top of page

Finnish metal band.

 

Current band members:

- Esa Holopainen (lead guitar)

- Tomi Joutsen (vocals)

- Santeri Kallio (keyboards)

- Tomi Koivusaari (rhythm guitar)

- Olli-Pekka Laine (bass) 

- Jan Rechberger (drums)

 

They have often used Kalevala as a source for their lyrics. Lyrics of Tales From The Thousand Lakes are based on Kalevala and the Lyrics of the following four albums tell the story of one central figure in Kalevala:

- Eclipse (Kullervo, tragic and vengeful man thought to be the last of his family)

- Silent Waters (Lemminkäinen, a mighty warrior)

- Skyforger (Seppo Ilmarinen, powerful and skillful blacksmith and forger of the vault of the heavens among many other things)

- The Beginning of Times (Väinämöinen, the old sage and the creator of Kantele).

In addition the lyrics of Elegy are based on Kanteletar, the sister book of Kalevala. Both Kalevala and Kanteletar were originally compiled by Elias Lönnrot in the 1800s on his trips to Finnish Karelia and Russian Karelia. Some material from those trips still remains unpublished. 

 

What is Kalevala? In the words of Esa Holopainen "...Kalevala on suomalaisille kuin Raamattu. Kaikilla on se hyllyssä, mutta harva on lukenut sen kannesta kanteen." (Kalevala is like the Bible to Finns. Everyone has it in their bookshelf but only few have actually read it through). Citation taken from the foreword of the book Pienois-Kalevala, WSOY, 2009 and translated by me.

 

Homepage: www.amorphis.net

 

bottom of page