There are albums that sound good the first time you hear them. Then there are albums that make you stop and think, “Damn, Amorphis really nailed this one”.
“Under the Red Cloud” released in 2015, belongs firmly in the second category.
The Finnish metal veterans’ 12th studio album found Amorphis hitting a remarkable sweet spot between their modern melodic sound and the darker, heavier spirit of their early years. It was polished, atmospheric and packed with memorable hooks, but underneath all that refinement was a serious return to the band death metal roots.
And there was one major reason for that.
Back to the Lakes
Before recording “Under the Red Cloud”, Amorphis had spent a year touring and performing their legendary 1994 album Tales from the Thousand Lakes in its entirety.
That experience clearly got into their blood.
Singer Tomi Joutsen came into the new album with a renewed appetite for extreme vocals, delivering some of his most aggressive growls in years. His ability to jump from deep, crushing snarls to clean, emotional melodies became one of the album biggest weapons.
The result was an Amorphis that sounded both familiar and revitalized.
The band hadn’t simply gone backwards. Instead, they took the heaviness of their early material and fused it with everything they had learned during their modern era.
A Perfectly Balanced Metal Machine
At the heart of the album are the guitars of founding member Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari.
Holopainen soaring, melancholic leads give the record much of its emotional character, while Koivusaari provides the heavy rhythmic foundation underneath. Together, they create the kind of riffs that can sound crushing one moment and strangely beautiful the next.
Then there are the keyboards.
Santeri Kallio work adds atmosphere without turning the songs into an overstuffed symphonic production. Grand piano, Hammond organ and even church organ recordings give the album additional depth, while folk instruments such as flute and sitar add another unmistakably Finnish flavor.
Somehow, it all fits.
That’s one of the album biggest achievements: “Under the Red Cloud” sounds layered without sounding crowded.
Jens Bogren Wanted More
A huge part of that balance came from producer Jens Bogren.
Bogren wasn’t interested in simply recording whatever the band brought into the studio. He pushed them hard, forcing them to rewrite songs, remove sections he considered boring and tighten the arrangements.
Joutsen was pushed particularly hard during the vocal sessions. The singer later recalled that Bogren intense approach nearly tested his patience.
But you can hear the results.
Every instrument has room to breathe, while the heavier sections hit with enormous weight. The production is polished and modern, but it never sterilizes the band personality.
“Under the Red Cloud” sounds powerful rather than merely loud.
The Songs That Make It Special
The title track immediately establishes the album atmosphere. Piano and clean guitar lines create a haunting opening before the song explodes into a chunky melodic riff.
Then comes “Bad Blood”, where Joutsen clean and harsh vocals work together beautifully. It’s one of the clearest examples of how effectively Amorphis could combine melody and aggression.
“Death of a King” is another monster. Folk instrumentation, including sitar and flute, sits alongside Joutsen ferocious vocals, creating a track that feels ancient and modern at the same time.
And then there’s “Sacrifice”.
Catchy, melodic and ridiculously infectious, it has the kind of chorus that stays in your head long after the album has stopped playing. Fans who loved songs such as “House of Sleep” had plenty to sink their teeth into.
The record also digs deeper as it moves along. “Dark Path”, “White Night”, “The Skull” and “Come the Spring” show just how comfortably the band could move between crushing riffs, progressive arrangements and melancholic melodies.
The Folk Metal Without the Cheese
Folk influences have always been part of Amorphis‘ identity, but “Under the Red Cloud” handles them with impressive restraint.
Flutes, pipes, strings, piano, Hammond organ and sitar appear throughout the album without completely taking over the metal foundation.
Chrigel Glanzmann of Eluveitie contributes flutes and pipes, while former Opeth and Soen drummer Martin Lopez adds percussion to “Death of a King”.
Even with all those extra textures, the album never loses sight of what matters: the riffs and the songs.
There are moments when the folk-heavy approach gets a little close to the cheesy side, particularly toward the later part of the album. “Tree of Ages” for example, doesn’t hit quite as hard as some of the record early powerhouses.
But those moments are minor bumps on an otherwise remarkably consistent album.
The Beginning of the Bogren Trilogy
There’s another interesting chapter in the album history.
“Under the Red Cloud” began an unofficial trilogy of Amorphis albums produced by Jens Bogren. The partnership continued with 2018’s “Queen of Time” before reaching its later conclusion with 2022’s “Halo”.
Looking back, “Under the Red Cloud” feels like the moment that formula really clicked.
The band had the experience. Bogren brought the discipline. Joutsen rediscovered his heavier voice. And the songwriting connected all those pieces.
The People Behind the Cloud
The lineup was firing on all cylinders.
Tomi Joutsen – vocals
The vocal of the album, moving effortlessly between devastating growls and soaring clean melodies.
Esa Holopainen – lead guitar
A founding member and key songwriter whose melodic guitar work provides much of the album emotional character. He also wrote several standout tracks, including “Sacrifice”, “Dark Path” and “White Night”.
Tomi Koivusaari – rhythm guitar
Another founding member, supplying the crushing riffs that keep the progressive and folk elements firmly anchored in metal.
Santeri Kallio – keyboards & church organ
One of the album major composers, contributing music to “Under the Red Cloud”, “Bad Blood”, “Death of a King” and “Tree of Ages”. His use of grand piano, Hammond organ and church organ greatly expanded the record atmosphere.
Jan Rechberger – drums
Providing everything from traditional metal grooves to more complex progressive and folk-influenced rhythms, alongside additional percussion and vocal harmonies.
Niclas Etelävuori – bass
The deep low-end foundation beneath the album enormous sound. The record would ultimately become his final studio album with Amorphis before his departure in 2017.
The Lyrics Come From Somewhere Else
One of the more unusual parts of the Amorphis formula is that the band lyrics weren’t actually written by the musicians.
Artist Pekka Kainulainen wrote the original poems in Finnish, drawing inspiration from Nordic mythology and his own spiritual ideas. They were then adapted and translated into English rhythm by Erkki Virta so they could work as song lyrics.
That approach gives Amorphis a distinctive lyrical identity, one that feels much closer to ancient Finnish mythology than standard metal storytelling.
A Modern Classic?
The real strength of “Under the Red Cloud” isn’t simply that it sounds heavy.
It’s that everything works together.
The death metal growls don’t feel forced. The clean vocals don’t soften the music too much. The folk instruments add atmosphere rather than gimmicks. The progressive elements make the songs more interesting without turning them into exercises in technicality.
And above all, the riffs are memorable.
That’s why “Under the Red Cloud” is often regarded as one of the defining albums of the Tomi Joutsen era and one of Amorphis‘ strongest modern releases.
It feels like a band rediscovering something they had loved decades earlier, then using that energy to push themselves forward rather than simply looking backward.
Twenty years into their career Amorphis didn’t need to prove they could still play metal.
They simply reminded everyone how damn good they were at it.
Final Verdict
“Under the Red Cloud” is where Amorphis old-school aggression and modern melodic identity meet in almost perfect balance.
For fans of “Tales from the Thousand Lakes”, the heavier growls are a welcome blast from the past. For fans of the band later material, the hooks, atmosphere and polished production make the album instantly accessible.
A powerful, melodic and beautifully dark Amorphis record and one of the band essential albums.
So, metalheads: is “Under the Red Cloud” the best album of the Tomi Joutsen era? 🤘
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