Apoch's Metal Review - Amorphis: Far from the Sun (North American Version) CD Review

Discography	Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed.
Full-Length(s):	The Karelian Isthmus (1992) • Tales from the Thousand Lakes (1994) • Elegy (1996) • Tuonela (1999) • Am Universum (2001) Far from the Sun (2003) • Eclipse (2006) • Silent Waters (2007) • Skyforger (2009) • The Beginning of Times (2011)
EP(s):	Privilege of Evil (1993) • Black Winter Day (1995) • My Kantele (1997)
Split(s):	Far from the Sun (North American Version)/Fear (1995) • Relapse Singles Series Vol. 4 (2004) Martyr of the Free World/From the Heaven of My Heart (2009)
CD Single(s):	Amorphis (1992) • Divinity (1999) • Alone (2001) • Day of Your Beliefs (2003) • Evil Inside (2003) • House of Sleep (2006) Silent Waters (2007) • Silver Bride (2009) • From the Heaven of My Heart (2009) • You I Need (2011)
Demo(s):	Disment of Soul (1991)
Compilation(s):	Story: 10th Anniversary (2000) • Chapters (2003) • Magic & Mayhem: Tales from the Early Years (2010)
DVD(s):	Forging the Land of Thousand Lakes (2010)

Review

It seems that Amorphis has been transitioning themselves musically, and this album is no exception to that thought. Far From The Sun is easily one of the band's weakest albums, and the last with vocalist Pasi Koskinen, which is fine since his vocals on this release sound terrible and really bring it down. But, not all the blame for this record being so bad falls on him, since the music on this album has it's lame moments as well.

First of all, the vocals on this release, as stated earlier, sound absolutely terrible. The higher pitched rock vocals really do not work out here and clash against not only the pitch of the music, but also against the overall feel of the release, and seem to just stick with one tone through the album with only a few changes such as a lower, mock-whisper like singing style like during "Planetary Misfortune", as well as distorted deeping singing like on "Evil Inside". Had there been more of the deeper singing without the distortion on these songs, Far From The Sun would have been much better.

The music on this release is far from impressive as well. Right from the start with the single, "Day Of Your Beliefs", you're greeted with subpar guitar riffs and chords that sound impressive your first listen but really wind up becoming as repetative as the song is. This is essentially the flow of the album, whether the song is slow or fast, it has rather generic guitar riffs that just seem to repeat and make the song feel like it's never going to end. "Ethereal Solitude" seems to be the only enjoyable track on here because of the more jazz sound the guitars produce and the added keyboards that make it sound very different from everything on this release. "Killing Goodness" doesn't sound that much different from the rest either, but at least it's faster and heaview, even if the drumming does seem a little off with the singing. And then it's right back to the stale, repetative music, and beyond. "God Of Deception" isn't all that great a track, but "Higher Ground" is decent musically and absolutely horrendous vocally due to tone deaf singing for pretty much the entire song.

North America Version

Whether it was just an idea for this version in an attempt to make more money by people importing this version, or that they knew how bad it was, Nuclear Blast chose to add five bonus tracks for a standard release of this album, as well as put it in a slipcase to make it look that much fancier. While these bonus tracks are nice, three are basically the same damn thing you just sat through, including "Shining Turns To Grey' which sounds worse due to vocals that seem as though they were performed without a care of how they would sound, and the acoustic version of "Far From The Sun" since, clearly, it's the only acoustic track on here. "Follow Me Into The Fire", however, does have it's moments and seems to get better as the song progresses, but the end of the song is very drawn out with Doom/Sludge Metal guitar riff ring outs that serve absolutely no purpose. The only two of these tracks that actually are entertaining are "Dreams Of The Damned" due to it being a slower paced song and a lower, not so nasally vocal style that works well with the music and proves a deeper voice would have really done wonders for this CD, and "Far From The Sun (Acoustic Version) which just sounds like a minstrel serenade you'd hear in some sort of fantasy movie and provides for a good chuckle.

From the overdrawn and irritating "Day Of Your Beliefs" and the decent climax track "Smithereens" which for some reason has a guitar segment that rips of music from the musical Phantom Of The Opera, Far From The Sun is easily one of the band's worst releases. There's only a few moments on the release, not including the rather entertaining "Ethereal Solitude" and "Killing Goodness", that are even worth checking out, even in the bonus tracks included on this version. If you're not a rabid fan of the band and have to have all their releases, it is highly suggested to avoid this one, and save yourself the money for this release, as well as the cost of some migraine medications for afterwards.

Physical review copy of this release provided by:
Personal funds.

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