{"id":69991,"date":"2022-02-10T22:50:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T03:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=69991"},"modified":"2022-02-10T22:50:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T03:50:10","slug":"amorphis-halo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2022\/amorphis-halo\/","title":{"rendered":"Amorphis | Halo"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n\u2014 Writer \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s 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 \u201cwell, they\u2019ll never top that,\u201d and they always do.<\/p>\n

Their latest album, their fourteenth to date, is titled Halo<\/em>, and with it Amorphis faced the task of following up what is arguably the best metal album \u2013 of the century \u2013 in 2018\u2019s Queen Of Time. Halo<\/em> is not just a follow-up to Queen Of Time,<\/em> it\u2019s the third in a themed trilogy that started with 2015\u2019s Under The Red Cloud.<\/em> The band once again enlisted longtime lyricist Pekka Kainulainen to dig deep into Finnish folklore \u2013 specifically the Kalevala \u2013 to tie Halo<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Now to the big question: is Halo<\/em> better than Queen Of Time<\/em>? Answer: maybe. Queen Of Time<\/em> was an instant classic, and repeat spins only reinforced that status. It\u2019s going to take repeat spins to see just how Halo<\/em> measures up. Fortunately, it\u2019s an album you\u2019re going to want to play \u2013 a lot. This is prime Amorphis, channeling everything that makes this band great into another set of unforgettable songs.<\/p>\n

By the third spin you can legit say \u201csweet, I love this song\u201d to all eleven tracks, but there are a few that deserve special mention. Album opener \u201cNorthwards\u201d has the best slow build-ridiculously catchy melody\/ROAR progression in existence, and is the perfect lead-in to the early singles \u201cOn The Dark Waters\u201d and \u201cThe Moon,\u201d both of which capture Halo\u2019s overall sound and character perfectly. \u201cSeven Roads Come Together\u201d may be Halo\u2019s most memorable song though, with melodies, keyboard tones and overall atmospheres that transport you right back to the band\u2019s 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 \u201cMy Name Is Night,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Somehow Amorphis continues to raise the bar. Halo is a more than worthy successor to Under The Red Cloud <\/em>and Queen Of Time<\/em>, and further cements their legacy as one of most consequential and unique bands in metal. It\u2019s heavy. It\u2019s beautiful. It\u2019s glorious. And it\u2019s going to take something truly amazing to knock Halo<\/em> out of the top spot for 2022 releases.<\/p>\n

Genre: Progressive Metal, Folk Metal, Death Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nTomi Joutsen \u2013 vocals
\nEsa Holopainen \u2013 guitars
\nTomi Koivusaari \u2013 guitars
\nSanteri Kallio \u2013 keyboards
\nOlli-Pekka Laine \u2013 bass
\nJan Rechberger \u2013 drums
\nTracklisting:
\n01. Northwards
\n02. On The Dark Waters
\n03. The Moon
\n04. Windmane
\n05. A New Land
\n06. When The Gods Came
\n07. Seven Roads Come Together
\n08. War
\n09. Halo
\n10. The Wolf
\n11. My Name Is Night<\/p>\n

Label: Atomic Fire Records<\/p>\n

Online: http:\/\/www.amorphis.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 9.5 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines \u2014 Writer \u2014 It\u2019s 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 […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":69992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13244,15500,15539],"class_list":{"0":"post-69991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music-reviews","8":"tag-amorphis","9":"tag-atomic-fire-records","10":"tag-halo-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}