Tuonela (album)
| Tuonela | ||||
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| Amorphis studio album | ||||
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Publication |
March 29, 1999 |
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| Label (s) | Relapse Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
10 (Limited Edition: 11) |
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running time |
46 min 43 s (Limited Edition: 49 min 59 s) |
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| occupation |
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Simon Efemey |
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Tuonela is the fourth studio album by the Finnish metal band Amorphis . It was released in March 1999. With Tuonela, Amorphis' death metal era ended .
Creation and publication
Before the recordings, Amorphis had taken a long break from work. The production of the previous album Elegy was very exhausting, among other things because the band had to record in several studios, and it was the first album that Amorphis did not produce itself. After this album, the band tried to keep the recordings and the sound easier with Tuonela, among other things the pieces were written and recorded without keyboard, only in individual cases keyboard tracks were added later, which the guest musician Santeri Kallio contributed. Another guest was Sakari Kukko , who played saxophone for Nightfall and Tuonela and flute for Rusty Moon .
Tuonela was released on March 29, 1999 on Relapse Records , in Europe on Nuclear Blast and in Finland on Spinefarm Records . The single Divinity was released on February 6, 1999 in advance of the album. On March 29, 1999, Tuonela was released on vinyl by Nuclear Blast.
In addition to the normal version, there is a Japanese edition of the album with the additional track Northern Lights , which was already released as the B-side on the single Divinity .
Track list
- The Way - 4:35
- Morning Star - 3:50
- Nightfall - 3:52
- Tuonela - 4:32
- Greed - 4:17
- Divinity - 4:56
- Shining - 4:24
- Withered - 5:44
- Rusty Moon - 4:56
- Summer's End - 5:37
- Northern Lights (bonus track) - 3:18
The lyrics were written by Pasi Koskinen, but Summer's End was written by Ike Vil of the band Babylon Whores . For the first time, the band did not mention the composition of individual members and instead gave Music by Amorphis as a reference to the author of the songs.
style
music
The band says Tuonela is "a more down-to-earth album without a lot of trimmings" ( Olli-Pekka Laine and Esa Holopainen in an interview on Vampster ). Contrary to previous statements of the band, except for the piece Greed , they did without guttural vocals, overall Tuonela is a progressive Doom Metal album. It is remarkable that the growls on Greed came from Pasi Koskinen, while guitarist Tomi Koivusaari was responsible for this vocal form on the two previous albums. However, these were the last such appearances until the album Eclipse from 2006.
Kai Wendel commented the following about the style of the album in Rock Hard No. 143:
“After keyboardist Kim Rantala left, the crazy and spacey Seventies influences fell by the wayside [...]. The new material, which still has a decent 70s touch - in 'Rusty Moon', for example, you can discover some Jethro Tull influences - sounds a bit more guitar-oriented and quite relaxed compared to its predecessor. "
Texts and covers
The texts no longer come directly from Finnish poetry, but are only inspired by old legends. The album title describes the Finnish realm of the dead .
Successes and criticism
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Both the album and the accompanying single "Divinity" reached the top 10 in Finland. The album received good reviews from the major metal magazines. Tuonela was named "Album of the Month" by the German Metal Hammer . The album was also among the top ten albums in Rock Hard's monthly evaluation, but editor Kai Wendel also drew critical conclusions:
"The biggest shortcoming of the all in all above average CD: Real high-flyer songs are missing, catchy tunes like 'Black Winter Day' or goose bumps like 'My Kantele' are in vain."
But Tuonela disappointed many fans by largely avoiding guttural singing. The band was often accused of a musical sell-out, only rarely was Amorphis allowed to "with this album [to go further] the path they took with Tales from the Thousand Lakes and Elegy " ( Andrea Veyhle in the review of Tuonela on Vampster. com ) “Necrotos” from Metal.de predicts: “Amorphis must have managed to scare away all old fans with Tuonela . Like various other colleagues who thought they could get more money with softer songs. "( " Necrotos "in the review of Tuonela on Metal.de )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tuonela LP at Amazon.de (German, accessed on August 10, 2007)
- ↑ a b c d Andrea Veyhle: Amorphis: Finnish kebaps, broken bones, three guitarists and Serbian dictators ...! Vampster.com, May 12, 1999 (German, accessed June 16, 2007)
- ↑ Garry Sharpe-Young : Amorphis - Unique, Detailed Biography ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on musicmight.com, April 23, 2007 (accessed June 19, 2007)
- ↑ a b rockhard.de Rock Hard No. 143, review
- ↑ Charts DE Charts FI
- ↑ metal-hammer.de (forum): (Almost) all Metal Hammer soundcheck winners
- ^ "Chest": CD review: Tuonela on Metal.de, April 15, 1999 (German, accessed July 29, 2007)
- ↑ Vincent Jeffries: Review: Tuonela in All Music Guide (accessed July 29, 2007)
- ↑ Andrea Veyhle: Tuonela - CD Review ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Vampster.com, January 1, 2000 (German, accessed July 29, 2007)
- ↑ "Necrotus": CD Review: Tuonela on Metal.de, 13 April 1999 (German, accessed on 29 July 2007)
