File uploads completed. Click here to upload more files. Download files directly from other sites into your account. Note: If the files are on another file download site or password protected, this may not work.
Transfer Files. Options Enter up to 5 file urls. Separate each url on it's own line. File transfers completed. Send Via Email:. Email Address:. Oh, well. Amorphis dodged a bullet on this one, desperately pushing their fewest and best to the forefront to hide the fact that, in most cases, they obviously had little knowledge as to what they were doing with themselves on this album. Here comes at least the best Metal record of the year.
Over the years, Amorphis has become my favourite band of all times. I simply adore the epic and yet addicting mixture of genres of the band that went from progressive death metal over progressive folk rock to an addicting kind of melodic metal. With the arrival of singer Tomi Joutsen, the band finally got some stability and has found its very own style as well. The albums fronted by him had many strong points in common but many fans and also the band itself were afraid that a new record could sound too repetitive.
This collaboration eventually led to more developed folk elements than ever before and a return to the death metal roots of the band plus the surprising addition of a few very well employed black metal passages.
The band offers some of its most brutal and pitiless songs since the first two records. The amazing opener is crowned by an energizing clean vocal chorus. Both songs are absolute killer tracks but this is just the beginning. The latter track features unchained black metal vocals, grounded death metal growls and truly emotional clean vocal passages performed by one singer who performs any style in passionate perfection.
The instruments vary from apocalyptic and blistering passages to melodic and liberating breaks. This song is easily one of the best the band has ever created in its long career. Tomi Joutsen has always been one of my favourite singers but this release is his personal opus magnum and perfectly impressive from the beginning to the end.
The enchanting and dreamy folk elements that might please to the power metal community show the other and softer side of the band. The folk elements can therefore be described as some sort of guiding line of the album and are included in almost all songs. Some of them even mix both the new dominant folk elements and the black metal tones and these songs turn out to be particularly amazing.
In the end, this album includes just killers and no fillers. Only time will tell. Amorphis truly defend their metal throne with what happens to be probably their best album ever released. Check this album out at all costs and be sure to get the limited box set that features three more high quality bonus tracks and other useful gimmicks.
Originally written for The Metal Observer. Amorphis has been a constant in my playlist for many years, and is a band with a truly fitting band name considering the number of styles they have tried out. Their stint with current vocalist Tomi Joutsen, a master of the growls and a damn good clean singer as well, has produced four albums so far. One might describe it as a very catchy form of extreme metal as growls are often combined with infectious melodies and big choruses.
At this point I believe I'm in for an absolute treat as tremolo riffs hasn't exactly been something this band have been doing in the last ten years or so. The verses are brutal, yet keyboard laden in a way that best resembles "Majestic Beast" from the "Skyforger" album.
Chorus is a typical Amorphis clean vocal bombast, it's catchy as hell but nothing they haven't achieved before. It's unfortunately about as good as it gets. This album does annoy me, and after a few spins I realize why. In the previews the band members spoke of leaving the current sound they've had with Tomi Joutsen for four discs to start a journey towards something different, a well needed change in my eyes since "The Beginning of Times" felt a little bit dry.
However, many of the songs that are supposed to bring the change come off as very campy and sound more like a folky mash up between the "Elegy" album and Nightwish than anything else.
It's cute and catchy, but leaves me unaffected. Talented vocal and musical performances aside, this just doesn't come off as inspired at all. It's never outright bad, just kind of there. Tomi Joutsen brings out the growl at times to summon some well needed energy, but it's also worth noticing that he tries out some black metal rasps that sound no more than decent, eliminating possible growl spots in the process.
The best clean vocal choruses of the album are the places where it really gets going, as the guitars aren't much to write home about. Unfortunately, they are too far between. A lot of the depth and dynamics that provided punch and proper room for the keyboards and clean guitars to shine is gone. This sounds clean and comfortable, but highly sterile and processed. Worth noticing is also that this is coming from a person who has no problem at all listening to the most Pro Tools-infected Andy Sneap production jobs.
It's another attempt at a bunch of hits that are kind of heavy and kind of catchy. How about making some songs that actually stand out as heavy OR catchy? This band needs dynamics, and it needs it now. After the trilogy of Eclipse , Silent Waters , and Skyforger , many Amorphis aficionados felt that the band stagnated with their tenth album, The Beginning of Times.
