2nd Hand Souls band members react to Amorphis - The Bee live at Wacken Open Air 2018. Link to the original video: • Amorphis - The Bee - L... Link to our channel: / @2ndhandsoulsmusic Thank you all for 3500 subscribers!😁
Enjoyed the reaction. Like Nightwish, they're from Finland. I never thought I would ever like to hear that kind of growling, but Tomi Joutsen is now one of my favourite growlers, along with Tatiana, from Jinjer. I love his clean voice as well. If you ever check the lyric video for this song (a beautiful video, imo), you'll see that the lyrics are very interesting. In fact, they're based on a work of finnish epic poetry, the Kalevala, as are many of their songs. They were formed in 1990 and their sound and style changed a bit throughout the years. They have songs with only clean voice, only growls and both, like this one. If you'd like to check out some more Amorphis, I recommend "Amongst Stars" (the official music video), which features the amazing Anneke Van Giersbergen, who was one of the major inspirations for Floor Jansen (and is also dutch).
SInce I'm a Finnish pagan and love Amorphis who are inspired by the old finnish ways. here's some information: "The bee is a prominent character in the Kalevala and Finnish mythology and features in moments of birth and resurrection. Once the world has been created we are informed: ‘“from the clouds dripped honey.’ The women of the north are coveted, not just for their beauty, but also for their culinary skills with honey: ‘she may bake honey bread, know how to brew beer.’ Shortly afterwards, ‘smith Ilmarinen was born’ and a ‘bee rose up from the ground… O bee, lightweight man, bring mead on your wing, carry honey on your tongue, from six flowery tips, from seven grass tops, for steel things to be made, for iron to be wrought… spill honey on the earth.’ Apparently, the bee is essential to the forging of the world. Lemminkäinen’s mother resurrects her son using honey-based potions and spells, collected from the underworld with the assistance of a bee. Her concoction includes a drop of mead brought to anoint the weary one, to tend the ill-befallen… O bee, bird of ours, king of the forest flowers, go now to fetch some honey and to find some mead… to heal the ill.’ The resurrection ritual continues: So it (the bee) comes panting, travels doubled up, all its wings drenched in mead, its feathers in melted honey. She, Lemminkäinen’s mother, took the ointments and anointed the weary one, tended the ill-befallen; but no help came from them, no words came to the man. Lemminkäinen’s mother’s does not despair: Bee, my little bird, fly that other way, right over nine seas to an island on the main, a honey mainland, to Tuuri’s new cabin, the Worshipful boundless one. There is pleasant honey there and good ointment there, which will suit sinews and be good for limbs. The bee obeyed: The honey was being cooked… in tiny cauldrons, in beautiful pans that would hold a thumb, fit a fingertip. The bee, slight man, got some of those ointments. Next, we learn: The Creator sang charms and the pure God talked, the lord anointed his brood inured by an evil power. Dip your wings in mead, and your feathers in melted honey. The bee laments its chances of completing the task and is told: You will get there easily, trip there handsomely, over the moon, underneath the sun, between heaven’s stars. For one day you will flutter to the moon’s brow-bones, for another you will whizz to the Great Bear’s shoulder blades, for a third you will soar up to the Seven Stars’ back; then ‘tis a mite of a way a tiny circuit to where God the holy lives to the blessed one’s dwellings. And so the bee flies to the ‘Almighty’s chamber’ and returns with the ointment that allows Lemminkäinen’s mother to successfully complete her son’s resurrection."
The second song i recommended from them is "Death of a King" check the official video. You pick more nuances of the instruments and the vocals are so clear and crisp.
Amorphis' guitar player, Esa Holopainen, has a recent solo record, Silver Lake, and I think you might really enjoy Storm off that one - crazy melodic, great lyrics, slightly a very expansive, soaring feel, great great song.
