''The Beginning of Times'' is the tenth studio album by Finnish

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

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 ...

, released on 25 May 2011 in Finland, 27 May in Europe and 7 June in the United States. Like previous Amorphis albums, ''The Beginning of Times'', is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

. The central character of the songs is

Väinämöinen Väinämöinen () is a demigod, hero and the central character in Finnish folklore and the main character in the national epic ''Kalevala'' by Elias Lönnrot. Väinämöinen was described as an old and wise man, and he possessed a potent, mag ...

, described by the band as "the iconic hero of Finnish mythology".

Release

Singles

On 11 April 2011, Amorphis premiered the first single "You I Need" on their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page. It was released digitally in Finland on 20 April 2011, and in other countries on 22 April 2011. Early the next month, the band released another new song, "My Enemy", again on Facebook.

Reception

''The Beginning of Times'' had a strong sales debut week, charting at No. 1 on the

Finnish Albums Chart The Official Finnish Charts ( fi, Suomen virallinen lista; sv, Finlands officiella lista) are national record charts in Finland compiled and published by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. The name ''Suomen virallinen lista/Finlands officiell ...

and No. 16 on the German Media Control Charts.
/ref> In a professional review for

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

, Adrien Begrand praised the album, going so far as to say that Amorphis have never sounded better with their current line-up and describes the album as "a slick, classy blend of death metal and melodic hard rock". Amateur reviews have also been positive, with Craig Hartranft of DangerDog proclaiming "The Beginning of Times finds Amorphis in grand form, doing what they do best".

Track listing

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 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 vocals, ...

–

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 guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*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 *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 ...

Additional personnel

*Savotta Choir – additional male vocals *Netta Dahlberg – additional female vocals *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 ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

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 ...

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 ...

- vocals production *Mikko Karmila - mixing *Travis Smith - cover art *Pekka Kainulainen - lyrics

Additional personnel 2

*Erkki Virta - lyric translation *Sami Koivisto - engineering *Thomas Ewerhard - layout *Svante Forsbäck - mastering *Stefan de Batselier - photography

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beginning Of Times, The 2011 albums Amorphis albums Albums with cover art by Travis Smith (artist) Music based on the Kalevala