Tuonela

Tuonela is a work on which Amorphis, while firmly keeping heavy guitar, more strongly puts forward quiet, beautiful keyboards, folk melody and a distinctive, deeply sinking atmosphere. Pushing the change of the previous Elegy further, it moves away from death metal’s reverberation into a more varied, progressive direction. Passages that let you listen carefully with the quiet space between notes and the rich afterglow of melody become markedly more frequent than passages of pure force. From the powerful drive of the opener “The Way” and the drama of “Morning Star” to the fantastical title track “Tuonela,” every song is engaging, while cuts like “Nightfall” and “Divinity” convey the work’s fullness. Pasi Koskinen’s clean vocals, grown more expressive, give the work a distinctive shading. A record whose rich, dark yet never fully closed sound shows fine, delicate colors one after another the more you listen. It beautifully gives form to deep Nordic lyricism with a more mature, refined arrangement. An engaging, ambitious work on which Amorphis powerfully achieved its musical deepening — a record where a new side of the band shines.