The Uncanny Puzzle

I’d consider myself a big fan of Amorphis for a long time now, after I originally discovered the band in 2015 with the incredible Under the Red Cloud. Obviously Amorphis’ career and legacy started way before this as they are one of the most consistent and prolific bands on the Progressive side of Death Metal, and 1996’s Elegy was a massive turning point in that career. With the release of their 15th album Borderlands in 2025 it’s no secret that Amorphis have found the sound that they are comfortable with, seemingly content to release similar albums for the past 20 or so years. However, that wasn’t always the case as the band went through rapid changes and evolutions in the 1990’s, morphing from a doom and gloom Death Metal band on The Karelian Isthmus into exactly what a listener of today would expect on Tuonela. Within this stretch, Elegy stands as a strange transitional piece that distinctly pushes the envelope of Amorphis’ sound in a way that they most likely never will attempt again, given their track record. 

I was a very seasoned Amorphis listener before checking out Elegy, or any of their earlier material honestly. My listening rotation consisted of Skyforger and beyond for years and my curiosity was never piqued enough to go back to their humble beginnings. Because of this, I ended up listening to Tales From The Thousand Lakes and Elegy basically back to back, and it was a bit shocking. I was instantly drawn into Tales… because it was a heavier and dirtier version of the Amorphis that I had loved for years. Elegy then proceeded to blindside me with a fully Progressive Metal album that I still find very strange, no matter how many times I come back to it. It feels consistently and faintly familiar as a bunch of the tropes that are present in their later albums are here in full force, like the folky melodies layered on top of double bass and chugging rhythms as well as the oriental-like minor scales utilized on the opening “Better Unborn”. Despite these familiarities, this album continues to stump me as the whole thing feels a bit too wonky as Amorphis commits to a whole lot of ideas that don’t end up being cohesive for me. 

Even though it’s been a little while since my first time through this album, I still remember being taken aback by the vocals in general. Amorphis’ current vocalist Tomi Joutsen doesn’t join the band until their 2006 effort Eclipse, so harshes are done by rhythm guitarist Tomi Koivusaari as they were in Tales… along with cleans done by newcomer Pasi Koskinen. While I think Koivusaari’s groveling, early Death Metal vocals work well on their first two albums given the darker and heavier tones, having the same delivery on an album with a brighter, borderline psychedelic tone is uncanny to me. It can feel at home on tracks like “On Rich and Poor”, but the fact that it’s so one-note completely derails tracks like “Against Widows”, especially when combined with Koskinen’s expressive, almost gothic deliveries throughout the album. Maybe it’s because I grew up with Joutsen’s masterful middle-ground between harshes and cleans, but the two extremes of the vocalists on Elegy really take me out of the whole experience. For whatever reason, both vocalists just fall flat for me throughout and, in turn, makes the album a strange experience for me to sit through no matter how many revisits I give it. 

The addition of scratchy, 70’s prog guitars and the electronic noodlings is what gives Elegy it’s unique character as all these elements are intertwined with wisps of Amorphis’ normal riffing, which would become synonymous with their modern style. There’s a notable amount of parts being crammed into each track, with the lead guitar work being especially impressive in tracks like “Cares”, but sometimes these interesting parts are difficult to decipher due to being pushed back in the mix. There’s also a few very strange grooves that are attempted that really don’t land throughout the album, like the main melody in “Against Widows” or the incredibly alternative radio rock coded synths of “The Orphan” alongside Koskinen’s cleans. With Amorphis trying so many different things in this album, it’s almost a shock when a more straightforward track like “On Rich And Poor” comes on, to the point where I think it doesn’t quite fit with what Elegy is attempting. 

I think I’m the one who’s simply confused on what Elegy is trying to do. It’s strange, because this album should be exactly what I’d be looking for as a fan of the band that has been beaten down by so many similar sounding albums. Objectively, Elegy is a fascinating and truly creative album that is still unique to this day with its blend of so many opposing influences. Gravelly harsh vocals amidst glittery synths, melodic folk passages atop Death Metal inspired chugs, and a distinctive atmosphere that jumps between gloomy gothic and bright psychedelia offers so much to explore, but those parts never manage to coalesce for me. In many ways, this album is Amorphis’ most important album due to how many ideas they tried before turning into a band that refuses to stray from their established sound. There are moments in the back half on “Elegy” or “Relief” where I think the creativeness of this album still shines, but Elegy remains a puzzle I personally can’t piece together.

