Amorphis Mix Beauty With Brawn on First ‘Halo’ Single ‘The Moon’

Finnish melodic metal shapeshifters Amorphis are back with Halo, their new album that will be released next year and have just debuted a music video for the first single, "The Moon."

It's their eighth since dual-threat vocalist Tomi Joutsen joined the group in 2004 with an additional collection of re-recorded classic material bringing the studio total to nine releases overall with him up front. On the lyrical end, Amorphis again partnered with longtime collaborator, Pekka Kainulainen, whose storytelling inspiration is culled from the Kalevala, a 19th century work of epic poetry which intertwines folklore and mythology to tell the tale of earth's creation.

“It really is a great feeling that we can still produce very decent music as a band,” said guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen. "Perhaps a certain kind of self-criticism and long experience culminate in these latest albums. It is thoroughly recognizable Amorphis from beginning to end but the general atmosphere is a little bit heavier and more progressive and also organic compared to its predecessor."

Joutsen added, "To me, Halo sounds a little more stripped down compared to Queen Of Time and Under The Red Cloud. However, don’t get me wrong — when a certain song needs to sound big, then it sounds very big."

Get the first taste of Halo and listen to "The Moon" further down the page.

Weighing in on those aforementioned lyrical themes, Kainulainen explained, "Halo is a loose themed record filled with adventurous tales about the mythical North tens of thousands of years ago. The lyrics tell of an ancient time when man wandered to these abandoned boreal frontiers after the ice age. While describing the revival of a seminal culture in a world of new opportunities, I also try to reach the sempiternal forces of the human mind."

Halo will be released Feb. 11 through Atomic Fire Records. View the album art and track listing below.

Amorphis, "The Moon" Music Video

Amorphis, Halo Album Art + Track Listing

01. "Northwards"
02. "On The Dark Waters"
03. "The Moon"
04. "Windmane"
05. "A New Land"
06. "When The Gods Came"
07. "Seven Roads Come Together"
08. "War"
09. "Halo"
10. "The Wolf"
11. "My Name Is Night"