The Beginning Of Times - Some thoughts

[Summer Ewe]

This week I decided to check out The Beginning Of Times, as I hadn't gotten there yet. So far I discovered (and love) Tales From The Thousand Lakes, Silent Waters, Skyforger, Magic & Mayhem, Circle and Under The Red Cloud, plus some random songs from other albums. Yet The Beginning Of Times is the first album I feel like writing a review about.

Maybe because it's an interesting album in a way that it makes you love it whether you like it or not, even though it's initially a "disappointment" compared to other albums. Even Circle, my favourite album, didn't make me want to write a review about it, because it's simply great from start to finish, it gave me the full-blown chills on first listen. Now with The Beginning Of Times, it's not so simple.

Not sure if you can call this an actual review, it's not a coherent story. Just some thoughts I had. You don't have to read it, I just wanted to spill it somewhere. Also, these are very fresh thoughts of course, they may change over time.

- This album just "meanders" (I was actually looking for an English word for "kabbelen", I guess this is the closest I can find), there are no real highs and lows.

- For me this album has the same "character" as Silent Waters; the songs on itself don't really stand out to me (except the title track, Silent Waters, but even that took a while), but as a whole it's a wonderful experience to listen to. It has a very pleasant atmosphere that I will keep coming back to, even if the melodies are less memorable than usual.

- This album is wonderful in its own way. In a way it's inferior to the other Joutsen albums, but at the same time it's not. I'd almost call it a diamond in the rough, despite the polished sound. The greatness of this album lies under the surface.

- There's something addictive to these songs, despite the forgettable melodies. Halfway a track it's like "Meh...", but when the song is over I want to hear it again!

- The album is quite soft and even Nightwish-y at times, and the overdose of female vocals adds to that. I like them here and there, in You I Need and Soothsayer (except the parts where she drowns out Tomi's voice, I like the parts where they sing in perfect harmony), but I could have done with less. I personally don't like female vocals in Amorphis, somehow it clashes with the atmosphere.

- Speaking of Nightwish; Hietala's influence is VERY audible on this album (in the chorus of Soothsayer Tomi almost sounds like Marco). As much as I love Marco's singing in Nightwish, Tomi is definitely better off without him. His vocal lines are as beautiful as ever, but on Circle and Under The Red Cloud there's a kind of fire in his voice that he didn't have before.

- This is going to sound stupid, but I can appreciate this album for what it is, because I already know it was followed by two kick-ass albums (that's the advantage of being a new fan, I didn't catch this album at its release, but five years later instead, so I already know what came next). I can fully enjoy it without being worried about a new direction for the future.​

So, is this supposed to be a positive review? YES! It's a remarkable album, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. It fits surprisingly well in their discography, despite being "the odd one". I don't have a favourite track yet, but Three Words and Soothsayer seem to stand out most to me for now. (EDIT: And On A Stranded Shore. It's been stuck in my head since yesterday, and the "My maiden's flesh/hair" part is just insanely beautiful. Though I could definitely do without the sugary female vocals in the second verse.)

 

[Luoto]

- Speaking of Nightwish; Hietala's influence is VERY audible on this album (in the chorus of Soothsayer Tomi almost sounds like Marco). As much as I love Marco's singing in Nightwish, Tomi is definitely better off without him. His vocal lines are as beautiful as ever, but on Circle and Under The Red Cloud there's a kind of fire in his voice that he didn't have before.

Marco does some backing vocals in that song, though that's probably not what you're referring to. I don't really hear that comparison despite them collaborating.

 

[Summer Ewe]

To be honest I didn't notice any backing vocals in the chorus, I thought it was just Tomi and the female singer. I usually recognize Marco's voice in Amorphis, on Sky Is Mine for instance ("I listened to my heart beating").

But Tomi is singing the chorus too, right? If not, I just made a great impression. XD If his vocals are mixed with Marco's, then that's probably why I thought he sounded so much like Marco (which wasn't a complaint by the way, it's a beautiful part!).

 

[tuonelan]

Esa talks a bit about Marco's role in the recording process in this Radio Tangra interview. Circle was the first album on which Tomi Joutsen did not work at all with Marco.

