Amoral
Helsinki, Central Finland, Finland | INDIE
Music
Press
There´s so many reviews and articles from Japan to the US, so please send an email request if you need some (in English, Finnish, German, Japanese Swedish, Norwegian, Hungarian...).
There´s really no use to download just one or two reviews/interviews here, wouldn´t be fair to other magazines. - Several medias around the world
Discography
BENEATH (Imperial Cassette 2011)
Soundi (4/5)
"Amoral has all chances to be the next big Finnish thing in the international market."
- Antti Mattila / Soundi (The biggest rock magazine in Finland)
Powermetal.de (8/10)
...enthält bis zur letzten Sekunde jedoch ausschließlich souverän arrangierten Stoff...
Heavy (8/10)
"...Fakt ist, daß den Burschen dieser Stil steht und AMORAL ein ordentliches Album abgeliefert haben..."
Music-Scan.de (8/10)
"Starkes Album einer Band, der man die Spielfreude deutlich anhört."
Powerplay (9/10)
Supremely infectious heavy metal... a strong contender for album of the year.
Young Guitar Magazine
Carefully produced, impressive songs...
Other Finnish music magazines:
- Inferno (4/5)
- Sue (8/10)
- Rytmi (4/5)
- Imperiumi.net (8/10)
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SHOW YOUR COLORS (Spinefarm 2009)
- Musicwaves.fr (8/10)
- Soilchronicles.fr (8/10)
- Magic Fire Music (15/20)
- Hot New Reviews (8,3/10)
"Finland is fertile ground for metallers. If only they all sounded as good as Amoral."
-"the soaring vocals and polished, guitar-led melodies reflect the best of Finnish pop-metal"
- Kerrang! (3/5)
"Very Recommended!"
- Dangerdog Music Reviews (4,25/5)
"A catchy collection of Finnish melodic metal, "Show Your Colors" should be next on your shopping list"
- Big Cheese (4/5)
"A warning though: the trouble with anthems is that they tend to be addictive... a really refreshing album."
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REPTILE RIDE (Spikefarm 2007)
"This album sees the band injected with a near-cockiness which not only bolsters their overall strength, but makes this an absolute fucking blast to listen to. One of the year's most satisfying albums..."
- MetalReview.com (5.5/6)
"One of this year's best metal albums"
- Noise.fi (5/5)
"One of the best albums of 2007"
- Metalnews.hu
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DECROWNING (Spikefarm 2005)
"Amoral's second album, Decrowning, is so good it's going be sending me to the thesaurus any minute now to find all the superlatives I'll need to describe it. This disc is easily the most enjoyable, best-played, best written technical metal album I've heard in years."
- Deadtide.com
"Amoral deliver a very good original sounding (and I can't express that enough) modern technical melodic death/trash album... The disc sounds awesome, they know how to write a catchy tune and the boys definitely show some technical skills."
- Metalrage.com (89/100)
"In all honesty I don't have to sell Decrowning to you, the music speaks for itself."
- Metalreview.com (5.5/5)
"With the release of Decrowning, it's easy to announce and spit out a possible fact that Amoral has taken a major step closer to the top league of the worldwide Death Metal realm."
- Metal-rules.com (4/5)
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WOUND CREATIONS (Spikefarm 2004)
"Poles (and Swedes): don't even contemplate resting on your laurels! Your sovereignty in the realm of technical death metal may soon be in jeopardy."
- Terrorizer (8/10)
"bears many of the hallmarks of proggressive death metal at its exploratory best. Balancing compelling grooves with dazzling showmanship, this is a multi-layered album to be savoured at lenght."
- Kerrang! (KKKK)
"a remarkable, enterprising piece of work from a group that would seem to have a bright future ahead of them."
- Metal Hammer (9/10)
Photos
Bio
Amoral Classic Rock of the 21st Century!
Amoral is a band established by founders Ben Varon and Juhana Karlsson in Helsinki, Finland in the late 90's.
The band's production can be classified as technical, progressive and melodic metal, combined with rock elements. Amoral's sound is heavy riff driven yet still has a melodic power groove. Skillful ensemble and crisp performance has characterized Amoral, which is internationally recognized as one of Finland's foremost bands. The brave and independent development of their music can be heard throughout their four albums.
The development culminated in 2009 on Show Your Colors, the 4th album, where the previous growling vocals were replaced with clean vocals and big choruses. The album was the debut of singer Ari Koivunen and bassist Pekka Johansson. Amoral´s music was earlier characterized by metal media as death metal due to the growling vocals, but now the classification varies from power metal to progressive rock. Show Your Colors received a lot of praise upon its release. The album's first single, "Year of the Suckerpunch" was on the Finnish national radio Ylex´s playlist, with the highest hopes of receiving song of the year for 2009. The album was ranked by public voting as the fifth best domestic metal album at the Finnish Metal Awards 2009. Show Your Colors has also been released in Great Britain, Germany, USA, Canada and Japan.
Now Amoral, the Finnish ambassadors of Classic Rock Of The 21st Century are back with their 5th album Beneath. The album the band's second with multiplatinum-selling singer Ari Koivunen continues on the path Amoral started with it's previous album Show Your Colors (2009). The emphasis is still on solid songwriting, big hooks, fresh arrangements and interesting guitar riffs. Though on Beneath, the palette is wider than ever before: From 9-minute epics (Beneath) to straight-forward rock anthems (Silhouette, Same Difference), to nods to the band's death metal past ((won't Go) Home) and unorthodox marriages between acoustic guitars and industrial landscapes (Wastelands), the band simply refuses to limit itself in any way.
Equipped with a new guitar player Masi Hukari (who shared the lead guitar duties with founder Ben Varon on the new album, as well as co-wrote two of the songs), the band felt hungrier and more inspired than it had in ages while writing, practicing and recording the new album. That attitude and energy can be heard on Beneath, the band's brightest moment yet.
"Beneath is definitely the most versatile album from Amoral yet. The band has obviously found their own path, and even though the material goes from 80's-style rock to more melodic, even Porcupine Tree -esque vibe, the album still stands as one strong package. Ari's (Koivunen, vocals) voice is in top shape, and the guitar players' Floyd Roses are oiled to the hilt! Recommended!"
- Esa Holopainen, Amorphis
The band has played over 200 shows so far, everywhere from Japan to Russia and all over Europe.
Beneath was released in Japan on 19th October 2011 via Marquee / Avalon, in Finland 26th October 2011 via Imperial Cassette and will be out in the United States & Canada on 14th February 2012 via The End Records.
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