Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud - review
Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud - review
Tracklist
Disc I01. Under The Red Cloud
02. The Four Wise Ones
03. Bad Blood
04. The Skull
05. Death Of A King
06. Sacrifice
07. Dark Path
08. Enemy At The Gates
09. Tree Of Ages
10. White Night [feat. Aleah Stanbridge]
11. Come The Spring [Digipak & 2LP bonus]
12. Winter's Sleep [Digipak & 2LP bonus]
13. The Wind [Japanese bonus]
Disc II [limited tour edition bonus] [An Evening With Friends At Huvila]
01. Enigma [live]
02. Far From The Sun [live]
03. Silent Waters [live]
04. My Kantele [live]
05. Silver Bride [live]
06. Sampo [live]
07. Alone [live]
08. The Wanderer [live]
09. Her Alone [feat. Anneke van Giersbergen] [live]
A review by
Dream Taster August 28, 2015
After 5 high-quality albums the band decided to change horizons by holding recording sessions in the famed Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden. Producer Jens Bogren pushed the guys to sound more aggressive but also to be more adventurous. Oriental melodies and folk influences make their apparition while tracks have more edge. Bogren's history with bands like Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity, Moonspell and Kreator must have helped shape this harsher sound. In this framework, Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari both seem to have rekindled their love for those crushing melodic guitar leads. Drummer Jan Rechberger is having a grand old time blasting beats, Niclas Etelävuori fills in his role as bassist extraordinaire to perfection. Santeri Kallio manages to steal the spotlight at times with his piano and keys. Tomi Joutsen continues to assert himself as one of the finest vocalists in the genre. More importantly, the band really emerges as one unit, tight and impressive all the way through.
A few guest appearances add another dimension to the songs. Chrigel Glanzmann [Eluveitie] produces his flute magic on a couple of tunes. Martin Lopez [Soen, ex-Opeth] plays percussions on "Death Of A King" and Aleah Stanbridge [Trees Of Eternity] provides some intriguing female vocals. As a result, tracks on Under The Red Cloud are more distinct than on their previous albums.
Under The Red Cloud is a 50-minute offering of a more varied brand of Amorphis. It features memorable moments, an edgier sound and above all, killer tracks. It is impossible for me to pick a favorite one. I have been listening to this band for a long time. This new album is easily on par with their best albums to date, if not better.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written on 28.08.2015 by
Written on 28.08.2015 by
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as:"A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?"
I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math.
Comments
Comments:
14
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| Enemy of Reality
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 Posts: 4326 |
Posts: 4326
If this album actually surpasses Circle, I'll need an extra-large bucket to fill with my...delight.
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Posts: 444  |
Posts: 444
See, Circle's downside was it's upside. It was so 'round' and perfectly balanced that it didn't leave much highs or lows. It was like a 7 or an 8 throughout the entire album. Which isn't bad, but it didn't leave much room for those "oh, wow!" moments. From the sounds of this review this album seems to be as consistently good as Circle, but with more variety. Hopefully that variety can provide those 'Wow' moments this time around. 
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Posts: 8653
I hope it's as good as you make it sound. I loved Circle and pretty much everything since Joutsen joined, so hopes are high. Surprised to see comments about Circle here and elsewhere that make it sound 'samey'. In between Narrow Path, Mission, Nightbird's Song, Enchanted By The Moon and A New Day I thought it offered quite a wide-stretching and dynamic journey that allowed the obviously standout moments to shine. I still don't really like Hopeless Days, but I think the album's excellent
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 Posts: 64428 |
Posts: 64428
I am interested to hear this one
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Posts: 4326 |
Posts: 4326 Written by musclassia on 28.08.2015 at 21:32 This.
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Posts: 17  |
Posts: 17
Mmmm yea it's heavy. Overall I'd say it's heavy. Heavy Score: 6 out of 10 For ranking system see: Poat's Heavy Ranking System
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Posts: 39  |
Posts: 39
Death of a king is a killer track. The best they have produced with jousten and the best since early Melo death days. My boys are back!
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Posts: 1208  |
Posts: 1208
Hmm this review found me interested as well even tho I quit listening to Amorphis years ago after Tuonela... Time to give them a second listening
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 Posts: 1761 |
Posts: 1761
A great comeback after a streak of average albums... Their best since Eclipse and Silent Waters!
---- My "blackened synth metal" solo project: maladomini.bandcamp.com. Whenever I write something funny, weird, or pretentious... I learned English by playing Baldur's Gate, okay?
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Posts: 94  |
Posts: 94
Finally a REAL fucking Amorphis album. This and Queen of Time, best Amorphis albums since Tales From The Thousand Lakes
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