Sixteen albums fashioned within an illustrious thirty-five-year career tell only a tiny fraction of the story of Amorphis. One of the most groundbreaking Heavy Metal bands to emerge from Finland, the band will release Borderland on September 26, 2025, via Reigning Phoenix Music. And what new light will it shed upon the droves of fans who have come to rely on the Finns’ indomitable consistency?
Firstly, after a wonderful three-album run with famed Producer Jens Bogren, founding Guitarist Esa Holopainen and company have predictably shifted to a new studio and producer to help shape their latest work. With limited exception, this has been one way in which Amorphis has avoided stagnation. Jacob Hansen (Evergrey, Katatonia, Delain, Epica, Volbeat, Arch Enemy) stands at the helm of Borderlands, and the results will doubtless be met with affirmation from fans.
Smooth opener “The Circle” elicits what has become a signature coalescence of Tomi Joutsen’s singing voice, the exciting and perfectly balanced keyboards of Santeri Kallio, with the welcome low-end of Jan Rechberger (drums) and Olli-Pekka Laine (bass guitar). The guitar duo of the aforementioned Esa Holopainen and his co-founder, Tomi Koivusaari, do one thing exceptionally well, and that is create melodies and riffs that embed themselves in the listener’s mind and heart. Album after album, it seems their synthesis together knows no limits.
Pre-released songs “Bones,” “Light and Shadow,” and “Dancing Shadow” have made the rounds and offer fans a taste of harshness and profound melodies, with Kallio’s keyboard solos and Joutsen’s throaty growl combining on “Bones,” smooth and calming melodies on “Light and Shadow.” “Dancing Shadow” has that special something this band has been conjuring since their inception. A self-assured cadence and singable chorus that is such a payoff, and it will grow with each listen. Glacier-melting vocal lines show us that Tomi Joutsen continues to advance as one of metal’s most versatile and emotion-laden singers.
As the album art would suggest, with its evocative history-meets-fantasy blend, “Fog To Fog” leads with the keyboards, with pop sensibilities laden in dreaminess. Joutsen’s growl appears as a backdrop, but his dominant clean singing helps arc this lovely song into the skies above the boughs of a Karelian forest. Strong, driving bridge and chorus blends the catchiness with a solid bit of guitar soloing. Amorphis conjures that Subdivisions-era Rush with the forwardness of lush heavy metal tones.
Where 2023’s Halo album followed a formula of Joutsen growling the verses and then clean-singing the choruses, on Borderland, the band seems to want to reclaim the balance. Fans looking for the death metal side of the band will have to make do with a bit of sprinkling. “The Strange” has a bit of it, but for the most part, the song seems constructed around powerful keyboard lines and melodies. And as one journeys through the borderlands of Borderland, it becomes apparent that this is the chosen zeitgeist of the album.
The keyboard intro of the title track blends into silky guitar leads and a triumphant, forward-facing feeling. As the story is told by Joutsen, we can once again behold the rich lyrical tale-telling which is an intrinsic part of every single Amorphis album. The growled bridge once again launches us into the clean-sung and beautiful chorus.
The more sedate mood of the album lets it breathe, such as on the wonderful trade-off between guitar lead and keyboard solo on “The Lantern.” It feels quite linear and fulfilling to see that the band did not depart from their stylistic norm by including a ballad with a female singer, as they have done a few times in the recent past. This more cohesive approach just gives fans more of what they have come to love about Amorphis. Sterling melodies and heavily inspired vocal lines underpinned with majestic guitar solos, and blessedly, keyboard solos as well. Where this album will measure up against the others remains to be seen. And while it might lack some compositional dynamic shifts present on 2015’s Under The Red Cloud and 2018’s Queen of Time, the smooth fluidity of the songs on offer here will bury themselves in the soul of fans for years to come. That is why Cryptic Rock gives Borderland 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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