Favourite song/album of Amorphis

[requiem]

My favourite Amorphis album is 'Elegy', and in fact it is in my top five albums of all time by anyone.

Hard to believe that no one in this thread has nominated 'Tales from the Thousand Lakes' which is a true classic. That's the album that was out when I got into them, so there's a special place in my heart for it, but even objectively it's near perfect.

My third favourite would then be 'Under the Red Cloud' which I think is the best Tomi Joutsen album, although 'Circle' and 'Eclipse' aren't far behind. I love 'Skyforger' and 'Silent Waters' too of course, although I find 'Under the Red Cloud' and 'Circle' to be the only albums with all killer and no filler. 'The Beginning of Times' is practically all filler unfortunately, possibly with the exception of 'Mermaid'.

So top 3 albums in order:

1. Elegy
2. Tales from the Thousand Lakes
3. Under the Red Cloud

I also absolutely love the 'Black Winter Day' ep which was actually my very first taste of the band back in 1994. That is one perfect disk.

And to the person who, admittedly two years ago, thought 'Elegy' should be re-recorded with Tomi Joutsen, I think that's a TERRIBLE idea. The vocals on 'Elegy' are just PERFECT by Pasi and Tomi K.

 

[Luoto]

Hard to believe that no one in this thread has nominated 'Tales from the Thousand Lakes' which is a true classic. That's the album that was out when I got into them, so there's a special place in my heart for it, but even objectively it's near perfect.

---

I also absolutely love the 'Black Winter Day' ep which was actually my very first taste of the band back in 1994. That is one perfect disk.

What if I told you that the band probably intended to have both parts of Moon and Sun on Tales, but it didn't happen because of record label intervention? This came up in the recently released Amorphis book (intended order was undisclosed). The song titles are actually chapters taken directly from an English translation of Kalevala, with a couple of exceptions. In order:

1. Thousand Lakes
2. In the Beginning
3. Drowned Maid
4. The Castaway
5. Black Winter Day
6. Magic and Mayhem
7. Into Hiding
8. To Father's Cabin
9. Moon and Sun
10. Moon and Sun, Part II: North's Son

 

[Nokkakolari]

Well, I'm pretty new in the world of Amorphis, I'm still working myself through their discography. My problem is, that I can't stand Mr. Koskinen. I don't like his voice at all, so I don't really have much motivation to listen to the older stuff. With Mr. Joutsen it's the complete opposite. I love his voice. While I don't care much for growls the man could belch the phone book of Helsinki and I'd still like it.

That said, I'd say, right now my favorite album is "Silent Waters". I find it kind of relaxing.
There are too many songs, to single out just one... "My Sun", "On a Stranded Shore", "Tree of Ages", "The Smoke", "Her Alone" ... I think the list would be shorter if I started thinking about songs I don't like.

 

[requiem]

What if I told you that the band probably intended to have both parts of Moon and Sun on Tales, but it didn't happen because of record label intervention? This came up in the recently released Amorphis book (intended order was undisclosed). The song titles are actually chapters taken directly from an English translation of Kalevala, with a couple of exceptions. In order:

Firstly, I hadn't even realised there was an Amorphis book. I'll have to look it up. I hope/presume there's an English version. That's really exciting news.

And it was clear that the e.p songs were recorded during the same sessions as the rest of album but I always just assumed they were kept off the album deliberately for the e.p. Obviously a lot of bands do that as a matter of course. I'm a bit torn, hearing this news actually, because on the one hand I'm salivating about how good an album 'Tales' would have been with those extra tracks on it (as they're just so good), but if that was the case there wouldn't have been (probably) the 'Black Winter Day' e.p, which also contains some of my favourite Amorphis artwork.

 

[Luoto]

Firstly, I hadn't even realised there was an Amorphis book. I'll have to look it up. I hope/presume there's an English version. That's really exciting news.

Unfortunately the book is so recent it has not seen an English translation yet, and it might take a while until it happens. German translation is on the way though.

As for the Black Winter Day EP, it probably would still have been released but with different tracks.

 

[requiem]

Unfortunately the book is so recent it has not seen an English translation yet, and it might take a while until it happens. German translation is on the way though

Pretty interesting that the book will be available in Finnish and German and not English (yet). I know Germany has a very large appetite for metal, but I would have thought English would appeal to the globe including multi-lingual Germans (eg. most Germans!).

 

[Nokkakolari]

Well, to me it's pretty surprising there'll be a German copy before an English one will be available. Though I have to say, that an English version wouldn't be much of a success in Germany as Germans are despicably lazy learning foreign languages.

 

[requiem]

Well, to me it's pretty surprising there'll be a German copy before an English one will be available. Though I have to say, that an English version wouldn't be much of a success in Germany as Germans are despicably lazy learning foreign languages.

I've only just realised your German! I guess you would know. Nevertheless, when I was (briefly) in Germany I found that almost everyone spoke English that I came into contact with. But yeah, I would have assumed English would be the default for an Amorphis book but I guess they know their target audience. Nuclear Blast are big on the German language too, aren't they. I often find it frustrating flicking through the Nuclear Blast catalogue/magazine that they send out with c.d orders as it's all in German hahaha.

 

[Nokkakolari]

Oooops, sorry, totally forgot to check back on this thread...

My experience with fellow Germans is, that they are really really lazy learning foreign languages. We are really spoiled b/c we get everything dubbed, movies, tv series, bla. I have to go to the movies alone b/c no one ever wants to see a movie in the original english version and I got branded a freak numerous times for reading books in english. Yeah, most German know just about enough english to ask for/point out the next best bar, but hardly anyone would bother trying to read a book in english.

