Okay, here we go...
Unlike all previous lists, I decided to do one that includes both the Joutsen era and the previous stuff. So no two lists from me. I felt this was both easier and more interesting to compile. This way I needed to compare all the different styles with each other, for example, how does a song from Tales From The Thousand Lakes compare to one off Skyforger?
Originally I planned to do a Top 20 list, which then became a Top 25 and now it's actually a Top 29. But since I'm a lazy fuck and I didn't really want to to that or add one more song for a Top 30, I decided that only 25 songs would get writeups and I'd just mention the other four as honorable mentions.
I'm not really a great writer and I don't have any of these writeups pre-written but instead I'll do them spontaneously as I post in this thread, so I apologize if they turn out to be boring or short or whatever. Sorry
All albums but one are featured on this list, with the number of songs per album ranging from one up to six.
Enough of the jabbering, let's get to it:
These are the four songs that didn't make the cut and eventually became honorable mentions:
Day Of Your Beliefs (Far From The Sun, 2003)
Against Widows (Elegy, 1996)
House Of Sleep (Eclipse, 2006)
Song Of The Troubled One (Elegy, 1996)
And now: the "real" list:
25) The Wanderer (Circle, 2013)When I first listened to Circle , The Wanderer was one of the songs that initially stood out to me. It's the second single of the album after Hopeless Days, and as much as I like that song, I have to admit that The Wanderer gets the "single-job" done even better, making it one of my favourite singles from the Joutsen era. It's nothing super innovative, but just a great song that features everything typical for an Amorphis single from the last couple of years: a catchy main guitar riff/melody, a spectacular chorus that sticks in your head for ages, a "singable" guitar solo and (of course
) a modulation of the chorus at the end.
My favourite part is probably the "the spirit roams" section after the chorus which is absolutely huge. Wow.
24) Skyforger (Skyforger, 2009)Skyforger was not my first album by these guys, but the one that made me realise that they are a truly phenomenal band, and its title track definitely added to this. Although I'm not the biggest fan of the album anymore and most of its songs haven't really aged that well for me, this one is still really special I think. Unlike in lots of other Amorphis songs from the Joutsen era, the most catchy, melodic and memorable part of this song is not the chorus but either the verses or the bridge in the middle. Still, the last chorus and Tomi letting his growling skills shine at the end deserves only one word: epic.
23) Nightbird's Song (Circle, 2013)Another Circle song? Yes, and probably one of the most unique and surprising of the whole album. Nightbird's Song is another proof that when rhythm guitarist Tomi Koivusaari decides to write a song for Amorphis (which unfortuately doesn't seem to happen that often), the result is spectacular. Tomi Joutsen tries some black metal vocals in this song, and man, they are surely impressive. Combined with the clean vocal prechorus part that serves as a nice contrast to the otherwise pretty damn heavy song, the huuuuge chorus and the completely unexpected and strangely fitting flute solo interlude in the middle, this song is one of the main factors why Circle exceeded my expectations so tremendously.
EDIT: okay one hour, not twenty minutes