Like most everyone else who's reviewed this record, I have to state that after the absolutely horrific "Am Universum", it's nice to hear these longstanding Finns reigning things back in with this, their sixth full-length record. I'd compare this more closely with "Tuonela", though "Far From the Sun" is perhaps slightly heavier and more straightforward an effort. Most of the songs average around four minutes each (give or take) with midpaced tempos and the brand of heavy rock the band has developed over time, drawing very loosely from the doomier death metal influences of their early days and more heavily from a light smattering of 70's progressive rock while remaining focused almost entirely on singing vocals. There are some interesting elements, of course, what with "Planetary Misfortune" containing one break with some nice acoustic guitars and synths over distorted rhythms and some flute; "Ethereal Solitude" opening with piano and abstract electronic textures over a distant reggae sounding chord progression that leads into another slower and more openly melodic piece (quite effective despite the fact that the aforementioned reggae sounding guitar passage is immensely out of place); and "Higher Ground" starting off with some tribal-esque Middle Eastern flare that comes quite unexpectedly. "Smithereens" is probably the lightest track, letting piano dominate during the verses while bringing in pounding distorted chords for the chorus (which is definitely the best portion of the song, and one of the better moments of the album despite the track lagging a bit as a whole). Elsewhere, the title track is slower and more melodic, with a memorable structure that stands out amidst the other tracks with some nice vocal harmonies and melodic riffing; "Killing Goodness" is thicker and more rocked out with a sludgy sort of thing going on, but still bringing in lots of melody; and "God of Deception" is another of the catchier pieces, bouncing back and forth from basic heavy chord progressions to lighter dynamics with more breathing room. Also included are five bonus tracks, some of which are the B-sides from two of the singles off of this record, with a couple of unreleased cuts appearing as well - among them an acoustic rendition of the title track. Ironically the unreleased "Dreams of the Damned" is better than the B-sides, and the acoustic version of "Far From the Sun" is more interesting than the other bonus material as well. I have no real quarrels with the recording at all. It's a bit warmer than some of their past efforts in this vein, so maybe it's not quite as clear, but I like it. The drums sound very nice, the guitars and bass fall in very closely with one another, the vocals rest barely out in front without overpowering anything at all, and the keyboards are also quite well handled. I really like most of the guitar and bass sounds (the aforementioned "Killing Goodness" has some excellent texture to its thicker distortion tones), so I wouldn't really change much about it at all. I really, really like the layout on this one too. Everything is based around basic designs of a Thor's hammer type of icon in red, black, and white, with some abstract textures layered in at times, and nice, crisp text presenting the lyrics and credits. The jewel case also comes in a slip sleeve with embossed metallic silver foil letters, which doesn't hurt either. Lyrically most of the material is fairly bleak, yet simple, and a few of the tracks have some forced rhyming that kind of gets weak, but there are some nice passages for sure. "This fire hunts the soulless and the weak, Bursting out the madness in me, And through all that fear I have to keep, I still pretend to be real." Also included on the CD-Rom portion of the disc is a video for "Evil Inside", which, while not terribly interesting (it's mostly dark footage of the band performing in an indoor setting), is definitely very professional in appearance, so it's cool just to check it out. In the end, the band has since acquired a new vocalist, of course, after the somewhat recent departure of frontman Pasi Koskinen, and as this record took nearly a year to hit the streets in the US after its European release date, there's no telling where they're heading next. But regardless of the fact that this album's not mindblowing, and certainly isn't as memorable or creative as "Tuonela" (which is my favorite record from the Amorphis catalog, I have to say), it's a step back on track towards the right direction. I seriously fucking hated "Am Universum" and barely made it through the entire record, so... maybe this one will rope some of the band's lost fans back to the light.
[Nuclear Blast]
Running time - 64:45, Tracks: 15
[Notable tracks: Far From the Sun, God of Deception, Smithereens, Far From the Sun (acoustic version)]
Nuclear Blast - http://www.nuclearblastusa.com