I remember so fondly back in April of 2001, when Kerrang TV was launched in the UK. I was still a relative newcomer to rock and metal, and without any relevant radio stations to listen to, and before YouTube existed, this was my portal to a whole new world of music.

One of the first ever videos I saw, and a song that will forever be imprinted in my memory, was ‘Last Time’, by American nu metal band Downer, taken from their self-titled second (and last) album, ‘Downer’. I was only 14 years-old at the time, and any group with a music video, airing on TV no less, were instantly huge, super rich rock stars to me.

How naïve I was. The truth is, Downer’s album is actually very generic, with the aforementioned single being one of very few highlights. The “huge rock stars” themselves probably all ended up working in Walmart or something. Downer’s sound is very, very typical of nu metal at the time, and I imagine they were snapped up by their record label simply for being associated with the genre.

The “few highlights” I mentioned above, include ‘Flex’, ‘Punching Bag’ and ‘Born Again’, which all have decent enough riffs and powerful vocals, but are sadly easily dismissible amongst an album full of plodding, nu metal repetition. The sad reality, is that this album came out at the absolute peak of nu metal, and considering that they were competing against bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Korn, Slipknot, System of a Down and Disturbed, Downer just simply didn’t stand a chance.

Finland's Satanic Warmaster is a solo black metal project of Lauri Penttilä, aka Werwolf, who is ex-vocalist of Horna (as Nazgul) and the current lead vocalist with Vargrav, amongst a million other projects. I haven't heard all of SW's releases, but what I have heard has a fair bit of disparity in quality, particularly due to quite a wide variation in production. "Exultation of Cruelty" isn't too bad as far as the production goes, but it certainly isn't the crispest, clearest black metal you will ever hear, exhibiting some degree of muddiness that does blunt the sound a little. The reverb is also set very high and impacts the clarity further.

Music-wise the playbook for most of the tracks sees them lurching from mid-paced, kind-of-melodic black metal riffing to more savage sounding blasting, these switches in pacing providing a dynamic impetus to the tracks that gives the impression of song progression even though there is a fair bit of repetition in the riffing. Occasionally the repetition just reaches the point of outstaying its welcome when, thankfully, Werwolf inserts one of these dynamic shifts and in so doing hits the refresh button before things become tedious. The tracks are actually quite lengthy for this conventional style of black metal, most hitting the 7-9 minute mark, timings more usual in the atmospheric black metal world, so he actually does a pretty good job of preventing staleness from setting in.

The playing is fairly precise, exhibiting none of the sloppiness that poor production values and excessive reverb sometimes attempts to mask and it is evident that Werwolf is a guy immersed in the black metal scene who just "gets" what it is about and how to deliver it in an authentic and uncomplicated manner. There are no surprises here, but rather a well-conceived and executed album of fairly straightforward black metal. If you are looking for a challenge in your black metal listening then you would be best served looking elsewhere, but if you just love the old-school black metal ethos and aesthetic then get ready for an hour of leather and spikes, unholy blasphemy and spitting in the eye of "the Man".

Saxon were on a roll in 1980. After a lacklustre debut album hadn't really gone anywhere the Yorkshiremen shed the more rock-oriented aspect of their sound and sharpened things up for its follow-up "Wheels of Steel". This, aided by the unlikely chart success of the lead single "747 (Strangers in the Night)", thrust them to the forefront of the burgeoning NWOBHM scene. Obviously surfing on a creative high and not wanting to lose any momentum "Strong Arm of the Law" hit the streets a mere five months after its predecessor and only a couple of weeks after their appearance at the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donnington, an event that was pivotal for the rock and metal fraternity here in England and which added extra impetus to the metal explosion taking place across the country.

"Wheels of Steel" was an album with some incredible peaks, "747..." and the title track in particular being NWOBHM classics, but taken as a whole I think "Strong Arm.." is the more consistent record with fewer dips in quality than its predecessor. Side One is a collection of four cracking staples of NWOBHM glory with riff after riff of headbanging magic, kicking off with the uptempo, fist-pumping anthem to metal fandom, "Heavy Metal Thunder" the band stick their sword in the ground and say, "on this we make our stand, who's with us?" Biff's nasal vocals soar over everything with his tales of life on the road that paint a picture of a band that genuinely love their fans and really get a kick out of bringing metal joy to a country that in those days was stuck in some very grey times. Saxon have always come over as a really genuine bunch of fellas who would probably still play even if no one came to see them and who don't need drugs because they get high on playing for their fans, as they say on the title track, and that integrity is yet one more reason to get on board with these plucky Yorkshiremen.

