Amorphis

Eclipse (Nuclear Blast)
by Scott Hefflon

Amorphis have always lived up to their name, and while most people argue about which album is the best and which is shit, they’re always an interesting listen, and you can give the albums you hate to people as gifts, and they’ll probably love ’em. No longer metal, not pigeon-holed Gothic rock, not simply a Pink Floyd tribute, Amorphis can doom it up, strum heartbreakingly, stand atop a mountain with their hair blowing all manly in the breeze singing hymns of their ancestors, and everything in and around those key points.

While many metalheads might gasp at the blasphemy, I like Amorphis better than Opeth, cuz there’s just more than demon growl over prog death and yearning Simon & Garfunkle folk here. The Goth runs deeper, the folk skips like ancient elves with secrets, not hippies cross-legged in the park. A riff like “Brother Moon” would never fly on something as weighty and oppressive and bloody serious as an Opeth record, and it’s a joy to hear a band roar mightily one minute, soar the cosmos the next, and skip around the fire, kicking up their heels to what I could swear is a Gary Moore tune, or something equally “Over the Hills and Far Away,” a Vintersorgian singer emoting his Viking heart out, replaced by an Opeth demon at the three minute mark, then closed out in dramatic Floydian fashion.
(www.nuclearblastusa.com)