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Blizk
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:30 am
Posts: 260
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:04 pm 
 

The live premiere of "Shades of Gray" (which still went by its working title back then) is still up on Youtube. Those who are after variety in harsh vocals may want to pay attention to the second verse, though the bass drum drowns them a bit.


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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
Posts: 6229
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:45 pm 
 

Yeah, that song really does sound otherworldy good. Joutsen's vocal capabilities always blow me away; during that first verse, especially, he sounds like a fucking Karelian war god unleashed upon the mortal world. When I saw them live in 2010 I was so surprised to see that he stands about five foot nothing tall. Yeah, I also recall hearing an interview from him recently in which he said he had experimented with some different vocal techniques which he'd never done before.


Last edited by Razakel on Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ill-Starred Son
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2011 8:10 pm
Posts: 1420
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 8:07 pm 
 

Blizk wrote:
The live premiere of "Shades of Gray" (which still went by its working title back then) is still up on Youtube. Those who are after variety in harsh vocals may want to pay attention to the second verse, though the bass drum drowns them a bit.



That's a great fucking song.

If that's any indication of what the other tracks sound like then this album should be great.

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hakarl
Metel fraek

Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:41 pm
Posts: 8816
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 2:42 am 
 

Razakel wrote:
Ill-Starred Son wrote:
I should know the answer to this question, but on Elegy did Koivusaari do all the growling vocals and Koskinen do all the clean ones, or did the former do some clean vox and the latter some growling, etc?


Koivusaari did all the harsh vocals on Elegy while Koskinen did the cleans. On Tuonela, however, Koskinen took over all vocals, as Koivusaari wanted to focus on only guitar.

I haven't listened to Elegy in ages, but I'm quite sure Better Unborn had Koskinen doing the growling. :scratch:
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Razakel
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 4:00 am 
 

Nope, it's Koivusaari who does the growled first verse. He performed trade-off vocals with Pasi live until 1997. Here's an old clip of Better Unborn live (comes on after Cares): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKwqFYZ5M1o

Koivusaari didn't perform vocals again until he guested on Moonsorrow's monolithic Tulimyrsky EP in 2008.

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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 2:23 am 
 

A very exciting new interview with Esa Holopainen: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured ... terviewed/

Highlights include (through Holopainen's surprisingly broken English)

Quote:
Our producer Peter Tägtgren has brought lot of old school ideology back to band. I guess that we have needed sort of encouragement to go for slightly more extreme sound world. It is more low bass-ed, guitar-oriented and there’s shit load of varieties on Tomi’s vocals.


Quote:
I can say that we are highly influenced on what we did and during recording process we did compare to the old albums like Elegy or Tales… I know that Peter is trying to get some of that old shit on the album, so let’s see how he succeeds with this.


He seems to hesitate in advertising the new album as a 'back-to-the-roots' endeavor, but the fact they're looking to Tales... and Elegy for inspiration really excites me. The live video of the new song really does sound to me like a modern interpretation of the Elegy sound, and I'm really interested to find out if that's representative of the whole album. I also liked this bit:

Quote:
We had pretty clear structure on most of the songs, but some of the intro parts we came up with [were after] getting stoned and jamming.

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Deviante
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:59 pm
Posts: 651
PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:06 am 
 

Thanks for posting the interview, Razakel. I am definitely getting good vibes from this album. I want a single really badly now!
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doomster999
Keeper of the Dreary Realm

Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:58 am
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:08 am 
 

I prefer Joutsen era over Koskinen. Joutsen is a stupendous vocalist, the way he does the variations I'd rate him above most other vocalists of similar style. The artwork of the album is very intriguing. If the album turns out anything like their first outing with Joutsen which is 'Eclipse' I'd be highly satisfied.
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Folkemon_
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:07 pm 
 

Maybe Circle means Full Circle, one could only hope haha.
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Razakel
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 9:45 pm 
 

Folkemon_ wrote:
Maybe Circle means Full Circle, one could only hope haha.


In that sense, I really felt that Eclipse was aptly titled since it seemed to merge Amorphis' melodic/eclectic 'death' metal past with their softer, progressive tendencies of the late '90s/early '00s.

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Razakel
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:33 pm 
 

The first single, Hopeless Days, was supposedly played on a Finnish radio station this morning. I wasn't able to listen to it, but it's officially released tomorrow so I'm excited about that. According to comments on their last.fm page, it's heavier than your average Amorphis single, but doesn't feature growls. I don't know of anyone who recorded it, so I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to listen.

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Snowgrave
Under The Plaintive Sky

Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:31 pm
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Location: U.S.
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:48 pm 
 

You can listen to a minute preview of the track here: http://www.7digital.com/artist/amorphis ... eless-days

Nothing real different about it, unfortunately.

