''Tales from the Thousand Lakes'' is the second studio album by Finnish

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

band

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish progressive 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 meta ...

. It 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 ...

based on the Finnish national epic, ''

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory ...

''. The album was an influential release in the development of the

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 heavines ...

genre, predominantly mixing the genre with

death-doom Death-doom (also known as death-doom metal or doom-death) is a fusion genre of death metal and doom metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep death growl, growling vocals and double bass dr ...

and

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal music, heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different ...

, compared to the band's

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

debut. This showcases a more melodic sound for the band, with hints at their later, more progressive direction. The album also introduced

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s 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 original limited version (on digipack) had a cover of " Light My Fire" by

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial 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 Amorphis is a Finnish progressive 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 meta ...

– vocals, rhythm guitar *

Esa Holopainen Amorphis is a Finnish progressive 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 meta ...

– lead guitar *

Olli-Pekka Laine Olli-Pekka Laine (born 5 February 1973) is a Finnish musician, currently serving as a bassist in the metal bands Amorphis (1990–2000, 2017–) and Barren Earth (2008–) Octoploid (2024–). He was also formerly part of other Finnish metal ba ...

– bass * Jan Rechberger – drums * Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards

Additional musicians

* Ville Tuomi – clean vocals, speech Art * Sv Bell - Cover artist

References

External links

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