Tales from the Thousand Lakes
Tales from the Thousand Lakes is the second full-length album by metal band Amorphis. It is a concept album, the lyrics are based on the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. While still predominantly death metal, the album shows a greater influence of doom metal than the band's debut, along with more melodic, heavy metal-inspired riffing and elements of progressive rock and traditional Finnish folk music. The album also introduced synthesizers and clean vocals to the band's sound, though the latter was used sparingly.
| Tales from the Thousand Lakes | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 12 July 1994 | |||
| Recorded | September 1993 | |||
| Genre | Melodic death metal Death-doom Progressive metal Folk metal | |||
| Length | 39:53 | |||
| Label | Relapse | |||
| Producer | Tomas Skogsberg and Amorphis | |||
| Amorphis chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Tales from the Thousand Lakes | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
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.
The album was an influential release in the development of the melodic death metal and folk metal genres.
The original limited version (on digipack) had a cover of "Light My Fire" by The Doors 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
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Thousand Lakes" | (instrumental) | K. Mårtenson | 2:03 |
| 2. | "Into Hiding" | traditional | E. Holopainen, O.P. Laine | 3:42 |
| 3. | "The Castaway" | traditional | T. Koivusaari, E. Holopainen, O.P. Laine, K. Mårtenson | 5:30 |
| 4. | "First Doom" | E. Holopainen | E. Holopainen | 3:49 |
| 5. | "Black Winter Day" | traditional | K. Mårtenson | 3:48 |
| 6. | "Drowned Maid" | traditional | T. Koivusaari, E. Holopainen, O.P. Laine | 4:23 |
| 7. | "In the Beginning" | traditional | E. Holopainen, O.P. Laine | 3:34 |
| 8. | "Forgotten Sunrise" | E. Holopainen | E. Holopainen | 4:50 |
| 9. | "To Father's Cabin" | traditional | E. Holopainen, O.P. Laine | 3:47 |
| 10. | "Magic and Mayhem" | traditional | E. Holopainen | 4:27 |
| Total length: | 39:53 | |||
Bonus tracks
Tracks 11–13 added from the Black Winter Day EP; track 14 is a bonus track:
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Folk of the North" | (instrumental) | T. Koivusaari | 1:17 |
| 12. | "Moon and Sun" | traditional | T. Koivusaari | 3:36 |
| 13. | "Moon and Sun Part II: North's Son" | traditional | T. Koivusaari | 5:10 |
| 14. | "Light My Fire" (The Doors cover) | The Doors | The Doors | 2:53 |
Credits
Band members
- Tomi Koivusaari – vocals, rhythm guitar
- Esa Holopainen – lead guitar
- Olli-Pekka Laine – bass guitar
- Jan Rechberger – drums
- Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards
Additional musicians
- Ville Tuomi – clean vocals, speech
References
- Anderson, Jason. Tales from the Thousand Lakes at AllMusic. Retrieved July 26, 2011.