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Mysticaloldbard
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:10 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:25 pm 
 

It does sound a little bit heavier, but bear in mind it's the single. "You I Need" was the single off The Beginning of Times and was quite different from the rest of the album. Anyway, I think it sounds good.
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Razakel
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:45 pm 
 

Heh, sample wasn't all the interesting, but I'm still intrigued to listen to the whole song. It's true that Amorphis singles are pretty much the least representative songs on the album.

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IX Leviathan
Bepsi

Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:09 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:29 pm 
 

The new single is pretty damn good. Definitely a bit of change in direction from their last four releases. Almost seems like it has a Judgement-era Anathema vibe to it, the verses at least... Maybe it's just me. Nonetheless, cannot wait for the rest of this album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdKt1aw4 ... e=youtu.be
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Razakel
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Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:01 pm 
 

After several listens I'm really digging this. It definitely doesn't sound like a typical Amorphis single, and I'm really liking the thick guitar sound. Really makes me want to hear a heavier track off the album; I hope they release another one soon. By the way, I just love the solo at 3:52, it's such an Amorphis moment. Favourite part of the song.

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ClaymanOnFire
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:13 pm
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:05 pm 
 

Ugh, I am not liking that new song...Tomi's vocals sound thin and almost whiny. The instrumentation is great, but the song is so vocal-centric it's hard to ignore. On the other hand, that live song is awesome.

EDIT: Never mind, Hopeless Days is growing on me already. Still, I'm not liking how his voice trails off on the last word of almost every line in the verse.
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Razakel
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Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:18 pm 
 

ClaymanOnFire wrote:
Still, I'm not liking how his voice trails off on the last word of almost every line in the verse.


It isn't one of Joutsen's better vocal performances, although the chorus is really good.

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Master_Debater
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 8:54 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:23 pm 
 

Definitely heavier than a lot they've done. The synths remind me of Tales From the Thousand Lakes in parts mixed with Tagtgren influence.

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Turner
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 2:04 am
Posts: 2247
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:06 pm 
 

heard this new track a few hours ago, still had the chorus in my head a bit afterwards. joutsen-amorphis is good in that it's solid, but their lack of anything new is starting to kinda bore me. say what you will about tuonela and am universum, but at least they were experimenting. this will sound ridiculous, but i kinda wish they'd stop re-writing tales from the thousand lakes now. haha.

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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:50 pm 
 

Huh? When have they ever re-written Tales from the Thousand Lakes?

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Blizk
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:30 am
Posts: 260
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:43 am 
 

Razakel wrote:
Huh? When have they ever re-written Tales from the Thousand Lakes?

Haha, exactly what I thought. Sometimes the misconceptions this band causes to people are pretty damn funny.

Not the typical radio single since this song is a grower, really liking it now after a few listens. I agree the vocal performance isn't the best he's done, but it's OK (not as produced vox as on earlier work with Hietala).

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Deviante
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:59 pm
Posts: 651
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:28 am 
 

After a few spins, I actually really like the single. In a way, it is way heavier riff-wise than what I expected (compared with Silver Bride and You I Need - the previous singles - for instance), but also, in a way, it is really catchy and emotional. The guitars sound thicker than on the few previous albums, but the synth also really shines through and brings the atmosphere to a new level and I can actually second whoever mentioned the Judgement-era Anathema vibes, in a way. Even though the verses don't feature the best Joutsen-performance, the chorus is a winner IMO, along with the solo and the leads a bit before and after the 5 minute mark which really sound Amorphis-like, as it were.

All in all, I think it is a really well constructed song, balancing between nice atmospheric and emotional soundscapes (the verses), catchiness (the choruses) as well as heaviness (the riffage and the tone), sounding fresh but still Amorphis-like.

They might bounce back with this album (been bored of them the past two albums for the most part), but I guess we'll need to hear the full album. I'm looking forward to the growl-heavy songs and/or faster songs or songs with more focus on crushing rhytms, as even this song has a really solid guitar sound, so it might work out really well.
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Riffs
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:03 am 
 

Yeah, there's a cute, heavy riff. And I agree the guitar tone and keys are well placed in the mix.