While I personally enjoy the majority of that album, it's hard to make the argument that it broke any kind of new ground for the band; to the contrary, it decidedly borrows elements from each of the preceding three albums to make a fitting, albeit less remarkable, continuation of the Joutsen-era. That's all fine and dandy, but where the hell do they go from here? Enter Circle. This album was advertised from the get-go as a no-bullshit departure from the mold that it seemed the band had become all too comfortable in.
Based on initial statements, it was impossible to guess what turns this album had in store for fans. Could this actually be a genre-hop as drastic as Tales And if so, then what on Earth would it sound like? As a die hard fan, I was as apprehensive as I was excited. Did Circle deliver what was promised?
Yes and no, but it's thoroughly awesome regardless. Thankfully the sound doesn't fall into dime-a-dozen Studio Abyss fodder, and manages to maintain an identity that is distinctly Amorphis. Take opener, Shades of Gray I know, right? Shades of Gray is a glorious part of Circle that truly does break new ground. On paper, it basically looks like the typical death metal pop song that Amorphis perfected years ago, but it's somehow so much more.
The recurring pre-chorus shows Joutsen using higher pitched shriek-vocals, which can thankfully be found throughout the album in tasteful sparseness. The incredible instrumental break beginning at is an example of Circle's slightly more progressive tendencies, as songs will often drift off for a short while into meandering keyboard solos Into the Abyss , or build-up melodies which give certain songs ass-kicking climaxes, namely Hopeless Days.
Something slightly strange happens after Shades of Gray. It's not that the following few songs are necessarily of inferior quality okay, well I'd probably say they marginally are , it's just that the sheer truculence of the opening track isn't equaled until track 6, Nightbird's Song.
Instead, we get Mission and Wanderer back-to-back, which are both great songs in their own right especially Mission , but I think their subdued nature would be more fitting closer to the end of the album. If there's one aspect of Circle that I think could have been improved, it's the order of songs. I often find myself skipping prematurely to Nightbird's Song or Enchanted by the Moon after Shades of Gray just because I need more growls, and then going back to Mission afterwards. Having said that, Hopeless Days packs some of the heaviest riffs on the album, and I only wish they could have found a way to incorporate at least one growled section into the song.
After this slight lull in continuity, Circle delivers again in a big way. The second half of the record is essentially flawless, with Enchanted by the Moon easily shining as the crowning jewel of the lot.
This is definitely one of my favourite Joutsen-era songs, which, by extension, makes it one of Amorphis' best songs period. Unlike anything else on the album, it's an epic journey of a song with so much different shit going on. Santeri even rips a church organ for added bombast. The recurring melody beginning at is fucking Zelda music; the climax beginning at is otherworldly. I kind of wish the whole album sounded more like this one song, but then again, that would detract from its uniqueness among the rest.
If you wanted Circle to be Amorphis' ultra-heavy return to full-on extreme metal, you might be vaguely satisfied, but mostly disappointed. That definitely isn't what's going on here, aside from Nightbird's Song seriously, who guessed we'd hear Immortal riffs in an Amorphis song , and parts of Shades of Gray and Enchanted by the Moon.
For the most part, Circle sounds familiar but offers enough glimpses of progression and experimentation to make it stand out among their other post albums. What admittedly baffles me is the fact that arguably the heaviest song on the album is the bonus track, Dead Man's Dream.
I commend Amorphis for opting for a 9 track album and keeping things concise, but this was not the song to sweep from the cutting board! Alas, the same mistake was made in the case of Separated, the awe-inspiring bonus track from Skyforger.
Personally, I don't really care whether the song is on the official tracklist or not, so long as it's available, but still, if I had my way with the order, Circle would look more like this: 1. Shades of Gray 2. Narrow Path 3. Dead Man's Dream 4. Wanderer 5. Hopeless Days 6.
Nightbird's Song 7. Though Circle is mostly enjoyable, at no time did I feel that compulsive need to play it over and over. I hesitate to say the writing feels stale at times, but it does. I hesitate even more to compare this to the works of inferior bands like Amaranthe , but in the same way you might burn out on their poppy, bubble gum metal choruses after a week of play, so did I lose interest in much of Circle, though this is obviously much better so hold off on the hate mail and death threats, you internet warlords.
Performance-wise, everyone sounds tight and together. Tomi continues to evolve and improve as a vocalist and he nails both the death vox and the melodic cleans.
0コメント