Amorphis announce new album ‘Queen of Time’

AMORPHIS have announced a new album!

The upcoming album, titled Queen of Time, follows 2015’s Under The Red Cloud and is scheduled to be released in May this year.  The album was produced by the famous Jens Bogren (OPETH, AMON AMARTH, KREATOR) and will include the use of real strings, flutes, orchestral arrangements and choirs. Speaking about the upcoming album, guitarist Esa Holopainen says, “I guess Queen Of Time turned out as a massive surprise to all of us. During the rehearsing and pre-production we didn’t have any idea that Jens had this huge picture inside of his head about the landscape of the album. It’s a very natural continuation to Under The Red Cloud but with steroids. The songs are more aggressive but there’s more dynamics, harmonies and orchestral arrangements present. The result is AMORPHIS as something you’ve never heard before! Essentially, working with Jens worked really well. As a person he is very similar to us – we share the same kind of weird humor and we all like to work hard.”

The new album will be also the first album with their old/new bass player Olli-Pekka ‘Oppu’ Laine following the departure of Niclas Etelävuori in 2017. Oppu was one of the founding members in 1990 and recorded the first seven records with the band. “to be honest, Oppu was the only guy we could imagine being in AMORPHIS. It was funny – when we started to play our first shows together again last summer it all felt so familiar. He was involved with arranging songs and he also even brought some new songs to the table… really good ones, too!” says Esa whilst Oppu adds, “even though the last year with AMORPHIS has been exciting, nostalgic and fun, it’s also been truly comfortable to be with the guys again. As a clichéd expression, it’s been like returning home from a lengthy odyssey. After eighteen years, it feels like we are picking up where we left off from the good ol’ days! I’m really looking forward for the upcoming tour. The new album itself is a really strong package, the only hard thing will be picking which songs to play live! It’s safe to say we are set to pull off some killer shows over the next few years. After that, I’m predicting a long and fruitful career for the band in its current form…”

Queen of Time is set for release on May 18th via Nuclear Blast Records.

For more information on AMORPHIS like their official page on Facebook.