 

[Summer Ewe]

I read this interview a while ago, it's really nice to read that they have such a great chemistry. That Circle was the first non-Hietala album was why I made this connection; I noticed a change in Tomi's voice compared to the previous albums. His voice sounds much deeper, there's more fire in it (on The Wanderer you can hear it especially well), and it's still there on Under The Red Cloud. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but that's why I thought Tomi is better on his own than with Marco's help.

 

[tuonelan]

Part of the difference in vocals might be the absence of Hietala's particular sensibility towards vocals (he does like 'em pretty), and part of it could be Tomi growing into the recording role and putting his own stamp on things. But a lot could also be down to things that Peter Tägtgren or Jens Bogren did, either to coax Tomi into being a little more raw or using a different kind of microphone that picks up or accents different frequencies in Tomi's voice. If you watch the studio reports from Circle and Under the Red Cloud you'll see that Peter and Jens use completely different mics to record the vocals and that they place the mics differently as well. Perkele, even the headphones they give Tomi to use in the studio will affect what Tomi hears and how he sings as a result.

Also, when listening to the mixes I notice that Amorphis and Hietala put the guitars behind Tomi's voice in the mix for TBoT (and both the guitars and the vocals had a lot of reverb in the mix) and the mix itself was much more crowded with instruments "stepping on" each other's frequencies and mostly being made more distinct by where they are placed left to right in the stereo mix. Tägtgren stripped most of the reverb and delay out of the guitars and vocals and put the vocals behind the guitars in the mix. To keep the vocals from getting buried he gave the guitars more of the higher frequencies and the vocals more of the midrange, giving the guitars a bit more "spit" than on previous recordings and making everything sound more close and direct and less like being in a big room. Tägtgren's mix is also more compressed and louder than Hietalas. Bogren's mix on UtRC brings back some of the reverb in the guitars, but not as much in the vocals and he evens out the guitar and vocals in the mix so that both are at the front, but both more distinct in stereo from left to right and more distinct in their frequencies and not "stepping on" each other. It's a loud mix, but not as compressed as Circle and a little cleaner sounding.

I think in both the latter cases part of what you hear in Tomi's voice may just be the sound of two producers who know how to get the vocal sound they want, and Tomi responding to being able to hear himself a little better as a result and put a bit more life into his performance.

 

[tuonelan]

...anyway, thanks to this post I've now been going back and listening to Magic and Mayhem and comparing the mixing and production on it to the original recordings from The Karelian Isthmus, Tales from the Thousand Lakes, and Elegy. Think I may write something up about that because there's a lot to be said about that.

 

[Summer Ewe]

It's an interesting subject indeed!

And thanks for the explanation, I didn't quite realise that there were so many factors that decide how a record will sound in the end. It's very interesting to learn about these things. Usually I do hear differences between albums, but only if it's louder, warmer, screechier, clearer, etc. I can't really pinpoint what causes it.

 

[requiem]

'The Begining of Times' is definitely the weakest Tomi J album. I remember at the time it came out I played it to death but it never captured my attention. I think it's really only the first two tracks that I find any good, but even they pale compared with the first two tracks of literally every other album.

I even thought it could be the end of the band and wasn't expecting for much from 'Circle' when it came out. But man did I get a pleasant surprise.

But yeah, 'The Beginning of Times' really stands out as a work of mediocrity. Great artwork though!

 

[tuonelan]

TBoT is fine. Not much new ground broken, but the songs are all quite good. It's biggest problem is that the tempo is too slow. Had Bogren been around to speed the songs up the way he did for UtRC I think everyone would change their opinion. The recording was too sedate and relaxed. Pick up the pace and the songs will pick up energy.

Try it yourself in Garage Band or something similar. Dump "Song of the Sage" or "Three Words" into a program that lets you speed up playback a bit and bring it up a notch at a time until it feels right.

 

[requiem]

TBoT is fine. Not much new ground broken, but the songs are all quite good. It's biggest problem is that the tempo is too slow. Had Bogren been around to speed the songs up the way he did for UtRC I think everyone would change their opinion. The recording was too sedate and relaxed. Pick up the pace and the songs will pick up energy.

Try it yourself in Garage Band or something similar. Dump "Song of the Sage" or "Three Words" into a program that lets you speed up playback a bit and bring it up a notch at a time until it feels right.

I definitely agree that the pacing makes a difference. Although I maintain that the songwriting feels like they were a little worn out and uninspired. It's fine though and any Amorphis is better than no Amorphis.