In a new interview with The Chill Dude On A Couch, AMORPHIS guitarist Tomi Koivusaari spoke about the band’s plans for the follow-up to 2022’s “Halo” album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We’re going to the studio straight after the U.S. tour [in the fall of 2024]. And we’ll be recording [for] a few months. And so the new album will be out, like, [in] ’25.
Asked if he has an idea as to which musical direction the new AMORPHIS songs will take, Tomi said: “I think everybody has just made some songs, but we haven’t shared it yet with the other guys. So I haven’t heard what other guys are doing. I just heard what I’ve been doing. I [don’t know what will] end up end up [on] the album. But we will see. We will have a new producer. We’ve done the three last albums with Jens Bogren, and now we have a new direction in a way.”
AMORPHIS‘s fourteenth studio album, “Halo” came out in February 2022 via Atomic Fire Records.
Produced by Bogren, “Halo” was previously described in a press release as “progressive, melodic, and quintessentially melancholic heavy masterwork.”
As had been the case with AMORPHIS albums in the past, “Halo” featured the imaginative and poetic storytelling of renowned lyricist and “Kalevala” expert Pekka Kainulainen.
Two years ago, AMORPHIS guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen told Westword that the band is “not as radical” as it once was.
“Back in the day, I think we did too much of what we wanted to do,” he said. “For us as musicians, we needed to do that, because we never wanted to get stuck in one form. Today we blend all the new nuances and influences pretty nicely into our music. Even though there’s a lot of different elements from different genres and the musical world, even from ethnic music, I have to say, we’re pretty good to blend all of those elements into our music without sounding too different.”
AMORPHIS and DARK TRANQUILLITY will join forces for a North American tour this summer and fall. The trek, which will feature support from FIRES IN THE DISTANCE, will kick off on September 3 in Richmond, Virginia and conclude on October 6 in New York City.
Photo credit: Jaakko Manninen