But I find that song quite fucking boring, even after several spins. This is one of the albums I am most looking forward to this year so I am greatly disappointed, but since metal bands are notoriously clueless when it comes to choosing singles, I'm gonna hope the rest of the album is a lot better than this.
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~Guest 282118
Argentinian Asado Supremacy

Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2011 2:16 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:48 am 
 

IX Leviathan wrote:
The new single is pretty damn good. Definitely a bit of change in direction from their last four releases. Almost seems like it has a Judgement-era Anathema vibe to it, the verses at least... Maybe it's just me. Nonetheless, cannot wait for the rest of this album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdKt1aw4 ... e=youtu.be

Wow, I wasn't expecting gigantic opening riff. Really took me by surprise, and the synths also started out as really fucking bombastic. Nice first impression. I agree that Joutsen's vocals could be better here though, even if the chorus is quite good. Still, I think the album will have better stuff than this.

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hakarl
Metel fraek

Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:41 pm
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Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:00 pm 
 

The verse really sounds like Anathema circa Judgment. Interesting song, actually. I'd say it's very different from the Eclipse style.
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Stabwound
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:46 pm
Posts: 200
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 8:47 pm 
 

This sounds like it could be way better than their last album. The Beginning of Time was kind of limp-wristed, and this sounds a lot better than most of the album. Especially good considering it's a single. Some growls would have really helped, though.

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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
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Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:31 pm 
 

well the guitar is certainly meatier but otherwise its not that different.

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Slag
Metalhead

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Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:11 pm 
 

That was a great song. Admittedly 3:25 and on is what makes this song. Of course, everything before was integral to building it up, but this still leaves me with high expectations for the rest of the album.
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Razakel
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:17 pm 
 

Here's a great live video of Hopeless Days which made its live premier last night in Sweden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSVb1zPIgNM

Sounds even heavier live, I really like it. Also, if anyone knows where I can get Tomi Joutsen's Xysma belt buckle, I really need it.

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Slag
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:56 am
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:43 pm 
 

Razakel wrote:
Sounds even heavier live, I really like it. Also, if anyone knows where I can get Tomi Joutsen's Xysma belt buckle, I really need it.

It is a unique piece, but the guy who made it does take custom orders. So you could get it made again maybe.

His website and Where he talks about his Amorphis pieces.
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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:27 pm 
 

Holy shit man, thanks so much! I actually googled around looking for that a while ago and was confused when nothing came up. Damn, that bronze belt buckle of the old Amorphis logo is also glorious. I bet they'd cost an arm and a leg, though, since the guy seems to makes them from scratch.

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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:52 pm 
 

Here's the final studio report, which happens to be the most revealing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66DHBCnY ... e=youtu.be

The first sample is Shades of Gray and sounds like all kinds of awesome. Whoa, Joutsen sounds beastly in that one. The second sample towards the end is from Nightbird's Song which sounds really surprising and unlike anything I've heard from Amorphis in the past. Really, really excited about this!

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Slag
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:56 am
Posts: 2304
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:22 pm 
 

Razakel wrote:
Holy shit man, thanks so much! I actually googled around looking for that a while ago and was confused when nothing came up. Damn, that bronze belt buckle of the old Amorphis logo is also glorious. I bet they'd cost an arm and a leg, though, since the guy seems to makes them from scratch.
Yeah, for sure. Not that I'm one to know really, but his other works, in his gallery, look fantastically well made and designed. Whatever he charges is likely well deserved, doubly for the unique items. If I had the money and interest I'd probably look into getting something actually.
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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
Posts: 6229
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 7:21 pm 
 

Ok, finally... Shades of Gray has been released and it's exactly what everyone wants to hear. Seriously, this is one of the best Amorphis songs they've ever done. When your fanboyism has reached my caliber, it's truly impossible to pick a single favourite song, but at this very second I can without hesitation call this the best song of the Joutsen era. It's also his best vocal performance, which is an enormous statement in its own right.

Behold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt9_xAiYQJ8

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adace
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:30 pm
Posts: 254
Location: USA
PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 6:25 am 
 

^Great song. Hopeless Days and this one are some of the best Amorphis songs I've heard. I'm eagerly anticipating this album.

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InfernoxDeath
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2006 1:40 am
Posts: 454
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:34 pm 
 

Looking forward to this release. Shades of Grey is an excellent track. No doubt that Amorphis is still a great band since their early death metal year till now. Talented folks!
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OzzyApu
Metal freak

Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:11 am
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Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:45 pm 
 

"Shades of Grey" rules. I'm a huge Amorphis fan and it surprised me. Loving how it flows and its memorability.
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LordStenhammar
Veteran

Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:46 am
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:55 pm 
 

Haven't followed this band in ages. Actually Elegy is latest I got from them. :D It's a very catchy album, but still something is missing from it. Maybe 'soul' or something similar. Never been able to fully appreciate it. Now this new song got me really excited. I have to check those Joutsen -era albums. The little I've heard has been quite good stuff.

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cadena
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 9:12 am
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Location: Puerto Rico
PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:58 am 
 

This album would be so awesome.

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