- Country: Finland
- Style: Melodic death metal / Progressive metal
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Release date: 4 September 2015
Amorphis have been so dependable for so long that it is easy to stop listening closely. Under the Red Cloud is the record that makes you pay attention again. The title track opens light and melancholic before the band dig in, and from there Tomi Joutsen does what he does best, swinging between a warm clean voice and a growl that still sounds like it means it.
Jens Bogren’s production gives the keyboards room without letting them smother the guitars, which matters on a song like “The Four Wise Ones”, darker and harsher than anything they’ve put on a lead-off stretch in years. “Death of a King” is the curveball: Eluveitie’s Chrigel Glanzmann adds flute and ex-Opeth drummer Martin Lopez brings in percussion, and the folk colour feels earned rather than bolted on.
If there is a complaint, it is that the second half leans on the same mid-tempo stride a little too often. But “Tree of Ages” lifts the mood with its almost dance-like folk melody, and “White Night” closes things on a moody, slow-burning note. Twelve albums in, this is one of their best.
Best tracks:
The Four Wise Ones
Death of a King
Tree of Ages
White Night
Author’s rating: 8.4/10
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