By now everybody knows that this is Amorphis 7th full length album and their third try at having a permanent singer, their previous singer Pasi Koskinen left the band after their album “Far from the sun” a total disappointment for many fans, including my self, I really liked Koskinen’s vocal work, so I was very afraid that the change may put Amorphis out of their misery since their previous two albums before this “Eclipse” were just a spiral towards destruction; but no, new singer Tomi Joutsen brought back a sense of direction and energy that the band was needing for quite some time.

This is not a return to those wonderful years of “Elegy” neither a total submersion into a more oriented rock sound, a sound that was been develop in “Am Universe” and “Far from the sun” is a nice mix of both a good mix. “Eclipse” has those amazing guitars that distinguish this band from all the rest, and that unique use of keyboards in every song; Amorphis has never been easily labeled and that’s because of the ingenuity within every riff, they make a simple melody into an atmosphere without even trying.

The growls that were missing from their previous two records are back, the energy is back, and a bag of new tricks is added to the trademark prog/rock/folk and just a little death metal are back for all of us to see the rebirth of ones of metal’s most misunderstood and talented sons.

There are tracks that carry you way back into the “Elegy” era, songs like “Leaves Scar” and “Under a Soil and Black Stone” were those folkish guitars and keyboards blend to create the unique Amorphis sound; meanwhile we have songs like the first two “Two Moons” and “House of Sleep” that posses a more “hard rock” approach but with way more energy and enthusiasm than what they did in previous occasions.

Amorphis has two albums that will always hunt them down, the previously mention “Elegy” and the fantastic “Tales From the Thousand Lakes” but now is “Eclipse” a record to watch out for, an album that gets complicated were it’s supposed to be and easy to get with hooks, great chorus lines and melodic yet unique guitar work.