Marginal Success

Amorphis is a curious beast, having evolved from more brutal death metal roots to their hyper melodic progressive sound showcased on this year's 11th studio album, Circle. Tomi Joutsen was a fan of Amorphis long before he became their frontman in 2005, and recalls his first exposure to the group through the radio.

“The first song I heard was Signs Of The North Side,” a track from their 1992 debut The Karelian Isthmus. “They played the song [on a] radio show, and I got really interested about Amorphis. At that time I was into death metal a lot, and was in all kinds of death metal bands, and Amorphis… I think it was something special. After a year I went to see them in Helsinki. I think [it] was Tales From A Thousand Lakes [1994], when that came out they were something new and fresh in metal scene. I was a fan of the band before I joined the band, so I am still living in my dream in a way. It's incredible.”

For a metal band to have had even one number one album on their nation's charts, let alone four, as well as five other top ten releases, is unheard of in most parts of the world. Joutsen, however, doesn't think it's “so strange”, and explains how strong the metal scene in Finland really is.

“We are not the only metal band from Finland that's huge – Children Of Bodom, Nightwish, HIM, Sonata Arctica – I think when they release their albums they also go really on top of the charts. For us as a band it's great that we are quite big in Finland. We can play lots of shows in Finland in festivals and in clubs also. It helps a lot in our career that we are in Finland. I think that lots of people think that Finland is a heavy metal country, and that's true in a way. We have lots of heavy metal music here, and when you are listening [to] radio station they play some of really heavy metal bands also. It's great to be in a metal band of course in Finland.”

While the massively dreadlocked man believes that “the heavy metal scene in Finland is big, and I think it's getting bigger everywhere,” he also thinks that, “It will always be marginal in a way. It has to be kind of underground music, but of course I'm happy that it's getting bigger all the time.

“I've been waiting [for] this moment for many years,” he says of the band's debut Australian run. “There has been some plans before… two years ago there was some plans to go there in New Year's Eve. I don't know what happened. It's business every time. Now it seems that it will happen, and I'm really, really happy about that. It's going to be crazy. I've heard some really good stories about Australia from other Finnish bands that played there. It's gonna be great, I'm really happy.”