In 1989 Jan Rechberger and Esa Holopainen played in a speed metal band Violent Solution, which Tomi Koivusaari had left the previous year to form the death metal band Abhorrence. Violent Solution slowly withered away as the musicians became interested in other things and styles of music. At this point, Jan Rechberger and Esa Holopainen had the idea of putting together a death metal band. In early 1990, Tomi Koivusaari was asked to be the vocalist and Oppu Laine to be their bassist.
During that time the band asked Tomi to pick up the slot of rhythm guitarist as well as singing, which led to the band dumping all original compositions and starting again. With the band starting to move along, Tomi's other band (Abhorrence) split up and he found himself with much more time to put into Amorphis. The band went into gear and started churning out new brutal music.
Shortly after the band had recorded their first studio demo tape, Tomi got a letter from Relapse Records offering Abhorrence a recording contract. Since Abhorrence was no longer active, they quickly sent their own demo in the return mail and eventually got signed to a recording deal. The deal would later almost destroy the band, due a very long commitment and poor artist relations. They quickly released a death metal classic, The Karelian Isthmus, in 1992 - and would later release the original demo as the Privilege Of Evil EP. The EP featured Abhorrence's original vocalist, Jukka Kolehmainen, as a vocalist on the Abhorrence cover song Vulgar Necrolatry.
The band quickly adopted new ways of making music and started incorporating different styles in with the original death metal aspect, creating a very unique and complex soundscape. This experimentation in elements of folk, doom metal and progressive rock resulted in the melodic death metal cornerstone Tales from the Thousand Lakes in 1994. The shift away from death metal and further into progressive soundscapes (influenced by Finnish prog rock bands like Kingston Wall) became even more apparent on Elegy in 1996, and by the time Tuonela released in 1999 their death metal roots and Kalevala stylings were but a distant memory.
Eventually feeling the need to circle back to how Tales from the Thousand Lakes was formed, the band decided to bring back their Kalevala lyricism and develop their classic, melodic metal sound further. They resurfaced with new vocalist Tomi Joutsen and released the fan favourite Eclipse in 2006 to critical acclaim - another example of their constant musical growth and uncompromising attitude. With renewed vigor, the band explored this modern direction further with equally beloved follow-ups Silent Waters (2007) and Skyforger (2009) - all three albums focusing on one specific character at a time from Kalevala.
Forging The Land Of Thousand Lakes was released in July 2010. It is available as a 2 DVD & 2 CD package (2 digipacks in a box) or as a 2 DVD set. DVD 1, and the CDs, contain a live concert in Oulu (Finland) in 2009. The second DVD contains a shorter set from Summer Breeze Open Air 2009, a 60 minute documentary and all (most?) Amorphis videos plus a photo gallery.
Magic & Mayhem – Tales From The Early Years was released in September 2010. It contains 12 tracks from the first three albums plus a bonus track Light My Fire. They have all been re-recorded with the current line-up. Some arrangements have changed - essentially they are the songs as they have evolved through many concert tours, recorded in a studio environment.
In May 2011, The Beginning Of Times was released and went straight to number 1 in the Finnish album charts and number 16 in the German charts.
Feeling the need to take another short break from the world of Kalevala, they released Circle in April 2013 - featuring an original, self-contained story with some heavier and more progressive influences while retaining their melodic style.
Since 2015, the band has released three more records that continued to gather public and critical approval - Under the Red Cloud (2015), Queen of Time (2018), and Halo (2022) - all leaning towards a more symphonic, grandiose style compared to their previous releases.
Current Members
* Tomi Joutsen – vocals
* Esa Holopainen – guitar
* Tomi Koivusaari – guitar
* Olli-Pekka Laine – bass
* Santeri Kallio – keyboards
* Jan Rechberger – drums
Former Members
* Pasi Koskinen – vocals (1996–2004)
* Niclas Etelävuori – bass (2000-2017)
* Pekka Kasari – drums (1996–2002)
* Kim Rantala – keyboards (1996–1998)
* Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards (1993–1994)
Discography:
1992 The Karelian Isthmus
1994 Tales from the Thousand Lakes
1996 Elegy
1999 Tuonela
2001 Am Universum
2003 Far From the Sun
2006 Eclipse
2007 Silent Waters
2009 Skyforger
2010 Forging The Land Of Thousand Lakes
2010 Magic & Mayhem – Tales From The Early Years
2011 The Beginning Of Times
2013 Circle
2015 Under the Red Cloud
2018 Queen of Time
2022 Halo
Official site: Amorphis.net
Shaman
Amorphis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She wept and sang
Anxiously pondered fate
His and her own
A sun's ray, in through the eye
Glimmered in the room of mind
Changing the woman shape
From the shaman into shaman
From the chimney a witch flew out
Shaman dived across the sky
Under her the woods and lakes
Till she saw the Northland gates
I've come for my son, where is my son?
