Finnish metallic icons AMORPHIS have launched the ultimate audiovisual appetizer of their new studio album “Borderland”, due on September 26 by way of Reigning Phoenix Music. “Dancing Shadow” follows two fantastically embraced singles, and is one more hit out of the group’s sound forge because it’s blessed with all substances to get at the least equally well-received by the worldwide music group.
Considerate verses remind of the unsure instances in everybody’s lives to make followers escape from this dejecting way of thinking into the suffusing mild of the moon which shines via the darkest of all woods. However to distinction the music’s depth, AMORPHIS efficiently crossed the style “borderland”, leading to an irresistible monitor filled with twisting moments. “Dancing Shadow” lastly closes on its peak — earlier than you simply need to play it from the start again and again.
AMORPHIS guitarist Esa Holopainen feedback: “The working title for ‘Dancing Shadow’ was ‘Disco Tiger’. Musically it represents catchiness and hooks which were acquainted parts inside our music for a very long time. Sound-wise it got here out fairly contemporary and even fashionable. I wager this music will shake your legs on the dance ground — in a METAL disco, after all.”
AMORPHIS drummer Jan Rechberger provides: “With ‘Dancing Shadow’ we stepped into fully new territory. For a band with over three many years behind us, that type of reinvention feels significant.”
Like its predecessor “Bones”, AMORPHIS‘s newest single has additionally been visualized below the aegis of Patric Ullaeus, and takes followers of the band right into a black-and-white dominated setting, highlighting the piece’s core message in a fascinating means.
In a latest interview with Portugal’s Look journal, Holopainen and AMORPHIS keyboardist Santeri Kallio mentioned “Borderland”. Concerning how the method of creating “Borderland” was completely different to the best way AMORPHIS created a few of its earlier LPs, Esa mentioned: “Yeah, it was the primary album now that we did with a Danish producer, Jacob Hansen, and it was a really good expertise. We did three albums with Jens Bogren. He is a splendid producer as properly, however we needed to type of discover some new nuances and parts to our manufacturing. So we converted to a Danish producer, and Jacob was an awesome man, wonderful man, and it was very nice to work with him. [He’s a] actually easygoing man, and he just about introduced that further little taste, I suppose, what we have been on the lookout for, to our sound. Inventive-wise, I believe we labored just about as now we have earlier than. Every man works on their very own with the songs after which we put all of the songs to Google drive and the producer goes from there.”
Requested how AMORPHIS selected the 12 tracks to file for “Borderland” after developing with 24 songs through the pre-production course of, Santeri mentioned: “Properly, that is one of many explanation why we use the producer… We self-produced ‘Far From The Solar’ and ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Silent Waters’ and ‘Skyforger’ and ‘The Starting Of Instances’, and truly making the albums was comparatively simple, however we could not agree… We had lots of fights and disagreements concerning the bonus tracks and which is able to finish as much as the album and which shall be singles and which order now we have. After which we began to make use of the exterior producer within the circle with Peter Tägtgren. And I believe the principle purpose to begin to use the producer was that he makes the large selections as a result of we won’t actually… There’s six guys within the band. All people has a robust thoughts, and we take heed to every kind of various music and we do not agree about… and a few songs are any individual’s infants, some songs you want as a result of they’re heavy. And so the producer really has to pick out the songs for the manufacturing from the 25-song pile, after which he has to pick out the songs for the album. After which he has to pick out a monitor checklist, like which order and the bonus tracks. In order that’s one of many producer’s jobs in AMORPHIS, as a result of we perhaps may do it, however with infinite fights.”
The follow-up to 2022’s “Halo” was recorded in late 2024 and early 2025 at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen. The quilt art work was designed by Dutch artist Marald Van Haasteren (METALLICA, BLACK SABBATH, KVELERTAK, ALCEST).
“Borderland” monitor itemizing:
01. The Circle
02. Bones
03. Dancing Shadow
04. Fog To Fog
05. The Unusual
06. Tempest
07. Gentle And Shadow
08. The Lantern
09. Borderland
10. Despair
Bonus tracks (digipak CD and vinyl solely)
11. Struggle Band
12. Rowan And The Cloud
Since forming in Helsinki in 1990, the Finnish sextet has fearlessly explored musical frontiers — from uncooked demise metallic roots to melodic, progressive and folk-tinged heavy rock, and much past. At each flip, AMORPHIS has expanded musical and lyrical boundaries with out compromising their inventive id.
Now, after an unrelenting 35-year journey, AMORPHIS — guitarists Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari, vocalist Tomi Joutsen, keyboardist Santeri Kallio, bassist Olli-Pekka Laine, and drummer Jan Rechberger — stands on the cusp of a compelling new chapter: welcome to the fascinating realm of “Borderland”.
AMORPHIS‘s fifteenth studio album marks each a continuation and a reinvention of the band’s legacy. With acclaimed Danish producer Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, ARCH ENEMY, AMARANTHE) on the helm for the primary time and a revitalized inventive spark inside the group, “Borderland” sees AMORPHIS absolutely embracing their melodic sensibilities whereas venturing into contemporary, uncharted sonic landscapes.
“When the writing interval started, there was no grand grasp plan,” mentioned Holopainen. “We ended up with 24 demo tracks, and Jacob helped us choose those that felt probably the most very important. The top result’s dynamic and various.”
Kallio elaborated: “I really feel there was a shared, nearly unconscious want to give attention to wealthy environment and robust melodies. In comparison with the earlier file ‘Halo’, the brand new album feels extra natural and easy — and positively catchier.”
“It is extra accessible than ‘Halo’ and has a contemporary and contemporary really feel — but fully true to who we’re,” said Rechberger. “The environment within the studio was relaxed. The songs have been just about completed after we arrived at Jacob‘s seaside recording facility, so we may give attention to the attention-grabbing particulars and recording itself.”
Koivusaari added: “Jacob had a imaginative and prescient for the large image, however he gave us the area to convey our personal strengths — and that freedom is mirrored within the last outcome.”
Joutsen‘s efficiency is nothing wanting revelatory on “Borderland” — a career-defining vocal tour de pressure that ranks amongst his best moments since becoming a member of the band 20 years in the past.
“This was probably the most demanding AMORPHIS album I’ve ever recorded — at the least by way of work hours,” he admitted. “Wanting on the file now, considered one of my private favorites is the title monitor ‘Borderland’. Musically, it is basic AMORPHIS — delay-drenched guitars, melodic keyboards, and the interaction between clear and growled vocals.”
With deep respect for the previous and eyes firmly on the long run — and with intensive touring forward — AMORPHIS continues to form the panorama of heavy metallic with grace, finesse and integrity.
“After three and half many years, we nonetheless observe our instincts,” Koivusaari concluded. “And truthfully, ‘Borderland’ could be probably the most AMORPHIS-sounding album we have ever made. After such an extended and profitable profession, that feels fairly rattling nice!”
AMORPHIS is:
Tomi Joutsen – vocals
Esa Holopainen – guitars
Tomi Koivusaari – guitars
Olli-Pekka “Oppu” Laine – bass
Santeri Kallio – keys
Jan Rechberger – drums & percussion
Photograph credit score: Sam Jamsen