Amorphis was founded in 1990 in Helsinki, Finland. They've made 14 albums. Starting as Death metal and then later evolved to genres like melodic death metal, folk metal, progressive metal. Most of their albums are influenced by Finnish mythology and the Kalevala, the epic poem of Finland. They are regarded as one of the pioneers of Finnish metal and were among the first Finnish metal band that were internationally known. Fun fact: Marko Hietala Is on backing vocals and vocals producer / producer in 4 of their albums
Well, that was a bit like been introduced to someone who's been drinking for a week. In my opinion good songs to introduce Amorphis to someone are (in chronological order): 'Black Winter Day' (album version), 'My Kantele (Acoustic Reprise)' (album version/music video), 'The Smoke' (music video), 'Death Of A King' (music video) and 'Amongst Stars' (music video). Note that the vocalist chanced to song 'The Smoke'. For live performances: 'Amorphis - Far from the Sun (live) - Genelec Music Channel' and 'Amorphis - My Kantele - Forging a Land of Thousand Lakes[Oulu]'. Maybe end with the band's guitarist's solo project songs: 'Silver Lake by Esa Holopainen - Storm' and 'Silver Lake by Esa Holopainen - In Her Solitude'. And if you're wondering about what that earlier vocalist is up to: 'Ajattara - Suru (Official Music Video)'. About that BEE: "Stories of Finnish Art - Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Lemminkäinen's Mother, 1897".
I'm going to see Amorphis on the 22nd and Nightwish on the 23rd. So after watching both these bands together with you, I get to watch them in person soon.
Thanks for this reaction. Like said already on previous comments , this live video is not the best possible, and the growling is a deal breaker for some. This band has been evolving from their origins in the early 90s and have alot of great songs. And the vocalist Tomi is in fantastic singer in both ways, and many songs have more clear vocals than just growling. But glad you gave it a go, and "amongst stars" might deserve you giving it a go? 😊 Have a great weekend you all and happy fathersday to all the dads tomorrow!
13 years ago I was in their gig.. I don’t recall that gig at all because I was there and talked with my to come wife the whole evening. That ticket to their gig was the best thing I have ever done.
If I recall correctly, the lyrics of this song have to do with 'Kalevala' (which is a Finnish national epic compiled from old Finnish ballads, lyrical songs & incantations that's part of Finnish oral tradition). This song is about the hero Lemminkäinen dying and being sent to the river Tuonela (the underworld) and his mother going to fetch him back. His mother sews his body back in one piece and the sky god Ukko sends a bee from the heavens to blow life back into him. The Bee seems to be popular with reactors, but it's not one of my favorites by Amorphis. If you're willing to give them another shot, Brother and Sister is much more clean singing than growling. Or maybe Amongst Stars with guest vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen - Anneke's soaring soprano makes a beautiful counterpoint to Tomi's growls.
This song is about the heavenly bee, but I don't see any references to the Lemminkäinen's story in the lyrics of this song. However, the bee is of course featured in the Lemminkäinen's story. These days we're all compelled to acknowledge the bees' role in the survival of our ecosystem.
Look at the Akseli Galen Gallelas painting "Lemmikäisen mother". There is an bee in the midlle upper part of the picture. That refering to the old believ, that the dead can be brougt back by the bee, send by Ukko supreme god.
i love Amorphis for many years (they are one of my most favorite bands)- their music goes from really super heavy like this and they also make some of the most beautiful folk and progressive music too -
🇫🇮 👍Thanks for the reaction to a song that for some strange reason tends to be the 1st suggested/requested from this Finnish band. It's not a bad song, but they have so many better ones with also much better live audio quality. Here's one such live performance here in Finland: Amorphis - House of Sleep - Forging a Land of Thousand Lakes[Oulu] ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vbAw0W3QWnI.html
Amorphis takes some time to get into. Most of their songs tales from our national epic Kalevala. Traditional tales about heroes, death etc. Cool stuff. Bee is the bringer of life. Lemminkäinen (one of the heroes) rises from dead with a help of an bee, after his mother sows him back to one piece.
