be even better than Mikael Åkerfeldt's.

Absolutely killer album!.

I think that this album is the pinnacle of current Amorphis line-up and it will be very hard to surpass. Under The Red Cloud does not contain a single filler song, sounds both consistent and diverse and provides a great performance from all the musicians.
It's hard to choose any favourite tracks, because all of them are great.

Wow! Beautiful album!

After two 'eh' albums this is a huge return to form

Another thoughts after listening this, in some way last 2 albums are a bit different Joutsen era albums, and this same, not so heavy as last one but same time same style, diference is not so extreme vocals

Written by Bad English on 12.10.2017 at 12:58

Another thoughts after listening this, in some way last 2 albums are a bit different Joutsen era albums, and this same, not so heavy as last one but same time same style, diference is not so extreme vocals

This has a larger amount of "extreme" vocals than other Joutsen albums, and that's not even an opinion.

At first - was kind 'meh' for me. But now - holy shit, this is so good.

These guys know what they're doing

Written by skydancer79 on 18.05.2019 at 18:11

Soo average. Soo streamlined. Pretty boring to listen.

Hehe. If you find this one average and streamlined I am curious what you think about Queen of time.

Their best album IMO.

8.9/10 for me - 'Death Of A King' is the standout song. 'Under The Red Cloud', 'Sacrifice' and 'Dark Path' are all also fantastic. 'The Skull' and 'Tree Of Ages' are the weaker songs on this album.

If they have a better album, I've yet to hear it.

Incredibly melodic, incredibly catchy and incredibly good.

I wish Amorphis were playing their own headline dates here in the UK instead of supporting bloody Nightwish.

Such a great album, and by far the best of the later Amorphis albums, and second best only to Tales From The Thousand Lakes imo. It's wonderfully produced, with some of the best songwriting in modern metal. The melodies are fantastic and highly memorable. The songs are structured with such elegance, and wonderfully crafted with such elegance, with nothing out of place. The balance between the harsh, and soft vocals work very well, and are excellently performed, the choruses are

Hard to pick a favourite song but the stand out one's for me are "Dark Path", "Bad Blood", "Under A Red Cloud", and "The Skull", but tbf there are no tracks worth skipping.

8.8/997 votes
I don't get it why this is so high rated, so beloved.
I will give this a second chance, I just don't understand the hype.

Written by John_Doe on 14.04.2022 at 10:33

8.8/997 votes
I don't get it why this is so high rated, so beloved.
I will give this a second chance, I just don't understand the hype.

There's no hidden secret to it; it's a heavy melodic album that's overloaded with fantastic melodies, great vocals and a surprising amount of intensity between the likes of The Four Wise Ones and Dark Path, and it all flows together sumptuously across the songs and the tracklist as a whole. To me, it's the culmination of what they were working towards ever since the current vocalist joined the band, but it's not some kind of avant-garde record that's going to reveal itself over lots of listens, so if you don't like it on first listen you're probably just not going to like it

Written by musclassia on 14.04.2022 at 10:46

Written by John_Doe on 14.04.2022 at 10:33

8.8/997 votes
I don't get it why this is so high rated, so beloved.
I will give this a second chance, I just don't understand the hype.

There's no hidden secret to it; it's a heavy melodic album that's overloaded with fantastic melodies, great vocals and a surprising amount of intensity between the likes of The Four Wise Ones and Dark Path, and it all flows together sumptuously across the songs and the tracklist as a whole. To me, it's the culmination of what they were working towards ever since the current vocalist joined the band, but it's not some kind of avant-garde record that's going to reveal itself over lots of listens, so if you don't like it on first listen you're probably just not going to like it

I'm still gonna give it a second chance. Let's see what happens.

Written by John_Doe on 14.04.2022 at 10:56

Written by musclassia on 14.04.2022 at 10:46

Written by John_Doe on 14.04.2022 at 10:33

8.8/997 votes
I don't get it why this is so high rated, so beloved.
I will give this a second chance, I just don't understand the hype.

There's no hidden secret to it; it's a heavy melodic album that's overloaded with fantastic melodies, great vocals and a surprising amount of intensity between the likes of The Four Wise Ones and Dark Path, and it all flows together sumptuously across the songs and the tracklist as a whole. To me, it's the culmination of what they were working towards ever since the current vocalist joined the band, but it's not some kind of avant-garde record that's going to reveal itself over lots of listens, so if you don't like it on first listen you're probably just not going to like it

I'm still gonna give it a second chance. Let's see what happens.

This one is a grower, one of the good albums from Amorphis.
I still think it's overrated here on metalstorm (8.8).