It’s no secret that Amorphis has stayed one of the most consistent metal bands since the 90s. While the band has experimented with new sounds over the years, they’ve kept a formulaic approach to their style of prog metal. Their last album, Queen of Time, pulled from folk, melodeath, prog, and symphonic metal to push their sound in a different direction. Retaining their signature melodic riffs and massive choruses, Amorphis’ transition into the 2010s felt like a natural extension of the ideas they had built up early in their career. On Halo, Amorphis once again takes their signature formula and packages it neatly into an 11-track album full of proggy passages and emotional highs.
On the surface, Halo doesn’t deviate far from the classic Amorphis sound as the song structures all follow a similar pattern. The growling vocals contrasted by the emotional clean vocals have always been a high point for the band and Halo is no different with Tomi Joutsen weaving together moving atmospheres. The symphonic passages are balanced nicely between the proggy experimentation. There’s a little more flair with orchestral elements and a female choir that gives way to beautiful moments on songs like “Halo”. The explosive synths on “Seven Roads Come Together” meld themselves together with the blast beats and keyboard melodies. Though Halo plays it safe throughout the 55-minute runtime, there’s plenty to love if you enjoy the Amorphis sound.
Nevertheless, Halo does beg the question: Will Amorphis ever meaningfully experiment with their sound? While Halo is another impressive addition to the Finnish rockers’ discography, it continues to play it safe like much of their previous work. It might be more interesting to see a different direction from the prog metal/melodeath blend they’ve committed to. The album’s weaker points all blend together and become a mass of stale passages that never transform into anything bigger. Despite the short runtimes on each song, the middle section of the album feels full of repetitive ideas and familiar licks. While Halo is a consistent body of work, it never seeks to reinvent the wheel. The result is an album that will sound awfully familiar for Amorphis fans and very few moments that are genuinely exciting.
Must Listens: On The Dark Waters, The Moon, Halo
