Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud (2015)

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Finally, the Finish Metal music legends Amorphis return with yet another stellar release. Marking their 12th studio album, “Under the Red Cloud” delivers nearly 50 minutes of majestic Melodic Metal music in their unique style. Filled with soaring vocals and killer melodic passages, this is hands down the best release of 2015.

Opening with the lush “Under the Red Cloud”, the band sets a very melodic and folky mood, similar to a mixture of their “Elegy” days with their “Eclipse” era. Tommi Joutsen’s vocals are as amazing as ever and with even more growling sections in this release, this album reaches a whole new level of vocal aggression. This is perfectly contrasted by Santeri Kallio’s lush keyboards. Tracks like “The Four Wise Ones” and “Bad Blood” instantly showcase this heaviness with some crushing moments filled with powerful riffs and excellent percussions.

The band’s ability to switch from very heavy sections into lush and down tempo melodic passages is outstanding, and it is perfectly showcases in the mesmerizing “The Skull”. For those of you that like more mysterious and middle-eastern sounding elements, “Death of a King” has a very unique surprise for you. The Amorphis magic is always present in their very diverse and engaging songs, making tracks like “Sacrifice”, “Dark Path” and “Enemy at the Gates” a complete aural pleasure.

Featuring Chrigel Glanzmann from Eluveitie on the song “Tree of Ages”, the band nicely delivers one of the most atmospheric and folky songs of this release. Closing the album on heavy note, “White Night” delivers a magical combination of hypnotic clean male and female vocals that are nicely contrasted by excellent growls and very funky guitars. This atmospheric piece is one of our favorite songs in this release.

Overall, Amorphis has managed to deliver one of their strongest albums to date with “Under the Red Cloud”. The band is clearly at the top of their game, and while keeping their signature style, they managed to expand and improve their sound. Produced by Jens Bogren, this release is very clean sounding with everything perfectly mixed to maximize enjoyment. If you like Amorphis, you will LOVE this album. The band manages to bring some of the “Elegy” elements into the Tomi Joutsen’s era, resulting in some amazing music.

Band: Amorphis Album: Under the Red Cloud

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: September 4th, 2015

Official Site Social Media

Genre: Melodic Metal

Country: Finland

Rating: 98/100
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