Amazing record. One of the classic's in the melodic death metal history.

Totally agree.

While not my personal favorite album by the band (that place is taken by Skyforger), this album will never be denied its impact in death metal history. Check this album out to see what you have been missing. It is quite the experience!

Words cannot describe...

Written by king_matt on 25.12.2012 at 06:44

Words cannot describe...

I could think of a few, including; stunning, marvelous, beautiful, haunting, amazing, good, great, fantastic.... basically anything along those lines

Written by Alex F on 05.02.2013 at 21:05

Written by king_matt on 25.12.2012 at 06:44

Words cannot describe...

I could think of a few, including; stunning, marvelous, beautiful, haunting, amazing, good, great, fantastic.... basically anything along those lines

Nope, none of those words does this album justice.

Maybe if he writes them in finnish.... Or Klingon.

In The Beginning is an AMAZING song! i cant say the same for the others which are good but nothing astonishing.

Written by Deadmeat on 04.04.2013 at 21:38

In The Beginning is an AMAZING song! i cant say the same for the others which are good but nothing astonishing.

Black Winter Day > rest of the album to me.

Amazing album. Still gets played fairly regularly after nearly 20 years. Best Finnish album ever.

Written by Guest on 04.04.2013 at 22:04

Written by Deadmeat on 04.04.2013 at 21:38

In The Beginning is an AMAZING song! i cant say the same for the others which are good but nothing astonishing.

Black Winter Day > rest of the album to me.

I agree , about that but still this is my fav album, my 1th from band and after so many years I still like it and like it weery much, but BWD is my fav song

This album is great overall, the melodies are VERY unique, but the only thing I didn't like are the vocals. It reminds me of other extreme metal bands (e.g. Draconian, DoomVS, Amon Amarth). I honestly can't stand deep guttural vocals in melodeath (with the exception of EoS).

I have listened to three albums by Amorphis and this album is the best so far. Considering that this album is 20 years old, that is not bad at all.

I don't usually listen to this style of metal, for some reason it's one of those albums I have to be in the right mood for. Special mention goes to that riff in 'Magic and Mayhem' about 1min and 10seconds into the song, that riff sounds awesome!!!! I can see & appreciate why this album is considered to be really good. Album flows very well from start to end.

Edit: This albums been a grower for me, seem to enjoy it the more I hear it! Changed from an 8 to a 9

Written by Guest on 04.04.2013 at 22:04

Black Winter Day > rest of the album to me.

Honestly I think Into Hiding might be my favorite song off the album. I used to regard BWD as their best however

Written by Bad English on 26.06.2013 at 22:49

Written by Guest on 04.04.2013 at 22:04

Written by Deadmeat on 04.04.2013 at 21:38

In The Beginning is an AMAZING song! i cant say the same for the others which are good but nothing astonishing.

Black Winter Day > rest of the album to me.

I agree , about that but still this is my fav album, my 1th from band and after so many years I still like it and like it weery much, but BWD is my fav song

i agree, but drowned maid comes close

The band will play this album in entirety at Wacken 2015!

At least Wacken will have one good thing going for it then.

Written by Alex F on 02.06.2014 at 22:09

Honestly I think Into Hiding might be my favorite song off the album. I used to regard BWD as their best however

To be honest, I'm at a loss when it comes to choosing which track is the best. If I had to choose I'd go for To Fathers Cabin. That one is damn groovy. But what I mean is that all the songs are pretty much equally awesome, which makes the album very consistent (and awesome, obviously). Total classic album.

Somehow the whole album is even better live.

Written by deadone on 12.06.2015 at 06:46

This album bores the shit out of me.

To make matters worse, my version had the god awful cover of The Door's classic "Light My Fire."

Suffice to say, I sold it for $3 to the local second hand store.

cover is weak, but album is good seems rare case when understahd Finnish winter, as asue you never will , since you freeze under plus 15, great album, its finnish deal, same as Karelian , what Finnish people will understand and only your friends as Rasputin as WP want get back

It's a great album, but I don't get what the fuss is all about, especially with "Black Winter Day". So many riffs on the album are just so...cringe-worthy. There are plenty of brilliant moments though, like 0:51 on "The Castaway", 0:32 on "Into Hiding", and all of the last three songs not including the bonus tracks. Imho, Elegy is the superior album from that part of their discography.

Written by LeKiwi on 30.09.2015 at 02:43

It's a great album, but I don't get what the fuss is all about, especially with "Black Winter Day". So many riffs on the album are just so...cringe-worthy. There are plenty of brilliant moments though, like 0:51 on "The Castaway", 0:32 on "Into Hiding", and all of the last three songs not including the bonus tracks.

