Amorphis

Amorphis (derived from amorphous, without defined form) began his career in 1990 at the initiative of guitarist-songwriter Esa Holopainen and drummer/clavierist Jan Rechberger, joined by guitarist/songwriter Tomi Koivusaari and bassist Olli Pekka-laine. The band recorded a demo, Disment Of Soul, which allowed them to contract with Relapse Records in 1991. The band, which played Death Metal at the time, then recorded a handful of songs (which ended up on the 1993 ep Privilege Of Evil) and then devoted itself to its first real album, The Karelian Isthmus , released in 1992, which surprised by its very melodic side. The album deals with warlike and religious themes from the Celtic angle, which can also surprise.
In 1994 Amorphis passed the second with Tales From The 1000 Lakes. This album won a nice public and critical success by offering a bold mix of Death and Doom Metal even praising on Heavy, with many progressive elements. He also enjoys the clear singing of Ville Tuomi. The ensemble, very melodic, draws its concept from a long Finnish epic poem named Kalevala. Today, Tales From The 1000 Lakes is a reference for many formations and a simple classic. After a long European tour alongside Paradise Lost and Tiamat, the band released in 1995 the Black Winter Day, containing unreleased Tales From The 1000 Lakes sessions. Soon after, Jan Rechberger left the band and Pekka Kasari replaced him as a drummer. Mid-1996 finally released Elegy , which definitely imposed the band on the Metal scene. Proposing an even more progressive atmosphere, alternating between Death singing by Tomi Koivusaari and clear singing by the newcomer Pasi Koskinen, the album is also inspired by traditional poems, taken from a collection called Kanteletar, and shows an Amorphis more Heavy than before, but still as atmospheric. It is followed by a new ep called My Kantele , completely acoustic, which shows the interest that musicians have in the Rock 70's.
The band then separated once again from its keyboardist, and began recording sessions of a new album. It was created in 1999. Tuonela marks the extension of Elegy , increasingly melodic and Heavy, and shows even more traditional sounds, especially Indian. The flute, the sitar make their appearance, while the song is now completely clear (except on Greed), Pasi taking a gallon on this disc. With Tuonela , Amorphis won a success almost comparable to that of Tales Of The 1000 Lakes, while moving away from the original Metal sphere. This new direction was confirmed in 2001 with Am Universum . The band plays there in a Rock 70's register incorporating many keyboards and psyched effects, without denying melancholic melodies and a certain dose of Metal. Amorphis then imposes a style that is both eye-catching and worked, through the icy atmospheres of Finland, to which the band has long been deeply committed. In 2003, their contract with Relapse Records ended with the Chapters compilation.
The band continued alone, producing its new album, Far From The Sun, that same year. Jan Rechberger is back on this occasion. More direct than its predecessor, tinted with Folk, the record first appeared in Europe and then in the USA the following year. A tour programmed in the United States is cancelled, although she gave Pasi, involved in many other musical projects ( Shape Of Despair, Ajattara ), the opportunity to leave Amorphis. The band struggled to replace him until he joined Tomi Joutsen, a charismatic frontman who won the favours of the crowds throughout the 2005 tour. For his new album, Amorphis signs at Nuclear Blast Records. Eclipse , released in 2006, returned to find inspiration on the Kalevala side and established itself as a new jewel on the part of the group at the line-up finally stabilized followed by Silent Waters in 2007 in the same line. Amorphis made a change with Skyforger in 2009 by taking a more melodic and accessible look than in the past. The Finnish reissued the following year, with the help of their last frontman, Tomi Joutsen, a dozen songs from their first three albums which appeared as Magic&Mayhem - Tales From The Early Years. With a cruise rhythm and a Metal less focused on its traditional folk influences, Amorphis suddenly released The Beginning Of Times in 2011, then Circle in 2013, still via Nuclear Blast Records.