poslednijat_colobar New era and return to form

The release of Eclipse reveals the beginning of new era of this gifted finnish band. The previous vocalist Pasi Koskinen departed from Amorphis and Tomi Joutsen arrives. That changes totally the musical direction of the band. There is reintroduction of death vocals preformed by the same vocalist as the clean vocals for the first time in band's history. There is a return to their older style of the mid-90s combined with a new modern gothic sound.

Eclipse contains much heavier sound than its three predecessors. It's a combination of progressive/folk/melodic death/gothic metal. Despite the return to the oldest works, Eclipse lie absolutely remote from doom metal. It's a dynamic album full of saturated and balanced parts as well as variety and innovation. There aren't boredom or cliches.

Excellent return. 4- stars

UMUR "Eclipse" is the 7th full-length studio album by Finnish metal act Amorphis. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in February 2006. Since the release of the band´s previous album "Far From the Sun (2003)" there´s been a significant lineup change as lead vocalist Pasi Koskinen has been replaced by Tomi Joutsen. The lead vocalist spot is probably the most vulnerable part of a lineup, and especially for established artists it can sometimes prove to be a very unpopular decision to make a change on that position. Tomi Joutsen came from a stint with Sinisthra and was not one of the over 100 hopeful singers who send in demos to Amorphis to apply to become their new lead vocalist. It was a word of mouth arrangement and Joutsen was hired after a successful audition.

The music on "Eclipse" is melodic and epic metal with some harder edged parts. There´s also a strong traditional ethnic element on some tracks. The addition of new vocalist Tomi Joutsen is a positive feature in my book. He has a strong voice and he is able to vary his vocal style greatly, which gives Amorphis an extra dimension in the vocal department. There are even some death growls on the album which is something Amorphis otherwise had abandoned. The tracks on the album are all very well composed, melodic and memorable. Some are even a bit adventurous (slightly progressive) but most are simple vers/chorus structured compositions. The lyrics are from a play based on the "Kullervo" legend which is told in the "Kalevala" (Epic Poem about Finland), written by Finnish poet and playwright Paavo Haavikko in 1982.

The musicianship are very strong. In addition to the strong vocal performance by Tomi Joutsen, the rythm section is powerful and tight, the guitars are heavy and melodic and the keyboards provide some epic polish. "Eclipse" is also packed in a professional and well sounding production, which suits the music well. "Eclipse" is in other words a quality release through and through. If I have to mention a slight issue it would be that the album sometimes become a bit too polished and nice (lacking bite). Keyboards have a tendency to do that to music though, so I´m sure it´s a conscious choice by the band. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.