Amorphis - _Far From the Sun_
(Virgin, 2003)
by: Pedro Azevedo (5 out of 10)
You may have already noticed that Amorphis' ratings in CoC have been
steadily decreasing with every album: _Elegy_ got a 9, _Tuonela_ an 8,
and more recently _Am Universum_ was awarded 7 out of 10. The first
two Amorphis records, _The Karelian Isthmus_ and _Tales From the
Thousand Lakes_, are also a 9 out of 10 in my books, both of them
highly influential albums at the time of their release. The same can
be said about the band's third record _Elegy_, another musical
milestone. All three were excellent desspite the marked differences
between each other. Unfortunately, the second half of Amorphis' career
seems to consist exclusively of mildly pleasant but ultimately
inconsequential albums that fail to leave much of a mark. While
_Tuonela_ still retained some of the more endearing characteristics of
its predecessor and remains a very decent album in the band's
discography, _Am Universum_ received only minimum required spinning in
my CD player for a review. The Finns' new effort and Virgin Records
debut, _Far From the Sun_, is practically guaranteed to follow the
same path towards oblivion upon completion of this review. Not a trace
of metal is left in _FFtS_'s folk rock, and unfortunately hardly a
trace of real emotion can be found either. Despite all the good
musicianship that stops me from lowering the rating any further, _Far
From the Sun_ simply doesn't have any soul; it's bland and contrived
where this band used to be brimming with creativity and feeling. There
are a few redeeming bits, such as the second half of "God of
Deception", but they are very sporadic. Even Pasi Koskinen's clean
singing seems to have deteriorated rather than improved over time, as
it remains relatively flat and lacklustre throughout compared to the
band's much livelier past efforts. They got rid of _Am Universum_'s
saxophone, but on the other hand the upbeat folk melodies occasionally
veer dangerously towards the silly side of things this time around --
not that it never happened before, but this time it comes across as
very annoying. The album as a whole isn't mind-numbingly bad, in
spite of some of its tracks, but it is depressing to see this once
great band 'evolving' step by step into musical irrelevance. After
three classics in a row, I still found _Tuonela_ perfectly acceptable
even by Amorphis' high standards; _Am Universum_ then left me rather
doubtful of the band's future; and alas, _Far From the Sun_ has just
dissipated those doubts.
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