Amorphis - Eclipse

Hailing from Finland, Amorphis began in the early 90's as a crushingly epic, melodic death metal band.  Between their first 
album "The Karelian Isthmus", "Privelege of Evil" demo and second release "Tales from the Thousand Lakes" you will hear some
of the most brilliant death metal bestowed upon the world.  Violent, baneful tales of war and mythology were delivered
encased in thick dark riffs and heavy atmosphere, highlighted by subtley sweet melodies.  These days Amorphis produces gothic
rock, heavily laiden in keyboards, pop-esque elements such as the clean vocals and political ideals.

What does this mean for the listener? Well, stating the obvious, don't expect anything brilliant. Basically you need to 
listen to "Eclipse" only expecting to be entertained, rather than impressed or stunned by something new or captivating. My
overall impression of this album is that it is ok. I am going to admit I probably won't listen to it much beyond the end of
this year, unless I end up craving for some very basic melodic radio rock, but that's more because I don't find the goth/rock
genre particularly interesting. But if you enjoy said genre, I'd probably end up recommending this album to you.

As mentioned, it is very keyboard laiden, which adds quite an enjoyable aspect to the album which really completes the album.
Musically the it is quite rhythmic, particularly on tracks such as "Brother Moon" which I found to be the most enjoyable.  It
has a catchy feel to it and I suppose really sums up the album in as far as representing the "entertainment" that Amorphis is
intending to deliver. Riffs are fairly simple, consistent with the straightforward song structure, crystal clear production 
delivered in a very rock n' roll style.

Vocally, the album is also nothing more than ok.  I'd compare vocals to the newer material by Sentenced, who chose a similar
path to Amorphis (diverging from excellent death metal to goth/rock).  Effectively they are ever so slightly off key rock 
vocals that get a little abrasive at song climax.  However the one thing I don't understand, is the occassional use of death 
style vocals such as in the song "Perkele (God of Fire)". They have no place on this album and really serve no purpose other
than to sound really unnecessary.

There isn't much more I can tell you about this release, because of its obvious simplicity, so in keeping with the theme I
will leave this review at a very simple: 
Great? No
Entertaining? Somewhat
Recommended? If you like goth/rock

60%

1.	Two Moons	
2.	House of Sleep	
3.	Leaves Scar	
4.	Born from Fire		
5.	Under a Soil and Black Stone	
6.	Perkele (The God of Fire)	
7.	The Smoke	
8.	Same Flesh	
9.	Brother Moon	
10.	Empty Opening