AMORPHIS
Amorphis are a progressive melodic metal band formed in 1990 in Helsinki, Finland.
They have released 6 full length albums since 1992, with many EP’s in between. They don’t fit perfectly into any singular genre due to their constantly evolving style.
Beginning mainly as a death metal band, Amorphis have since taken a more melodic approach, using clean vocals as the core of their vocal approach, though retaining some growling. Their lyrics are frequently based off of the Finnish national epic, Kalevala.
Tomi Koivusaari was the band’s original vocalist as well as rhythm guitarist. When Pasi Koskinen joined in 1995 (as the band were moving away from death metal) they initially split clean and harsh vocal duties before Koivusaari eventually stopped singing altogether.
In 2002 the band was asked for a contribution to the soundtrack for the movie Menolippu Mombasaan. The commissioned piece was a cover version of a 1976 Finnish pop hit, “Kuusamo”, which was given the full Amorphis treatment and remains the band’s only song in their native language to this day: Kuusamo (Danny Winn cover).
The members of the band did guest appearances on several albums by other bands:
Tomi Koivusaari:
- Vocals on Waltari’s “Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die!” album in 1996.
- Sitar on Charon’s “Songs For The Sinners” album in 2005.
- Vocals on Moonsorrow’s “Tulimyrsky” EP in 2008.
