Elegy

Artist: Amorphis
Label: Relapse
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 781676693528
EAN: 0781676693528
ASIN: B00000112L

Release Date: 1996-05-14

Related Categories:

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Death Metal

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Progressive Metal

| Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Metal

Listmania:

more or less metal for all shapes sizes and temperaments
Top 20 Death Metal Albums
Mostly-Metal Essentials
Bands that deserve more attention.
My favourite Albums
METAL CDs you should own! (in no order)
ultimate doom collection
Euphonious Concerned Death Metal & Doom Passages.
My 25 albums of choice (transitional)
my top 20

Tracks:

Better Unborn
Against Widows
The Orphan
On Rich And Poor
My Kantele
Cares
Song Of The Troubled One
Weeper On The Shore
Elegy
Relief
My Kantele (Acoustic Reprise)

Similar Items:

Tales From the Thousand Lakes
Tuonela
Am Universum
Eclipse
The Karelian Isthmus

Customer Reviews:

Amorphis' most ambitious work to date.......2005-08-13

Amorphis takes its name from the word "amorphous" which means "lacking definite form, shapeless". Looking at their huge back catalog, it should be easy to see that they've lived up to their name, as no album sounds like its predecessor or follow-up. Amorphis started out as a fiery death metal band evolving into a keyboard-supported midtempo death metal band and then into a more progressive band with folk and classic rock influences.

Elegy is their 1996 release and in many ways their most ambitious work. The album features two new members whose impacts make it perhaps Amorphis' most amazing album to date. Vocalist Pasi Koskinen is the new clean singer alongside former rhythm guitarist/vocalist Tomi Koivusaari's occasional death growls. This is their transition from their earlier extreme metal roots to a more folky, progressive rock soundscape. Koskinen's clear vocals are very emotive and provide a nice contrast to their former singer's brutal delivery on tracks like "Better Unborn" (with a sweet Arabic guitar melody), "Against Widows", and "On Rich and Poor". New keyboardist Kim Rantala (whose debut with the band was the previous Black Winter Day EP) brings a very progressive edge to the band's music mining the melodic veins within Elegy. It's a shame he didn't stay with Amorphis for another release, as his analog keyboard work meshed very well with the awesome guitar themes. Rantala's playing often lends itself to 70's Floydian atmospheres, such as on the ballad "Orphan" where the keyboards function as a lucid texture below folky guitar melodies; or on the powerful "My Kantele" adding complex harmonies and a very well played synth solo. This is one of the finest tracks on this disc with timeless guitar melodies, excellent clean and death vocals, and a balanced guitar and keyboard duel. However, Rantala's curious keyboard work is mostly noticeable on the experimental cut "Cares" featuring plenty of electronic samples and a very Floydian synth solo contrasting Koivusaari's brutal singing.

The songs on Elegy are based on Finnish literature and draw their inspirations from the traditional Finnish work The Kanteletar which is comprised of hundreds of poems reflecting Finnish people's philosophical and religious beliefs. This is what is written in the booklet: "Inspired by the intensity of the poems and their ability to communicate everyday simplicity with such vigor, Amorphis have created the music of Elegy to reflect the honesty and majesty found within the Kanteletar's legendary verses..."

I guess this also explains where the heavy Kingston Wall-inspired folk melodies come from. The folk motifs on "Weeper on the Shore", the title track, and the instrumental piece "Relief" have also mined the band's next release Tuonela, which is basically a testimony to folk rock with Koskinen doing all clean vocals except one song. The title track, also the longest song, conjures a variety of moods with lots of guitar and keyboard interplay, some interesting sitar and tambourine elements, and intense vocals from both singers to match the dark mood built by elaborate keyboard work. There is a very catchy guitar theme on this song that soars passionately over the track during the choruses and it's easily one of the most beautiful songs Amorphis have penned. Elegy is the highlight of their career along with Tales from the Thousand Lakes, though I'd have to give Elegy the edge. Given its release date, this disc easily transcends all expectations, perhaps only rivaled by Opeth and Edge of Sanity at the time.

Bless the metal gods for this album.......2005-01-10

before this album, amorphis were doom metal and after this album they were some sort of psychodelodic progressive rock metal band with fold influences. But this is the ONE album where they combined their past and their future into one big melting pot of unstoppable sound. You got plenty of death metal vocals, you got plenty of clean vocals. You got heavy riffs right alongside twin melodies. You got the perfect keyboards that act as their own istrument rather than a back drop to the music. The songs are not too long or too short. Everything just fits into place. And the drumming. OMG, the drumming is insanely good. The last two tracks will blow you away. Track 10 is one of the best instrumentals of all time and track 11 is the acoustic reprise of my kantle, track 5. But they totally re did it, it sounds nothing alike...almost a totaly new song. it's one of my all time favorite songs

even if you don' like amorphis or have never heard of them...i think this cd will still blow you away. a masterpiece for sure.

Thank the Gods for Finland.......2004-10-05

This album is stunning! The concept is based off of stories of Finish folklore (just as Black Winter Day was). This album continues the transission of this black/death metal band into more of progressive area. This is some of the best prog death metal ever recorded. The songs contain Amorphis' trademark growling vocals and clean black metal vocals, beautiful agressive guitar work and laid back keyboards. I love this album and you will too if you buy this. This, once again, proves that Finland makes the best music.

Amorphis > Jesus.......2002-07-08

Every Amorphis album is great, from their early death metal beginings to their newer more progressive rock sound. But if I had to choose my favorite from them, without a doubt I would choose Elegy. Elegy is the first album that Pasi joined the band, bringing the best voice in metal along with him at that. But unlike the follow albums, the band hasn't given up using death vocals all together yet. And the two different types of vocals work extremely well off of each other. Reminicint of Opeth in a way.

The music it self borrows a lot of 70's progressive rock ideals and mixes it with some metal, folk, a little classical, and even some surf music (Cares?). The use of sitar is used very well for instance, gives the atmosphere of the album a very folkish feel.

All in all this is Amorphis' crown jewel. A perfect bridge between Tales From The Thousand Lakes and Tuonela.

Nice, laid back metal.......2002-02-25

What an excellent band. This band has intelligent lyrics, and intelligent music. Like opeth, the lead singer's growls are nothing impressive but the clean voice is magnificient. Listen to "The Orphan" for one song that sums up everything Amorphis is about. Amorphis is one more reason that Relapse Records is the best record label known to man. Later, Relapse and Amorphis worshippers.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Beach Glass ~ Frank Gotwals

I Made My Own Hell ~ Vhaldemar

Mad Mike Jones Presents: Mototrax, Vol. 1 ~ Various Artists

L' Isola Di Niente ~ PFM

Buenos Aires Tango ~ Various Artists

Hautnah ~ Udo Jurgens

Tribute to Norah Jones ~ Various Artists

Girls of Valour ~ The Delgados

This Way to the Shivering Man

Music CD 61