Side Two is bookended by two fantastic tracks in "20,000 Ft" and the Kennedy assassination-themed "Dallas 1 PM", and although "Hungry Years" is a decent, if somewhat basic track and "Sixth Form Girls", despite being a bit cringey lyric-wise, has a great main riff and an unpretentious solo, these two feel like a bit of a dip when sandwiched between two such monsters in the band's repertoire. "Dallas 1 PM" in particular sees the band stretching their wings with a little more ambition in the songwriting. The throbbing bass intro and opening bars of the riff remind me very much of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band's excellent "Faith Healer" and the solo that begins after the sample of the assassination commentary is one of my favourites from the band. This, when coupled with the striking subject matter, makes "Dallas" a bona fide NWOBHM classic and is a fantastic way to end the album on a high.

Saxon may not have had the publicity of some of the more notorious metal crews over the years and may even be seen by some as being a bit naff, but these guys were writers of great riffs, consummate entertainers and all-round good guys, which may have seen them overlooked by the more image-conscious metal fans, but the loss is their's, not Saxon's. I saw them play live many times in the early 80s and they were genuinely one of the brightest lights of the NWOBHM and deserve the respect of metalheads everywhere.

I did get into Scorpions a little bit around 1979, mainly because of their association with Michael Schenker who had completely transformed english hard rockers UFO, a band I was quite a fan of at the time, especially on their "Strangers in the Night" live album. I bought Scorpions' "Lovedrive" album and caught them on the subsequent tour but, in truth, I always considered them no more than second tier rockers. I don't remember listening to "Taken By Force" at that time, so my view on it is completely in hindsight.

What have we got here then? Well, I really think it is a stretch to label this as a metal record, it is hard rock pretty much through and through with "I've Got to Be Free" and "Your Light" even sounding like funky, psychedelic Jimi Hendrix tracks. The band can write some catchy melodies for sure and they are a reasonably tight unit, but that is pretty much all there is to them. The lyrics tend towards the corny, "Steamrock Fever" being particularly egregious, especially with the kids' backing chant of "Steamrock band, Steamrock band" - what the fuck, are you serious?! Also whilst I would concede that Klaus Meine does have a distinctive and instantly recognisable voice, his singing doesn't appeal to me all that much and I don't think he projects as much energy or emotion as, for example, a Ronnie James Dio with whom I have seen him compared in the past.

I would agree with the common consensus that side two opener "The Sails of Charon" is by far the best track, but even that feels like it has been truncated so as not to become too demanding on the listener. "He's A Woman - She's A Man" is a decent attempt to pump some adrenaline into proceeding, but to label it proto-thrash as some have is wishful thinking at best and delusional at worst. Then there are the awful ballads, with "Born to Touch Your Feelings" having me itching to press the skip button but, being the dedicated individual I am, I stuck it out and suffered for completions sake. But the truth is I hated this fucking song intensely and closing the album with it only leaves a lasting feeling of resentment towards the album as a whole.

There is no denying that Uli Roth is a talented guitarist and without his contributions I think this would hardly register a blip on most rock or metal fans' radars. His guitar work tranforms a track like "We'll Burn the Sky" into something far more interesting and energetic than it at first appears and he was responsible for writing "The Sails of Charon", so kudos to the guy for that at least. As I said earlier he also does a decent Hendrix impression, especially on "I've Got to Be Free" which, in the right context, I could quite enjoy, but I haven't come here to hear Jimi Hendrix, if I wanted to do that I would go to the man himself. I have never listened to Roth's solo material, so maybe I should as he is obviously the main talent in the Scorpions' camp.

Overall I would have to say this reinforces my view of Scorpions as second tier hard rock / proto-metal, several streets behind the likes of Priest, Motorhead and Thin Lizzy and they always feel to me like they had their eye on gaining radio play and the popularity that would entail. There next two or three albums were better but, for me, they will always be nothing more than a footnote in my musical world.