ROOTS in death metal, leaves swaying with prog. This is a highly original piece of art from this extremely many-sided band - it's felt right from the start of the album. Better Unborn opens the game with Middle East sounding guitars, continues with growling vocals and finally ends up as a brilliant example of how to make interesting hard rock music. With an open mind one can go far. And when that is combined with obvious talent, the outcome is gold.

There are real hypnotic elements on this album. There are some guitar patterns that are repeated over and over again, and the mesmerized listener is always as reluctant to let them go when the songs end. On the songs Against Widows, The Orphan and On Rich And Poor the prog-sounding patterns are built in an excellent way. They are wild guitars running free. Also the wailing and reealing keyboards, wah-wah pedal and Pasi Koskinen's singing are pointing quite obviously to the 70's; folk elements are present, too. On Song Of The Troubled One there's restless violins playing. But the riffs and guitar sounds in general get their weight from modern heavy metal. And the growling vocals emerging from time to time remind the listener of their past. And still - despite all the many-sidedness the album sounds relaxed and loose. They've known how to not stuff the sound too full.

I also respect enormously the way they are using their Finnish heritage and the national epos Kalevala as an inspiration and a part of the music's visualness. The interest in folklore doesn't have to be a monopoly of dry researchers or tired folk-dance festivals. It can be mixed with hard rock and exploded to life.

Neon Nights / May 2003

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01. Better Unborn
02. Against Widows
03. The Orphan
04. On Rich And Poor
05. My Kantele
06. Cares
07. Song Of The Troubled One
08. Weeper On The Shore
09. Elegy
10. Relief
11. My Kantele (acoustic Version)

This is one of these albums that I can`t get enough of. EVERY time I put this in my stereo I'll sure play it at least 3 times in a row! The same I can say about other Amorphis album called Am Universum. The music is just that kind of mixing that works for me, I can say perfectly. Tuonela is the first full "clear vocals" album by Amorphis. They choose this clear vocals like for example Sentenced, Katatonia and Paradise Lost. Of what I`ve heard from them, I have liked all these bands' clear vocals periods, maybe more than their older stuff. One thing there is, that I skip and that is track number 5, Greed. Mostly because there is not "clear" vocals on that. But all in all that track location is great, because it`s between the peaceful Tuonela and the single track Divinity. Album's last track is very beautiful Summer`s End, which leave you feeling that you want to listen album again.

Now we live exciting times, because soon we'll get a new album by Amorphis, Far From The Sun. Until it's released I enjoy Tuonela and of course Am Universum

Konde / May 2003

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Kebab metal, eh? Fair enough.

It’s just so that precisely those three more ”kebab” songs on the album are my least favourites. Okay, they sound exotic for a while, but then again, it’s nothing too fresh-sounding really. Those middle-East vibes are too superficial and obvious. The album starts with a song which is also the first single, Day Of Your Beliefs; a basically OK melodious track with real heavy sounds, bring to my mind a bit the melody and atmosphere on Nordman’s 1994 folk song Vandraren; and right after that there’s a kebab song that I really don’t like. Eastern melodies, and a lame chorus. And as the third song starts with the same Middle-East style, there’s already alarm in the air: How far will this continue like this? And now I can say, luckily enough, not far.

The five tracks 04-08 are all excellent. There’s familiar Amorphis laid-backness and space in the songs. They sound relaxed but not phlegmatic, many-sided but not over-complicated or over-filled. The song number five, the title track, is the first true pearl of the album, nothing short of brilliant. Pasi Koskinen’s voice is at its best on songs just like this: a tad slower than mid-tempo, melodic, cool. Hammonds are wailing and the album becomes a good purcase. And then an excellent and a necessary purchase: One of the most beautiful Amorphis songs I’ve heard, Ethereal Solitude, begins. The song is perfect, nothing much more to be say about it. You’ve got to experience this song. Like a cool wind blowing, soothing and medicating, slow and flowing.

The album’s last four tracks are very varied: Killing Goodness is like the Easy Livin’ of Amorphis, a cool song. And after that - another masterpiece, another high peak of the album. A heavy song based on a simple descending guitar melody; and my heavens, what an effectiveness they manage to load into this song. Might be the very best Amorphis song in my book right now. After that, kebab again, after that, a good-quality closing track. The end of an album I know I will find new things from after years and years.

This is heavier and more straight-forward Amorphis for some time. The 70’s prog influences and vibes aren’t anymore too obvious, and I think the album is excellent that way. The band really has sense of style - that’s the thing coming to mind with every Amorphis album, and this is no exception, although there’s 2-3 songs I really don’t care about at all. Maybe some people like them. That’s always the thing with very diverse albums: You can’t please everyone.

Neon Nights/ May 2003

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