''Tales from the Thousand Lakes'' is the second full-length album by doom 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, ...

. It is a concept album, the lyrics are based on the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

national epic, ''

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 ...

''. While still predominantly

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 heavine ...

and gothic metal compared to the band's death metal debut, alongside this more melodic sound, the album is noted to have more progressive instrumentation. The album also introduced synthesizers and clean vocals to the band's sound, though the latter was used sparingly. This is the first Amorphis release to have an official keyboardist, Kasper Mårtenson, as any previous of the band's releases had the band's own drummer, Jan Rechberger, provide the empty keyboardist role until the band decided to have a keyboardist and also to find one being Mårtenson. With Mårtenson in the band, it is the first time the band's original lineup changed by having an additional member. Jan Rechberger would leave the band after this album but rejoin the band for 2003's '' Far from the Sun''. The album was an influential release in the development of the

genre. The original limited version (on digipack) had a cover of "

Light My Fire "Light My Fire" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. It was recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967 on their eponymous debut album. Released as an edited single on April 24, 1967, it spent three weeks at number one on ...

" by

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...

added as a bonus track. It was later re-released in 2001 with most tracks from the '' Black Winter Day'' EP and the "Light My Fire" cover added as bonus tracks.

Track listing

Bonus tracks

Tracks 11–13 added from the '' Black Winter Day'' EP; track 14 is a bonus track:

Credits

Band members

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, ...

– vocals, rhythm guitar *

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 * Olli-Pekka Laine – bass * Jan Rechberger – drums * Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards

Additional musicians

* Ville Tuomi – clean vocals, speech

References

External links

* {{Authority control Amorphis albums 1994 albums Relapse Records albums Music based on the Kalevala