Rocklab

AMORPHIS Rock and metal music have always been a haven for those who have bigger stories to tell; who have grander emotions to convey. For more than thirty years, Finnish figureheads AMORPHIS have done their best to carve their very own niche in heartfelt yet aggressive, melancholic yet soothing tunes. On »Halo«, their staggering fourteenth studio effort, the Finns underline their trailblazing status as one of the most original, culturally relevant and rewarding acts ever to emerge from the land of the thousand lakes. In the past, mythology and legend took the role of today’s pop culture: stories and a set of values uniting us by giving us a voice and a tapestry on which we can find each other and identify with something. By weaving the tales of Finnish national epos »Kalevala« into their songs and interpreting them in a time less way, AMORPHIS combine the role of ancient minstrels and luminaries of the modern world, honouring tradition without getting stuck in the past. _ ELUVEITIE We all wade through archetypes. We all ARE archetypes. Distant echoes of a life both primeval and noble. To embrace these archetypes, to accept them not only as a part of life but as life itself is what some may call enlightenment, some peace of mind. ELUVEITIE call it »Ategnatos«. And by using their longest gap between two Metal albums to gather momentum, they just forged their strongest album around it. Born in the rural mysticism of the Swiss alps and since a very early point deeply rooted within Celtic mythology, Gaulish history and proto-European culture, ELUVEITIE have long become Folk Metal’s trailblazers, spindoctors and rightful masters of their craft. All the more because they never limited themselves to simple forays through rune-decorated cliches or foolish drinking songs. From their fabled debut »Spirit« (2006) onward, theirs was an approach of respect, historic accuracy, depth and the most thrilling, catchy, primordial melange of Melodic Death Metal and Pagan Folk the world could have ever imagined.