What other moments do you not like, more specifically? Aside BWD of course.

Written by Risto on 30.09.2015 at 10:23

What other moments do you not like, more specifically? Aside BWD of course.

Here's the most specific moments I can remember:
- The first 16 seconds of "Into Hiding" I probably dislike the most. It sounds like the guitarist is just practicing one scale really slow.
- The first riff of "The Castaway" sounds pretty amateur.
- All the clean vocals on the album are just nasal and I think the choice of melody is poor.

Anyway, I doubt anyone else shares my thoughts on the album

Written by LeKiwi on 30.09.2015 at 13:50


Anyway, I doubt anyone else shares my thoughts on the album

Judging from the Deadone quote just above your comment, looks like you're not the only dissenting voice. In any case, I'm right on board with the hype this album gets (plug: check out my Getting Into: Amorphis article, articulated my thoughts about the album about as well as I can there). But for the sake of discussion:

Written by LeKiwi on 30.09.2015 at 13:50

- The first 16 seconds of "Into Hiding" I probably dislike the most. It sounds like the guitarist is just practicing one scale really slow.

To be fair, I guess at a basic level it is kinda like that. However, that feels a bit like taking it out of context, it's more than just a descending scale, it feels more like an intimidating descent into the incoming heaviness following the subdued piano intro. But hey, Into Hiding is probably one of the less remarkable songs on the album, so I won't defend it too hard.

Written by LeKiwi on 30.09.2015 at 13:50

- All the clean vocals on the album are just nasal and I think the choice of melody is poor.

I'm glad they got Pasi and later Tomi as vocalists for clean vox, as the singer (I think it's Koivusaari on this album?) clearly isn't a particularly talented clean vocalist. However, I think his kinda eerie sound is effective in its brief appearances on Into Hiding and In The Beginning; particularly on Into Hiding, the vocal line is really weird, and it still sounds awkward when a more competent vocalist like Joutsen sings it, but sang in that weird voice mixed in with the sinister melancholy of that section really complements it in my book. I can see the vocals being more of a problem on Black Winter Day for those who don't like them though, even if I think that song is great and love the chorus.

Written by LeKiwi on 30.09.2015 at 13:50

- The first riff of "The Castaway" sounds pretty amateur.

Now THIS one I have to firmly disagree - come on man, that opening echo-ey riff sounds like some kind of pained, desparate cry across the titular lake shown on the album cover, I love that part! But hey, there's no accounting for taste

Written by musclassia on 30.09.2015 at 22:28

I'm glad they got Pasi and later Tomi as vocalists for clean vox, as the singer (I think it's Koivusaari on this album?) clearly isn't a particularly talented clean vocalist.

I'm surprised you don't know the name of the singer, given you wrote the article.



Ville Tuomi - vocals
Mikael Tanner - guitar
Santeri Kallio - keyboards
Niclas Etelävuori - bass
Mika "Gas Lipstick" Karppinen - drums

As for his talent, Tales is actually one of the few recordings where I've heard the power he is capable of. He's not your standad heavy metal powerhouse but does well with his unmistakable voice.

Written by Risto on 30.09.2015 at 22:36


I'm surprised you don't know the name of the singer, given you wrote the article.


Ville Tuomi - vocals

Once upon a time I knew that, but I'd forgotten - I was sure it was someone other than Koivusaari but I couldn't remember, and when I checked the wiki page I somehow missed the 'additional musicians' part. He really sounds different in that song you linked! Not sure if he sounds better, but at least he sounds more interesting on Tales than that song

Written by musclassia on 30.09.2015 at 22:28

Judging from the Deadone quote just above your comment, looks like you're not the only dissenting voice.

But hey, there's no accounting for taste

Yeah, he really didn't like it I still think I might be the only one who enjoyed the album, but had gripes with little things scattered around it. Taste indeed...

Uhm, so I'm just checking this out for the first time... to my set of ears, they are really just playing the same song 9 times. Not a whole lot of variance. This doesn't mean it's bad, it's just a one-sided experience. That one song is great. The AC/DC of melodic death. Also the second half of the record seems better to me. I'm pretty sure I'll come back to it some time, cause I enjoyed it more and more as the songs progressed. The cover art is indeed beautiful. The rating might be too inflated though, possibly some romanticising thing going on. Just my 2 cents...

Written by qlacs on 21.10.2019 at 14:23

Uhm, so I'm just checking this out for the first time... to my set of ears, they are really just playing the same song 9 times. Not a whole lot of variance.

Don't tell me The Castaway isn't much different from Into Hiding. This is just one obvious example