Three Song Amorphis Primer

tuonelan

Mostly Harmless
Dec 7, 2012
631
139
43
District 13, Panem
Your friend who does not know anything about Amorphis asks you for three songs from the band to get a good idea what they are all about.

Which three songs do you give your friend?
 
I'm leaning towards an early/middle/late strategy.

Drowned Maid or Song of the Troubled One

Withered or Rusty Moon

Skyforger or I of Crimson Blood
 
Well can't yet include the original lineup sorry as haven't delved into those yet, so will personally lean toward the later stuff, but still quite hard to do of course but particularly to my ears Sampo and Silver Bride compliment each other so well they really need to be heard together or not at all LOL...

So considering that my initiation would look like;

1. Sampo
2. Silver Bride
3. From The Heaven Of My Heart

But if given permission to cheat, chosen primer is;

1. Sampo/Silver Bride
2. From The Heaven Of My Heart
3. Born From Fire


Followed by Empty Opening, Skyforger, The Smoke, Battle For Light then so many many more, love this band!:kickass:
 
This is hard. I would like to introduce the whole wide diversity from blacker metal to smoother ones.

1. Something old and heavy with folkish elements: The Castaway (of course from Magic & Mayhem)
2. Something more melodic and peaceful with nice feeling: Under a soil and black stone
3. Something new, which I like that includes quite good scene, what todays Amorphis is: Nightbird's song.


But if there is a possible for a little cheat, the first song would be from a live act:
Elegy medley = Against Widows / Cares / On Rich And Poor. This is one track, but kind of a three songs :)
 
I'd like to show the band's musical versatility as well, so the song choices would represent the different musical eras and also vocalists.

Drowned Maid (old heavy stuff with Koippari's growls)

The Way
(progressive rock with Pasi's vocals and delay guitar effect)

Skyforger (representing the style of the current line up and also the varying elements during the same song:
atmospheric folkish parts, both clean and harsher vocals, acoustic guitars and even saxophone part)
 
Tough one. Definitely My Kantele (not sure which incarnation though, but leaning towards the live version from Savonlinna); the second spontaneous choice is Sky Is Mine , but I can't seem to make up my mind about #3. Actually it would depend on the listener - either one of the folkier tunes (most likely Brother Moon or Song Of the Sage) or a heavy one (probably Majestic Beast).
 
Totally depends on the listener.

My husband and I share the same taste, so that's easy.

For my mother I chose A New Day and a couple of "mother friendly" Oulu songs (Silver Bride, Sampo, Silent Waters, From The Heaven Of My Heart, Sky Is Mine and House Of Sleep). In my opinon live songs are always the best way to introduce a band to someone (if the band is good live that is (and Amorphis is, and that's an understatement, too), if you want to introduce someone to The Cranberries you might want to skip the live performances...), because you can feel the energy and the enthusiasm of the band.

The first song I played for my dad was The Four Wise Ones, but mostly because we are in the video, otherwise it's not a very "dad friendly" song. :D Songs I specifically played for him because I thought he'd appreciate them were Death Of A King an Sky Is Mine (Oulu).

If I had to pick three songs for a stranger, I don't know... There's so much awesomeness to choose from. Maybe Nightbird's Song, Death Of A King and From The Heaven Of My Heart?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Brell
Great idea for a thread. I would hand the friend a beer and play for them the following classics:

1. Black Winter Day
2. House of Sleep
3. Death of a King
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brell
I've played Amorphis for my wife many times over the years, but it never really connected with her. When she started smoking weed again, I thought, "lets see what she thinks now.". So I played her "Shatters Within". She thought it was beautiful, but she didn't really become a true fan until she heard "Death Of A King" & "Sacrifice". So those would be her three songs.

For anyone else, I would probably choose these songs:
1. Death Of A King
2. Sampo
3. Winter's Sleep
 
  • Like
Reactions: requiem
My introductory songs were Skyforger, House of Sleep, and Silver Bride. Those are good ones, although now I might throw in Death of a King instead of House of Sleep.