Under the Red Cloud

Under the Red Cloud is the twelfth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis, released worldwide on 4 September 2015 through Nuclear Blast. The album was produced by Jens Bogren, who was described as "just the right person" by keyboardist Santeri Kallio.[4][5][6] This would be the band's last album with longtime bassist Niklas Etelävuori who left in 2017.

Under the Red Cloud
Studio album by Amorphis
Released	4 September 2015
Studio	Fascination Street Studios
Genre	Progressive metal[1] melodic death metal[2]
Length	49:56
Label	Nuclear Blast
Producer	Jens Bogren[3]
Amorphis chronology
Circle (2013) Under the Red Cloud (2015) Queen of Time (2018)

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Under the Red Cloud"	Pekka Kainulainen	Santeri Kallio	5:33
2.	"The Four Wise Ones"	Kainulainen	Esa Holopainen	4:40
3.	"Bad Blood"	Kainulainen	Kallio	5:23
4.	"The Skull"	Kainulainen	Tomi Koivusaari	5:04
5.	"Death of a King"	Kainulainen	Kallio	5:14
6.	"Sacrifice"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	3:56
7.	"Dark Path"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	5:08
8.	"Enemy at the Gates"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	5:07
9.	"Tree of Ages"	Kainulainen	Kallio	4:36
10.	"White Night"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	5:15
Total length:				49:56

Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
11.	"Come the Spring"	Kainulainen	Koivusaari	3:27
12.	"The Wind"	Kainulainen	Kallio	5:48

Digipak Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
11.	"Come the Spring"	Kainulainen	Koivusaari	3:27
12.	"Winter's Sleep"	Kainulainen	Kallio	6:37

"Live at Loud Park 13", Bonus CD

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Shades of Gray"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	7:28
2.	"Narrow Path"	Kainulainen	Kallio	4:46
3.	"Sky Is Mine"	Kainulainen	Kallio	4:22
4.	"Silver Bride"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	4:18
5.	"Into Hiding"	traditional	Holopainen, Olli-Pekka Laine	4:09
6.	"My Kantele"	traditional	Holopainen	6:39
7.	"Nightbird's Song"	Kainulainen	Koivusaari	5:09
8.	"Hopeless Days"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	5:24
9.	"House of Sleep"	Paavo Haavikko	Holopainen	5:29

CD2: Live-CD: "An Evening with Friends at Huvila" Bonus CD

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Enigma"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	5:33
2.	"Far from the Sun"	Pasi Koskinen	Amorphis	5:00
3.	"Silent Waters"	Kainulainen	Kallio	5:53
4.	"My Kantele"	traditional	Holopainen	5:09
5.	"Silver Bride"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	4:56
6.	"Sampo"	Kainulainen	Kallio	6:54
7.	"Alone"	Koskinen	Amorphis	6:57
8.	"The Wanderer"	Kainulainen	Kallio	4:54
9.	"Her Alone"	Kainulainen	Holopainen	7:46

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Blabbermouth	[7]
Angry Metal Guy	[8]
PopMatters	mixed[9]
Cryptic Rock	[10]

Upon release, the album received critical acclaim. Cryptic Rock reviewed the album, finding that it had more of a focus on melody than the previous album, and it had a wider variety of instruments, which was more in line with the band's pre-2012 work. "The Four Wise Ones" was described as an "instant classic" song, "pure melodic death metal at its finest."[11] Cryptic Rock also saw songs that were heavy metal, folk metal and rock ballads.[11]

Under the Red Cloud debuted at #144 on the Billboard 200 charts, selling 1,600 units in the USA in its first week.

Charts

Chart (2015)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12]	20
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13]	53
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14]	40
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15]	50
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[16]	2
French Albums (SNEP)[17]	85
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[18]	25
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19]	10
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[20]	11

Personnel

Amorphis Tomi Joutsen – lead vocals Esa Holopainen – lead guitar; music (2, 6–8 & 10) Tomi Koivusaari – rhythm guitar; music (4 & 11) Niclas Etelävuori – bass guitar Santeri Kallio – keyboards; music (1, 3, 4, 9 & 12), engineering (church organ) Jan Rechberger – drums

Miscellaneous Staff Chrigel Glanzmann – flute, tin whistle (2, 5, 9 & Winter's Sleep) Martin Lopez – percussion (5) André Alvinzi – additional keyboards (6) Linus Corneliusson – mixing assistance Pekka Kainulainen – lyrics Valnoir Mortasonge – artwork[21]

Additional Vocalists Aleah Stanbridge – backing vocals (2, 6 & 10) Jens Bogren – backing vocals, mixing and mastering

Orchestra Jon Phipps – additional and strings arrangements Österäng Symphonic Orchestra

Engineers

• Lasse Väyrynen – Jan Rechberger's percussion
• David Castillo – Martin Lopez's percussion
• Jyri Riikonen – grand piano, Hammond and Rhodes
• Jonas Olsson
• Viktor Stenqvist

References

1. Van Horn, Jr., Ray. "Under the Red Cloud - Amorphis". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
2. Lawson, Dom (May 16, 2018). "Amorphis – Queen Of Time album review". Metal Hammer. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
3. "AMORPHIS Complete Pre-Production For New Album". Bravewords.com. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
4. Booth, Alison (4 September 2015). "Interview With Santeri Kallio, AMORPHIS: "We're extremely excited to hear some feedback from the fans"". Metal Shock Finland. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
5. "AMORPHIS Keyboardist Santeri Kallio On Working With Producer JENS BOGREN - "He Was Always Shouting 'Give Me More Energy'"; Audio". Bravewords.com. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
6. "AMORPHIS Under The Red Cloud". Nuclear Blast. Retrieved 3 Sep 2015.
7. "Amorphis, Under the Red Cloud". Blabbermouth.
8. "Amorphis, Under the Red Cloud". Angry Metal Guy.
9. "Amorphis, Under the Red Cloud". PopMatters.
10. "Amorphis, Under the Red Cloud". CrypticRock.
11. "Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud (Album Review)". Cryptic Rock. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
12. "Austriancharts.at – Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
13. "Ultratop.be – Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
14. "Ultratop.be – Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
15. "Dutchcharts.nl – Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
16. "Amorphis: Under the Red Cloud" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
17. "Lescharts.com – Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
18. "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2015. 37. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
19. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
20. "Swisscharts.com – Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
21. "AMORPHIS: To Release New Album "Under The Red Cloud" In September". Metal Shock Finland. Retrieved 4 September 2015.

External links

• Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud, Sputnik Music review by Oranges