Nuclear Blast is a bad joke, really. I was hunting down Amo albums and thought about ordering "Far From The Sun - Reloaded" at NB's online store b/c they put into the descrption how wonderful Tomi's voice transports the music in the rerecorded version, bla, bla... I was all like "Yeah! Tomi!". Good thing, they put up samples of the songs and there came the "Crap, that's Pasi" disappointment. I was tempted to send them an email, but in the end I couldn't be arsed.

 

[Eurynome]

thought about ordering "Far From The Sun - Reloaded" at NB's online store b/c they put into the descrption how wonderful Tomi's voice transports the music in the rerecorded version,

Epic fail. Copypasted from the Magic & Mayhem description...?

BTW did you read the Amo book and if so, how did you like it?

 

[Nokkakolari]

There is no descritption but a oneliner for the M&M album... Hm...

Ahm, no, I didn't read the book. I'll be at the Amo shows in Berlin and Bochum and thought about buying it at the merch stall. I ordered one of those limited posters, which have to be picked up at one of the concerts and when I sent the email stating at which city I will pick up the poster I asked if the books will come signed and the Kapanen crew claimed they got signed books at the merch stall. So, I'll wait for the shows.

 

[Eurynome]

Safer to pick it up from Mr Kapanen himself - when you see him you'll know why I trust him more than the mail service. Let me know how you like it when you're through, and enjoy the shows!

 

[Nokkakolari]

Kiitos! I will report back when I read the book. Those shows will be my first Amo shows so I am duely excited.

 

[Nokkakolari]

So, read the book and reporting back as promised.

Overall I quite loked the book. Took me 5 or 6 evenings on the balcony and half a bottle of Aperol to finish it, so it was an easy read. Not sure I liked the approad using "funny" colloquial German, but since I don't speak Finnish I can't say how the original is. It was nice that they gave much room for past members, though I have to say that I like Pasi even less now (if that was even possible). Had to laugh out loud a few times, too. Yeah, I really liked the book.

... and I did get signed copies and both Mr. Kapanen and his girl Jasmyn totally rock. Those two were my highlight of the show in Bochum, which otherwise sucked. Big time.

 

[Eurynome]

Not sure I liked the approad using "funny" colloquial German, but since I don't speak Finnish I can't say how the original is.

Haha, be glad you didn't read the Finnish version then. It truly was an effort to trim all those hells and cunts into something that didn't sound completely vulgar in German, Abhorrence reference intentional. In Finnish we use much stronger language in general, and what's more, we gernerally write as we speak and hardly have the same distinction between "Umgangssprache" and "Schriftsprache" that you're used to in Germany (which historically stems from the fact that written "Hochdeutsch" is not even based on anything that's actually spoken anywhere in the streets but was developed as an artificial common denominator to enable theater troupes, and later radio stations, to address audiences across dialect regions north and south of the Benrath line, from the Baltic to the Alps).

I had a long talk with the author about this, but when I asked if it was okay to "clean up" the language a little bit (promising, of course, to preserve the personal flavor and style of the guys' speech, and the author's own approach - he usually writes for Finnish metal magazines and had the same audience in mind when working on the book), he laughed and assured me that he had already done exactly the same. In other words, much of what the guys said into his microphone ended up massively streamlined in the written text. Already in Finnish, and even more so in German. According to Markus, one band member's [who shall remain unnamed here ] typical sentence contained at least three "vittu"s even when he was far from swearing - and knowing the speaker in question I can confirm that this is no exaggeration.

 

[papajohnny]

Is there any talk about English version?

 

[Nokkakolari]

Ah... I am actually fine with swearing. I am a native of Berlin and I do speak German with a rather thick Berlin dialect. I am the walking and talking cliche of the Berlin native, who is hardly able to form a sentence without using the word "Scheiße" (paska). It's just, that the colloquial language used in the book seemed somewhat outdated to me. Like someone, who isn't really used to talk colloqial German translated this. But maybe that's me being overly critical, dunno.

Though, I still hardly understand any Finnish I love to listen to RadioRock.fi, especially "Rock'n Roll Circus" with Jussi 69, the drummer of The 69 Eyes. I stopped counting how often I hear "paska" and "perkele" from him during that show.
Man, I really need to get going learning more Finnish until September...

Someone said at the Amo gig in Berlin, that there is an English version planned, but it will be translated from the German version, so there is even more stuff that might get lost in translation.

 

[papajohnny]

Someone said at the Amo gig in Berlin, that there is an English version planned, but it will be translated from the German version, so there is even more stuff that might get lost in translation.

Damn. I'm planning on getting the book, but I hate such translating and publishing practice in general. Is it that hard to translate the book from its native language?

 

[Luoto]

Is it that hard to translate the book from its native language?

It's an unfortunate drawback of the Finnish language, though it might just come down to a lack of networking between countries. There could be former TV translators interested over here if they just knew about this project...

 

[Eurynome]

It's just, that the colloquial language used in the book seemed somewhat outdated to me. Like someone, who isn't really used to talk colloqial German translated this.

Yeah, that's what I feared, because although I spent my youth in Germany, I haven't lived there in two decades and am naturally out of touch with how kids there speak today. I've been a professional translator since the 1990s, but 99% of jobs have nothing to do with colloquial language. I'm totally aware of this and asked the German proofreader to make updates as she pleased, but in the end she didn't change much, because on the other hand it might sound even more artificial if men of my age all of a sudden spoke like twenty-year-olds. But it's always a tightrope walk, and of course a matter of taste.