15th Feb 2019 in FebMusMo

“A great song from a band who never fails to impress you with their intricate lyrics and music.”

Amorphis. Their guitar and piano work is immediately recognizable, iconic. They are unique. They went through singers like toilet paper for awhile, but once they settled on Tomi Joutsen… Holy Shiva.

I could spend days playing every album since he became their singer back to back. I could make power point presentations about the mythology, culture, and shamanism in their lyrics.

I should only post one song, though.

I want to say, his death vocals are phenomenal. Deep, gutteral, and seductively masculine/bestial. Then, he can turn it into the smoothest caramel-like clean vocals. Even better, he sings about his goddamn heart. The same guy that could abort the unborn with one strategically placed scream can switch gears and serenade you with songs like “from the heaven of my heart.”

I wanted to bring up the death vocals because the song I will be posting is pretty much only clean vocals, sadly. But this prompt is about lyrics, and this one sums up how magically tribal and folklore-ish their theme typically is without having to tell you which story of the Kalevala it’s referencing or which God’s backstory it’s about that you’ve never even heard of. Enjoy.

Lyrics courtesy of a Google search:

I retired to a towering mountain
Laid down in a circle of stones
For three days and for three nights
I listened to the skull of a bear
The sun burnt its sigil into my chest
The rain washed the evil away
Time spun itself around me
The moon casts its silvery shell

I rose up in circle of stones
Made my way down in the valley
Followed the banks of a rushing river
To a shore of an icy sea

The great bear growled
The thunder spoke
The mountain shook
The skies lit up

They came carrying their torches
Appeared from the desolate dark
Approached me circling and swirling
Howling their battle-cries
That’s when the bear was born in me
It rose on its legs beside
From a distance the crack of thunder
And the red cloud swallowed the sky

I rose up in circle of stones
Made my way down in the valley
Followed the banks of a rushing river
To a shore of an icy sea

And in the furthest corner of the North
On the edge of the world we know
With open arms embracing them
And I bared them my heart of hearts
Under the red cloud
Under the red cloud