The veteran Finnish band Amorphis‘ fifteenth album is Borderland. It opens with the powerful “The Circle,” featuring the expected vocal excellence of Tomi Joutsen as he jumps in front of beautiful riffs that create an almost magical feeling.
The album’s follow-up track “Bones” sees the band delve into a Middle-Eastern tinged sound which is accompanied by heavy riffs and Joutsen’s magical melodic vocal lines. His gruff delivery is also vitally important to what makes Amorphis so legendary and using them in tandem with the cleans never detracts from the overall experience.
“Dancing Shadow” has one of my favorite sections of the whole album, specifically how the chugging guitars of Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivussari allow for the vocal styles to be placed on either end of a riff, creating an excellent Jekyll and Hyde moment for the band, one that feels seamless. The keyboards on “Tempest” create a vital breeding ground for another powerful Amorphis tune, serving as the primordial ooze from which this song crawled forward, from subtle to sublime and all the places in between.
The album’s title track clocks in as the longest on the album at only 5 and a half minutes in length, emphasizing how the band wanted to get in quickly and get out without the need to develop an epic with the album itself being 10 songs in under 50 minutes which makes repeat listens a breeze.
Overall this album is a more straightforward release than the last few, a stretch that included some of the best albums of their career like Halo and Queen Of Time, although sacrificing depth for raw appeal doesn’t hurt Amorphis either. Borderland is the sound of a legendary metal band making the most of their time without forgetting who they are, a progressive and multi-layered beast, one that continues to evolve, even in small ways on each subsequent release.
(released September 26, 2025 on Reigning Phoenix Music)
Heavy Music HQ Rating:
Watch Amorphis – “Dancing Shadow” Video
