Amorphis | Halo

February 10, 2022 Managing Editor Music Reviews Comments Off

by Justin Gaines
— Writer —

It’s almost unfair to witness a band continuing to release their best material three decades into their career. At a stage when many bands are content to phone it in with safe releases, Finnish progressive/folk/death metal titans Amorphis keep pushing themselves to create timeless and career-defining albums. With every new album you think “well, they’ll never top that,” and they always do.

Their latest album, their fourteenth to date, is titled Halo, and with it Amorphis faced the task of following up what is arguably the best metal album – of the century – in 2018’s Queen Of Time. Halo is not just a follow-up to Queen Of Time, it’s the third in a themed trilogy that started with 2015’s Under The Red Cloud. The band once again enlisted longtime lyricist Pekka Kainulainen to dig deep into Finnish folklore – specifically the Kalevala – to tie Halo to its predecessors and create epic, poetic themes that are both historical and timeless. Also returning is producer Jens Bogren, who as usual brings out the best in the bands he works with.

Along with delving into the Kalevala, Amorphis reaches deep into their seeming bottomless bag of folk-infused melodies here. These melodies are instantly recognizable as Amorphis, and are a vital counterpart to the heavy riffs and melancholy atmosphere that make Halo such a success. Another vital piece is the massive vocal performance from Tomi Joutsen, who delivers titanic growls and melodic clean vocals in equal measure to great effect.

Now to the big question: is Halo better than Queen Of Time? Answer: maybe. Queen Of Time was an instant classic, and repeat spins only reinforced that status. It’s going to take repeat spins to see just how Halo measures up. Fortunately, it’s an album you’re going to want to play – a lot. This is prime Amorphis, channeling everything that makes this band great into another set of unforgettable songs.

By the third spin you can legit say “sweet, I love this song” to all eleven tracks, but there are a few that deserve special mention. Album opener “Northwards” has the best slow build-ridiculously catchy melody/ROAR progression in existence, and is the perfect lead-in to the early singles “On The Dark Waters” and “The Moon,” both of which capture Halo’s overall sound and character perfectly. “Seven Roads Come Together” may be Halo’s most memorable song though, with melodies, keyboard tones and overall atmospheres that transport you right back to the band’s genre-defying classics Elegy and Tuonela. Each song builds on the one before it to pick the listener up into a vortex of storm and calm, beauty and ferocity, myths and legends, until bringing them back to the ground with the tranquil closer “My Name Is Night,” which finds Joutsen trading soulful vocals with Petronella Nettermalm. It would have been nice to see Anneke van Giersbergen make a return appearance, but Nettermalm does a fine job here.

Somehow Amorphis continues to raise the bar. Halo is a more than worthy successor to Under The Red Cloud and Queen Of Time, and further cements their legacy as one of most consequential and unique bands in metal. It’s heavy. It’s beautiful. It’s glorious. And it’s going to take something truly amazing to knock Halo out of the top spot for 2022 releases.

Genre: Progressive Metal, Folk Metal, Death Metal

Band:
Tomi Joutsen – vocals
Esa Holopainen – guitars
Tomi Koivusaari – guitars
Santeri Kallio – keyboards
Olli-Pekka Laine – bass
Jan Rechberger – drums
Tracklisting:
01. Northwards
02. On The Dark Waters
03. The Moon
04. Windmane
05. A New Land
06. When The Gods Came
07. Seven Roads Come Together
08. War
09. Halo
10. The Wolf
11. My Name Is Night