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 Since Abhorrence was no longer active, they quickly sent their own demo in the return mail and eventually got signed to a recording deal.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
Withered
Amorphis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Long past its prime and bloom
Forgotten on the stony bed
This silent hillside tomb
For coppered be the grip
Of this wooded land
A crude cold gauntlet
Hides the bony hand
Tears once warmed the ground
Torn out of eyes that could cry no more
Compassion for the wind to take
O doth pity the bastard poor
A life of misery and hate
Upon a chance, a twist of fate
The poison from the goblet ran
Down the throat of her drunken man
The lyrics to the song "Withered" by Amorphis is a poignant and powerful testament to the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death. The first verse sets the tone with its description of a flower that has long since died and withered away, forgotten on a hillside tomb. The imagery is stark and vivid, painting a picture of a desolate, lifeless landscape that is hauntingly beautiful in its own way.
The second verse is even more powerful, as it describes the tears that once fell on this same barren ground. These tears were likely shed by someone who had suffered greatly in life, someone who had known only misery and hate. Yet even in the midst of all this pain and suffering, there was still compassion, still a willingness to pity even those who were considered the "bastard poor."
Finally, the third verse brings the story to its tragic conclusion with the revelation that the cause of this suffering was not fate, but a deliberate act of violence. A woman, driven to desperation by her own misery and the cruelty of her husband, gave him a poison goblet that led to his death. The lyrics do not pass judgment on her, but they offer a glimpse into her inner turmoil and her ultimate decision to end her own misery by ending her husband's life.
Line by Line Meaning
Withered be the flower
The flower is dead and no longer has any life or beauty.
Long past its prime and bloom
The flower has been dead for a long time and has lost all of its previous beauty.
Forgotten on the stony bed
The dead flower has been laid to rest on a cold and rocky surface, and has been forgotten by all.
This silent hillside tomb
The hillside where the flower was buried is now a tomb, and all is silent and still.
For coppered be the grip
The strong hold of death has taken the flower's life, like the copper-colored grip of a hand.
Of this wooded land
The grip of death is a natural part of the wooded environment.
A crude cold gauntlet
Death is like a cold and unfeeling glove that grips the flower's life and removes all warmth.
Hides the bony hand
Death covers everything with a bony hand, hiding all that it takes with it.
Tears once warmed the ground
Someone cried tears of sadness and pity, and those tears moistened the ground where the flower was buried.
Torn out of eyes that could cry no more
The person who cried tears for the flower is now unable to cry any longer.
Compassion for the wind to take
The person's compassion for the dead flower is now carried by the wind and scattered everywhere.
O doth pity the bastard poor
The person feels sorry for those who are less fortunate and have been abandoned by society.
A life of misery and hate
Some people live their lives in despair and hate, with no hope of ever escaping their circumstances.
Upon a chance, a twist of fate
Sometimes people's lives change unexpectedly due to a chance encounter or twist of fate.
The poison from the goblet ran
The poison that killed the person was drunk from a goblet.
Down the throat of her drunken man
The person killed by the poison was a man who was already drunk.
Contributed by Colton E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.