Amorphis is a Finnish progressive metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive metal, folk metal, and melodic death metal. They frequently use the Kalevala, the epic poem of Finland, as a source for their lyrics.

History

Disment of Soul and The Karelian Isthmus

Jan Rechberger played in a thrash metal band called Violent Solution, which Tomi Koivusaari had left in 1990 to form the death metal band Abhorrence, with Koivusaari being replaced by Esa Holopainen. Violent Solution slowly dissolved with Jan Rechberger and Esa Holopainen deciding to continue working with each other to form their own death metal band, Amorphis. With Rechberger having ties with Koivusaari, in early 1990, Koivusaari became the vocalist and the band also got Oppu Laine to become their bassist. During that time, Koivusaari also performed rhythm guitar, leading to the band dumping all original compositions and starting over again. Koivusaari's other band, Abhorrence, split up and he found himself with more time to put into Amorphis.

A demo tape, Disment of Soul, was recorded in 1991 by Timo Tolkki at TTT studios. It was meant to be Dismemberment of soul but they forgot the word "member" and so it was Disment.

thumb|left|250px|Amorphis in 1992 with Jukka Kolehmainen of Abhorrence

After the band recorded their first studio demo tape, Relapse Records offered Abhorrence a recording contract. Since Abhorrence was no longer active, they sent their own demo in the return mail and were signed to a worldwide recording deal. Soon after getting signed, they released their debut, The Karelian Isthmus, under the new name Amorphis and later released the Privilege of Evil EP. The EP featured Abhorrence's original vocalist, Jukka Kolehmainen, on vocals on the Abhorrence cover song, "Vulgar Necrolatry".

Tales from the Thousand Lakes

In 1994, Amorphis released their second album, Tales from the Thousand Lakes, a concept album based on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.

Elegy

During the subsequent tours, Martenson (keyboards) left the band, to be replaced by Kim Rantala. Rechberger was replaced by Pekka Kasari (ex-Stone), and a sixth member was recruited, singer Pasi Koskinen.

The band experienced another line-up change. Following the breakup of Kyyria, Santeri joined Amorphis as a full-time member. Bassist Oppu was replaced by another ex-Kyyria member, Niclas Etelävuori, to tour with Amorphis on their third United States tour. urged Amorphis to return to the use of contrasting vocal styles for their next album. and achieving gold certification in Finland for the first time in their history.

Just after Joutsen joined, Amorphis performed under name Amorjens ("aHello" in Finnish) to perform at least one gig in Finland.

Silent Waters

Amorphis followed Eclipse with gigs and festival appearances throughout Europe, all the while writing new material for the follow-up. throughout Europe two days later, The album was certified gold in Finland on 7 July 2011, making it the third Amorphis album in a row to do so.

On 20 November 2009, while touring in support of Skyforger, Amorphis filmed a show at Club Teatria in Oulu, Finland for their first-ever live DVD. The show was released alongside another show from Summer Breeze Open Air 2009 and a documentary, titled Tales from the 20 Years, as a part of the CD/DVD set Forging the Land of Thousand Lakes on 25 June 2010. On 24 January 2011, the band revealed that recording was almost finished, except for vocals which would be completed at the home of producer Marko Hietala. The album The Beginning of Times was released on 27 May 2011 in Europe and 7 June 2011 in the United States, and features cover art by longtime collaborator Travis Smith.

Circle

On 21 August 2012, Amorphis announced on their website that a new album was in the works. On 17 January 2013, the band announced the title and release date for their next record. Circle was released on 19 April in Europe and 30 April in North America. Tomi Joutsen said about the new album, "Circle represents integrity. Back in the days, when there was something special to talk about, wise men used to sit in circle. Not everyone was invited to join them. But in this story, the protagonist was invited among the wise men's circle."

On 16 September 2013, Circle won Metal Hammer's "Album of the Year" award. Esa Holopainen said about the award, "For us, Album of the Year award is a great recognition for the work done so far. Especially when we got it from our 11th studio album."

On 15 June 2015, the band announced the upcoming twelfth album titled Under the Red Cloud, with the artwork and track list revealed and with a release date of 4 September 2015.

Queen of Time

thumb|Singer Tomi Joutsen at Rockharz Open Air 2018

On 22 February 2018, Amorphis announced they had finished recording their thirteenth studio album Queen of Time, which was released on 18 May 2018 via Nuclear Blast Records. The album recording process featured the band's former bass player Olli-Pekka 'Oppu' Laine replacing Amorphis' longtime bassist Niclas Etelävuori, who left in April 2017 after their North American tour due to disagreements with the band's management, making this the first time since Tales from the Thousand Lakes that all the original band members had played on an album together. On 23 March 2018, the band released the first single, "The Bee", off the record.

Halo

On 24 February 2022, Amorphis released its 14th studio album, Halo, marking the band's 30th anniversary since the release of its 1992 debut record, The Karelian Isthmus. The band struggled with various complications related to the Covid-19 pandemic while recording the album. This album is also more guitar-driven and "heavier" than Queen of Time. Their 2025 album Borderland was elected by Loudwire as one of the 11 best progressive metal albums of 2025. The band will tour Australia for the first time in over ten years in 2026.

Musical style

Amorphis began as a death metal and death-doom band, and later began to incorporate and combine other musical styles, such as progressive metal, melodic death metal, viking metal, folk metal

Band members

Current

  • Esa Holopainen – lead guitar (1990–present)
  • Tomi Koivusaari – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1990–present), lead vocals (1990–1998)
  • Jan Rechberger – drums (1990–1996, 2002–present), studio keyboards (1990–1993)
  • Olli-Pekka Laine – bass, backing vocals (1990–2000, 2017–present)
  • Santeri Kallio – keyboards (1998–present)
  • Tomi Joutsen – lead vocals (2005–present)

Former

  • Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards (1993–1994)
  • Ville Tuomi – lead vocals (1994–1995, 2010)
  • Kim Rantala – keyboards (1994–1998)
  • Marko Waara – lead vocals (1995)
  • Pekka Kasari – drums (1995–2002)
  • Pasi Koskinen – lead vocals (1995–2004)
  • Janne Puurtinen – keyboards (1998)
  • Niclas Etelävuori – bass (2000–2017)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

  • The Karelian Isthmus (1992)
  • Tales from the Thousand Lakes (1994)
  • Elegy (1996)
  • Tuonela (1999)
  • Am Universum (2001)
  • Far from the Sun (2003)
  • Eclipse (2006)
  • Silent Waters (2007)
  • Skyforger (2009)
  • The Beginning of Times (2011)
  • Circle (2013)
  • Under the Red Cloud (2015)
  • Queen of Time (2018)
  • Halo (2022)
  • Borderland (2025)

References