Amorphis

Amorphis was founded in Helsinki in 1990 by guitarists Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari and drummer Jan Rechberger, with Olli-Pekka Laine on bass. Relapse Records signed the band, and the death metal debut The Karelian Isthmus appeared in 1992.

Tales from the Thousand Lakes (1994), a concept album based on the Kalevala, added clean vocals, keyboards and folk melodies to the death metal base and brought the band wide critical success. Pasi Koskinen took over lead vocals in 1995 and sang on Elegy (1996), Tuonela, Am Universum and Far from the Sun. Rechberger was away from 1996 to 2002, with Pekka Kasari on drums, keyboardist Santeri Kallio joined in 1998 and Niclas Etelävuori replaced Laine on bass in 2000.

Koskinen left in 2004. The band received more than a hundred demo tapes from prospective singers, and Tomi Joutsen joined in 2005, bringing back the contrast of clean and growled vocals. Eclipse (2006) became the first Amorphis album to go gold in Finland, and was followed by Silent Waters (2007), Skyforger (2009), The Beginning of Times (2011), Circle (2013) and Under the Red Cloud (2015).

Etelävuori left in April 2017 and Laine returned, so Queen of Time (2018) was the first album since Tales from the Thousand Lakes to feature all the original members. Halo followed in February 2022. Produced by Jacob Hansen, the fifteenth studio album Borderland was released by Reigning Phoenix Music on 26 September 2025.

Current line-up: Tomi Joutsen (vocals), Esa Holopainen (lead guitar), Tomi Koivusaari (rhythm guitar), Olli-Pekka Laine (bass), Santeri Kallio (keyboards), Jan Rechberger (drums)