Review of the Album "Silent Waters" by Finnish Heavy Metal Band Amorphis

"Silent Waters" is the 2007 album by Finnish band Amorphis and European heavy metal is so far superior to that of the United States it is not even funny! To be honest, sometimes American heavy metal doesn’t appeal to me as much as that from Europe, Finland in particular. It just depends on what I’m in the mood for listening to at a certain time. Finland is a country where music is more than just a hobby. It is one of the finest art forms done to perfection and Amorphis has been a major contributor to Finland’s success starting in the 1990’s. The song that got me into this album is the awesome Silent Waters. This song definitely has Tomi Joutsen’s best vocal performance in his early days with Amorphis. No Pasi Koskinen? That is no problem at all for this band that was solid from their beginnings back in 1990.

The album’s cover has a flamingo in the water, the lake which is not moving. There is a stillness in the water which symbolizes silence, hence, that’s where the album’s title Silent Waters comes from.

Lyrically once again the band focuses on poems written by the poet Pekka Kainulainen but these lyrics are translated from a different poet than Eclipse. The growls by Tomi Joutsen are especially noticeable in the song called A Servant. Towards and Against starts with clean vocals and then the switch is made to death metal growls. The song is about a person that knows how to sing and he knows the way to the end of the journey. He has conquered all that has stood in his way like a brave warrior. Silent Waters has a good mix of clean and death metal style vocals expanding upon what was resumed in 2006’s Eclipse album. Silent Waters because of the title track alone is a better album than their previous one. To state briefly, the reasons why Silent Waters is a better album than Eclipse, it is because of:

1. The amazing power of Tomi Joutsen’s voice in the song Silent Waters
2. A good mix of clean and death metal style vocals

Enigma is an acoustic song which only adds to the musical diversity of this album. Silent Waters is over 10 years old but the production is crisp and clear. Shaman is a song about a mother looking for her son. She is despondent and forlorn because she cannot seem to find him.

The White Swan tells the story of a hunter that is out to search for a white swan in order to shoot it down with his arrows. However, the song does not say whether he was successful. Beyond the swan remains a sky with no stars as the river remains black amidst the full moon in the sky. The last song called Black River tells the story of a person that is looking for ways to redeem himself and to be a better person but he is being tormented by the white swan. He climbs up a hill and a mountain and he looks down, seeing what the River of Death is. Will he ever redeem himself? The song does not specify this. Silent Waters may be the band’s best album since Am Universum in 2001.