''Skyforger'' is the ninth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive metal, an ...

. Like the previous album, the lyrics to ''Skyforger'' are English translations of Finnish poems based on the

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...

and written by Pekka Kainulainen. Unlike the two previous albums, it is based on different parts of several episodes, but all told from a single character's point of view. In this sense it is a return to

Tales from the Thousand Lakes ''Tales from the Thousand Lakes'' is the second full-length album by doom metal band Amorphis. It is a concept album, the lyrics are based on the Finnish national epic, ''Kalevala''. While still predominantly melodic death metal and gothic ...

which told stories from different parts of the

. The last two albums focused on

Kullervo Kullervo () is an ill-fated character in the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot. Growing up in the aftermath of the massacre of his entire tribe, he comes to realise that the same people who had brought him up, t ...

and

Lemminkäinen Lemminkäinen () or Lemminki () is a prominent figure in Finnish mythology. He is one of the heroes of the ''Kalevala'', where his character is a composite of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good-loo ...

, respectively, and this one focuses on

Ilmarinen Ilmarinen (), the Eternal Hammerer, blacksmith and inventor in the ''Kalevala'', is a god and archetypal artificer from Finnish mythology. He is immortal and capable of creating practically anything, but is portrayed as being unlucky in love. He i ...

. Like Amorphis's previous two albums, ''

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

'' and '' Silent Waters'', ''Skyforger'' is a concept album and was recorded at Sonic Pump Studios in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. In addition to a regular edition, the album was also released in a limited digipak edition which included the bonus track "Godlike Machine". Initially, this digipak edition caused controversy because of sound level fluctuations during the tracks "My Sun" and "Skyforger", but Nuclear Blast has since remedied the problem by promising replacement CDs. On 22 April 2009, "Silver Bride" was released as a Finland-only single, peaking at number 1. The music video for the single premiered on 11 May 2009. The album's sound has been described as

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

with influences from

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

and

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

. The album was honored with a 2009

Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technolog ...

Award for Best Heavy Metal Album.

Track listing

All lyrics by Pekka Kainulainen. All music as noted.

Chart positions

Personnel

Amorphis

Tomi Joutsen Tomi Joutsen (born 30 April 1975) is a Finnish musician, perhaps best known as the vocalist/frontman of the heavy metal band Amorphis (2005–), although also a member of other metal bands including Corpse Molester Cult (2008-), as their guitari ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Esa Holopainen Esa Holopainen (born 1 October 1972) is a Finnish musician, currently the main songwriter, occasional lyricist, founding member and lead guitarist of the Finnish metal band Amorphis. He is one out the two longest standing members of the band (t ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

Tomi Koivusaari Tomi Koivusaari (born 11 April 1973) is the current rhythm guitarist and former vocalist of the Finland, Finnish metal band Amorphis. He started playing at the age of 12, his first band was Violent Solution formed in 1987, with him on guitars and ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

*Niclas Etelävuori – bass *Santeri Kallio –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

*Jan Rechberger –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Amorphis – arrangements

Other personnel

*Iikka Kahri –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

*Jouni Markkanen – backing vocals *Peter James Goodman – backing vocals *Tommi Salmela – backing vocals *

Marko Hietala Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic ...

– backing vocals, vocal production *Sami Koivisto – engineering *Mika Jussila – mastering *Mikko Karmila – mixing *伊藤政則 (Itoh Masanori (Masa Itoh)) – Japanese liner notes

Lyrics

*Pekka Kainulainen – lyrics *Erkki Virta – lyrics translation *国田ジンジャ一 (Ginger Kunita) – Japanese lyric translation

Photography

*Travis Smith - cover art *Denis Goria – band photography

References

2009 albums Amorphis albums Concept albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums with cover art by Travis Smith (artist) Music based on the Kalevala {{2000s-metal-album-stub