Amorphis is a Finnish progressive metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990.

[3] Violent Solution slowly dissolved with Jan Rechberger and Esa Holopainen deciding to continue working with each other to form their own death metal band, Amorphis.

During that time, Koivusaari also performed rhythm guitar, leading to the band dumping all original compositions and starting over again.[why?]

[4] This 1994 release, while still rooted in death metal, was their first step toward a new direction as melodic clean vocals were added, provided by Ville Tuomi.

Tales from the Thousand Lakes won the band a fan base thanks to its innovative sound and fusion of death metal with traditional folk, psychedelia, and progressive elements.

Rechberger was replaced by Pekka Kasari (ex-Stone), and a sixth member was recruited, singer Pasi Koskinen.

Their next offering, 1999's Tuonela, was a mellow guitar album, although toward the end of the studio sessions, Santeri Kallio of Kyyria was brought in to add some keyboard tracks to the songs.

New instruments were introduced (Tomi playing sitar in the song "Greed", Sakari Kukko on saxophone and flute providing a foreign accent) and the death growls were reduced, as all vocals were performed by Pasi.

The commissioned piece was a cover version of a 1976 Finnish pop hit "Kuusamo", and is as of 2024 the band's only song in their native language.

In 2003, Relapse released the retrospective Chapters, which included a DVD featuring the band's videos from "Black Winter Day" to "Alone".

Far from the Sun was produced by the band itself, which had been rejoined by original drummer Jan Rechberger after Pekka Kasari had quit to concentrate on family duties.

[6] Joutsen, best known for his work with metal band Sinisthra,[7] urged Amorphis to return to the use of contrasting vocal styles for their next album.

[14] On 20 November 2009, while touring in support of Skyforger, Amorphis filmed a show at Club Teatria in Oulu, Finland for their first-ever live DVD.

During the tour that followed, the band briefly reunited with Pasi Koskinen and other past members (such as keyboard player Kim Rantala) on stage, to perform some of the older songs.

[17] The album The Beginning of Times was released on 27 May 2011 in Europe and 7 June 2011 in the United States, and features cover art by longtime collaborator Travis Smith.

"[19] On 4 August 2014, Amorphis announced on their website and through social media that they would be playing a number of special Tales from the Thousand Lakes 20th anniversary shows where their 1994 album would be performed in its entirety.

"[citation needed] The release of the new album was to be followed by a world tour, starting with shows in the band's home country of Finland, then other parts of Europe with Nightwish and Arch Enemy in November 2015.

[21] On 15 June 2015, the band announced the upcoming twelfth album titled Under the Red Cloud, with the artwork and track list revealed and with a release date of 4 September 2015.