I accept no lies, no falsehood or deception
I send you plagues unnumbered
Destruction upon your house
I lay to waste your treasure
I slay your fairest daughter
The queen of north told of the way
The road to river black
Impossible and incomplete
The path of no return
The lyrics of Amorphis’s song Shaman depict a distressed mother who mourns for her son and questions their fate. The opening lines, “Mother wept for her son, she wept and sang,” suggest a mother’s grief over her son’s predicament. The mother appears to be in deep thought as she contemplates her fate and her son’s. However, hope arrives as a ray of sun glimmers in the room and as the woman shape changes, sorrow flees her face. This imagery suggests positivity and a sudden turn of events. The woman, who was crying and grieving, transforms into a shaman as she travels across the sky to look for her son.
The song then shifts to the perspective of the witch who has caused the distress. The shaman dives across the sky, flying under the woods and lakes. The witch reveals that the queen of the north knows the way, the path that leads to the river black, a path that seems impossible and incomplete with no return. The lyrics “I've come for my son, where is my son? I accept no lies, no falsehood or deception” show a mother’s determination to find her son and bring him home despite the obstacles she might face. The song ends on a note of destruction and revenge as the mother threatens to lay waste to everything belonging to the witch.
Line by Line Meaning
Mother wept for her son
The mother cried for her son
She wept and sang
She cried and sang
Anxiously pondered fate
She thought nervously about fate
His and her own
Their own fates
A sun's ray, in through the eye
A ray of sunlight entered the mind's eye
Glimmered in the room of mind
Shined in her mind
Changing the woman shape
Her shape was transformed
Sorrow fled her face
Her sadness disappeared from her face
From the shaman into shaman
She became a shaman
From the chimney a witch flew out
A witch flew out of the chimney
Shaman dived across the sky
The shaman flew across the sky
Under her the woods and lakes
She flew over the woods and lakes
Till she saw the Northland gates
Until she saw the gates of the Northland
I've come for my son, where is my son?
She came for her son and asked where he was
I accept no lies, no falsehood or deception
She would not accept any lies or deception
I send you plagues unnumbered
She would send many plagues
Destruction upon your house
Destruction would come upon the house
I lay to waste your treasure
She threatened to destroy their treasure
I slay your fairest daughter
She threatened to kill their fairest daughter
The queen of north told of the way
The queen of the North described the way
The road to river black
The path to the Black River
Impossible and incomplete
It was impossible and not complete
The path of no return
It was a path with no return
Contributed by Ava N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Sergio Muñoz
Mother wept for her son
she wept and sang
anxiously pondered fate
his and her own
A sun's ray, in through the eye
glimmered in the room of mind
changing the woman shape
sorrow fled her face
From the shaman into shaman
From the chimney a witch flew out
shaman dived across the sky
under her the woods and lakes
till she saw the Northland gates
I have come for my son, where is my son?
I accept no lies, no falsehoods or deception
I'll send you plagues unnumbered
destruction upon your house
I lay to waste your treasures
and slay your fairest daughter
The queen of north told the way
the road to River Black
impossible and incomplete
the path of no return
Yukinoyo
MOST UNDERATED SONG ON EARTH ! THIS RIFF IS MORE THAN EPIC!
egarran
The lyrics give me goosebumps.
Junior 10k
agreed. this melodic part in the metal is amazing. besides, Tomi is one of the few singers that gives goosebumps consequently.
Daniel Rys
One of the best songs by Amorphis imho - perfect lyrics, original, but really metal music... couldn't be better. And about the singing, Tomi is really a master of playing with the voice intensity, thaťs what makes him unique.
Dinaric Wolf
This song deserves more recognition...
manasmith
This song has me on the edge of a metalgasm
wiltzer1
one of the best amorphis songs IMO
Lilie Naira Santasilia
My favorite through many years - so much power provided for you - just by listening <3
shonenshojo
Amorphis really is something. This song is (just like all their songs) EPIC!! Wonder how the hell they do that. Not many band can pull a stuff like that. They've managed to stay epic all from The Karelian Isthmus to their current albums. This song is probably one of their best songs on this album!
MikhailKrasnikov
Melody. Melody is THE key.