I’ve never heard Amorphis’ well-known early albums like The Karelian Isthmus or Tales from the Thousand Lakes, but their fourteenth album, 2022’s Halo has completely grabbed my attention over the past several days and I can’t see that changing any time soon. There is a lot happening on Halo, from the vocals which run the gamut from clean signing to death growls to female singing which borders on shoegaze to musical elements from a multitude of genres. In my experience, when a band tries to bring too much to the mix, you often end up with a confused and chaotic jumble, but that couldn’t be further from the truth on Halo.

Amorphis started out playing death metal and those roots are audible in the growling present on tracks like "Northwards" and "The Wolf". The riffs backing up these parts are tight and crunchy but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Within those same songs, the music shifts effortlessly to melodic and moody with impassioned clean singing evoking a simultaneously epic and gothic atmosphere that is both haunting and uplifting. Amorphis work in progressive elements and lovely female vocals, notably on one of my favorite tracks, "The Moon". Hell, there are even Hammond-style keyboards that whipped me back in time to '70s heavy rock. Every song is beautifully arranged and the whole album has some of the tightest, most focused songwriting I’ve heard in a long while. Halo’s grandness, sadness, fury, and determination washed over me in waves of emotion that were each captivating in their own way and the flow of the album is unparalleled.

I will freely admit to having no idea how Halo will sound to fans of Amorphis’ early sound, but as someone approaching it with no preconceived notions, I am duly impressed. It is one of those rare albums that defies consignment to one genre or another. Superlative melodic metal is how I describe it.