AMORPHIS — The Beginning of Times (review)

AMORPHIS — The Beginning of Times album cover Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"The Beginning of Times" is the 10th full-length studio album by Finnish metal act Amorphis. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in May 2011. It´s the first album release with new material since "Skyforger (2009)". Amorphis have been pretty active in the intermediate years though as they re-recorded 12 tracks from their early albums and released them as "Magic & Mayhem: Tales From The Early Years" in 2010.

The music on the album is the usual mix of semi-progressive metal and death metal featuring ethnic Scandinavian folk melodies. Some tracks are more structurally complex than others but all tracks are interesting, melodic and memorable. The three longest and most varied tracks, "Battle for Light", "Song of the Sage" and "Beginning of Time" are among the highlights on the album. This is where Amorphis most successfully and seamlessly combine their stylistic elements. Some of the more straight forward melodic tracks don´t have the same lasting qualities. Stylistically "The Beginning of Times" features more folk elements than heard in a while from Amorphis and it suits the band´s music well.

Amorphis are great musicians and composers and they know how to create an atmosphere or a memorable hook that make an impact on the listener. Lead vocalist Tomi Joutsen just gets better and better. His growls are deep and convincing and his clean vocals strong and melodic. For this type of music I think the sound production is a bit too polished and sterile. A more organic production and maybe the use of vintage keyboards would probably enhance the listening experience.

"The Beginning of Times" is another well produced (if you enjoy clean productions), well performed, and well written album by Amorphis. They´ve tweaked their sound just enough to keep it fresh and interesting without compromising their core musical style. For fans of the band this is of course a mandatory purchase but more casual listeners could definitely find listening pleasure here too. I´d say a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is fair.
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