Album Review and Interview: Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes (Live at Tavastia)

Some albums just get everything right, for instance, I remember where I was when I first heard this and well, thirty years on nothing has changed as Tales From The Thousand Lakes still remains a desert island pick from me and Amorphis have chosen to celebrate three decades of their genre-defining album with a special live version recorded at Tavastia which hold a special place in the band's history.

The piano-laden 'Thousand Lakes' is one of the greatest introductions ever and the production on this still keeps that nostalgic atmospheric presentation as it leads into the album's first test 'Into Hiding' which current vocalist Tomi Joutsen delivers flawlessly on all levels and styles. The bass is more prominent and the keyboards are more accentuated to give the track a fuller dynamic.

This very much carries on into 'The Castaway' and it very much feels like even though the band are playing this in chronological order, they very much wanted to celebrate where this album catapulted them to; every note, pattern and vocal feels fresh and even though this was recorded in COVID times with no audience it, doesn't take any of the atmosphere away.

'First Doom' weaves into the album's most recognisable track, 'Black Winter Day' which has some great guitar pieces complimented greatly by keyboards and effortlessly moves into the wonderful pairing with 'Drowned Maid.'

'In The Beginning' still contains phenomenal drumming whilst 'Forgotten Sunrise's' riff still manages to give me goosebumps. It's long been a highlight track of mine and nothing has changed after this delivery.

The technicality shines through on 'To Father's Cabin' and still manages to keep the storytelling aspect of the original before sweeping through into 'Magic And Mayhem...'

Wait! There's more! Now there are varying editions of the original I have - one of which contains a very swift cover of The Doors 'Light My Fire.' The band instead went back to the early days with (insert chef's kiss here) 'Vulgar Necrolatry' which sees the band blister through and sow that they still can deliver some skull-crushing death metal.

This live version concludes with 'My Kantele' which at nearly nine minutes is firstly a wonderful surprise. Still, it gives Amorphis the ability to showcase the musicianship and strength as a cohesive unit. It's probably no surprise at this point that I have ordered both versions released as the CD version comes with the accompanying full live performance

I was also incredibly fortunate to talk to guitarist Tomi Koivusaari about the history of the band and this monumental celebratory release.

You can check it out below.