Amorphis "Eclipse" CD

The members of Amorphis are now in the prime of their careers. Having switched styles and manners in their type of music over their years, they now seem to have found their niche, and with Eclipse they’ve reclaimed their place as one of the top artists of their genre.
I must admit I was a little bit suspicious after the departure of long-time vocalist Pasi Koskinen, since this “Tomi Joutsen” character was little known to me. Tomi, however, brings the fresh tones to the sound which has sounded too much the same too long. Sometimes a slight change is good, and Tomi is living proof of it. Other than his vocals, the overall performance by the band is simply stunning. Never before has Amorphis’ music sounded this interesting. While the quality may have stayed the same (Amorphis has always been full with good musicians), this refreshment is more than welcome in my opinion. They now dare to take risks more than often, which is also good, and particularly in songwriting the whole scenario of “Eclipse” works very well. Take “Two Moons” for instance. They give quite a scare the first seconds of the track, as the keyboards sound insecure and weird. But as soon as the other instruments kick in, you know it works, because then both the rhythm and melody seem comfortable. “Two Moons” by the way is the most experimental track here, with it’s difficulty to apprehend the full patterns of the song. The casual weaker melodies (most apparent on their album “Tuonela”) are still here and there. Although they may be widely spread out, it bugs me how they sometimes satisfy with the weaker efforts. The single “House of Sleep” contains way too much trails of Charon for their own good. Same goes for “Born from Fire”. Tomi single-handedly saves these two tracks. “The Smoke” brings back old Amorphis with a little bit of growling. The vocalist handles both clean vocals and growls very well. “Empty opening” is also worth mentioning for its majestic chorus.
As stated, Amorphis have reclaimed their status they once had. Although this is not “Elegy” (classic), it’s breathes enough new energy through the whole genre, so one can already safely say this stands out as one of the best albums of the year.

Official promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Official promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...