Review: Amorphis – Borderland
Don’t worry, Randy Pitchford has nothing to do with this Borderland.
Amorphis has had a varied and diverse discography throughout the years. It’s an interesting one because there are records that hit the spot while others just don’t do it for me. The best albums from the Finnish legends in my opinion are Karelian Isthmus which is a great death metal classic and Tales From The Thousand Lakes which is a fantastic melodic death metal classic. Further into their discography, there was also the likes of Eclipse which I liked for being extremely catchy. Their weakest phase for me was when they ventured into progressive metal territory between Silent Waters and Circle, the latter and The Beginning of Times being their weakest albums. After that, I felt like they had a comeback with Under the Red Cloud and Queen of Time which the latter I really loved for mixing up their heaviest aspects with their melodic elements brilliantly. Following a disappointing follow up to that with Halo, Amorphis are now on their 15th album with Borderland.
Opening the album is “The Circle” which isn’t too shabby an introduction, with some very nice melodic guitar work. Tomi Joutsen’s clean vocals sound a lot better these days and his performance gets better as the song progresses. The keyboards also shine bright on the opening track. The second track, “Bones” feels like something off Eclipse and that’s a positive thing. It’s a catchy and fun song that shows the harsher vocals that Tomi does so well. His clean vocals also make for some big choruses. “Dancing Shadow” raises the fun meter on this album and it’s certainly a fitting name. I really like the very dance-able keyboards in particular which seem to be a common trend on this record so far.
The guitarists take the limelight for themselves with their large sounding leads on “Fog to Fog” which are really nice and something different from previous tracks. A fun keyboard introduction sets up “The Strange” which is another strongly catchy track. This track again showcases Tomi’s strong execution in his harsh notes as well as cleans for another epic chorus. Amorphis goes for more of a ballad-y approach with “Tempest” which isn’t bad. The guitar leads again have an epic sound that works. It’s also another great vocal performance from Tomi who, while clean singing for this type of song mostly, will then throw in a nice surprise heavier and harsh moment that blends perfectly well.
“Light and Shadow” does a great job blending the keyboards well with the guitars and vocals. The drums show off really well here in particular as well. This is probably one of my favorite songs on the album. Another fun track emerges with “The Lantern” that has a synthy feel at the start and carries with the style that Amorphis is showing off with this album. Now onto the title track itself in “Borderland,” another nicely written song that shows off Tomi’s range and the guitar variety is shown off nicely in particular on this song. Borderland closes off with “Despair” which is a strong way to end an interesting journey listening to this band’s 15th effort.
This has been a fascinating listen to Amorphis’ latest release in that they show they can still excel through their melodic guitar work. There is also the strong vocal range from Tomi Joutsen who can still do both harsh and clean vocals really well without one sounding weaker than the other, a glaring flaw with certain melodeath bands. The ratio between the harsh and clean vocals certainly leans toward cleans, which fans of earlier Amorphis records might find to be a dealbreaker for them. Personally though, the tracks on Borderland thrive on how strongly catchy, fun and well-executed those cleaner melodic elements are. In terms of recent Amorphis albums, it’s not as great as Queen of Time or Under The Red Cloud but this is a major improvement on Halo and on the more positive side of the band’s discography. This is certainly one that I see current fans of the band enjoying, as there are strong earworms on some of these tracks including the likes of “Bones” and “Light and Shadow.”
3.5/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell
Borderland is out now via Reigning Phoenix Music.