It usually takes time to get used to the Amorphis sound. 'Amongst Stars' might be good next song, fabulous Anneke van Giersbergen as a guest on that. How about the band what Tuomas praises every time someone asks his opinion about other bands - Battle Beast, also from Finland. Good songwriting and great female lead singer Noora Louhimo, who is in my opinion the second best metal singer after Floor Jansen. It was a surprise when 2012 Battle Beast, which was a really young band at that time, joined as a opener to Nightwish' world tours european leg. Stories tell that this wasn't some management thing, instead "order" came straight from Tuomas himself. The band has grown well and each album has been better than the previous one in my opinion. Battle Beast - Master Of Illusion: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6sLSyTEXfCI.html
This band I don't know as well. I know of them, of course, but haven't actually listened to them before now with you guys. I like this song a LOT. Pure effing Metal! I really lhave to dive into this band's music. It's definetively not Death Metal, though. That's MUCH more speedy and intense than this.
They have so many fantastic songs. Please react to Silent Waters, Silver Bride and Shades of Grey. Just to get started. I recommend to watch the videos and for Shades of Grey, the official lyric video. His growling is fantastic and his voice in general. Their lyrics come from Kalevala, The Finnish national epic.
As mentioned Amorphis lyrics are based on Kalevala, the national epic of Finland. Multiartist, (drawing, painting, sculpturing, video art, performances, visual arts teacher...) Pekka Kainulainen writes the lyrics in Finnish, a couple of other guys translate them to English. Tomi Joutsen, the vocalist, worked as a social worker amongst youth during the pandemic, when there were no concerts. I find his growling one of the most pleasant ones, but I wish he would use his clean vocals a little more. He does both in most songs, about half and half I would say. There aren't many good quality live videos by Amorphis, even though they are great live. "Death of a King" official video is a good one. "Amongst Stars" ft. Anneke Giersbergen official video, not much growling in that one, I think only one word "rise". Not long ago Pekka Kainulainen was interviewed on Radio Finland, and this was the song they played - radio friendly I guess. In Finland we have a thing called 'artist pension'. Pekka applied for it and was granted the pension. I checked it and it is about 1400 euros/US Dollars a month. Not much but better than nothing. Some artists are granted a half pension, 700 euros/dollars. I wonder if it feels like an insult?
I never liked growls and death metal in general but i found this band absolutely fantastic for my taste and i have been a huge fan of them since their last album Hallo released in February of 2022. Now already have buying five albums and one live album and Amorphis became one of my top three bands the other two are Therion and Nightwish. I want to buy all their albums now for my collection 😉 and of course i want to see a live concert with them. They have so many beautiful songs for all the kind of taste 😻 and Jutsen 's vocals are fantastic both clear and harsh. I love everything about Amorphis music, the music the lyrics, their lives, best musicians all of them. Songs that you must react i believe is : Under the red cloud, house of sleep, silent water,wrong direction, silver bride,my cantele, the moon and on the dark waters.
Not sure why this song gets requested so often..nice song, but they have better songs that shows their composing capability with Tomi's amazing voice..but then again, hope you keep reacting to Amorphis..maybe Brother and Sister 🤔 Greetings from🇫🇮
For me The Bee was a real game changer. Amorphis has been a band that I have always wanted to like but when I heard The Bee on radio I was stunned. So much power and the cleans fitted so well. The whole album is pure gold (except Wrong Direction) that it is by far their best album for me. Then I got more known to Under the Red Cloud and also liked that a lot expect the single picks were not so great.
Another one of my favorite bands. This song is not the best way to start your reaction in my oponion. Check out silver bride. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xN-tu1AvAr4.html
Another new band I have never heard. Really looking forward to it when I saw the Mjölnir on stage and heard the intro music, but it went downhill fast. Sorry, growling is not singing and has no place in a song unless it serves to add to the meaning or feel. This did neither. The instrumentals were good (maybe a little too aggressive on the guitar mix but then I'm a percussion guy) and the few times he used clean vocals it was OK. Sadly, not a band I am interested in pursuing. One of the few songs I did not even look at the lyrics. Stay safe, God bless, keep rocking.
They have quite a few songs that have no growling (The Wanderer, SIlent Waters, House of Sleep) or only minimal amounts (The Moon, Brother And Sister, Amongst Stars). Should check them out.
@@StalkerForHire Fair enough. Like I said, the part with clean vocals was nice. I have started to accept some growling and it adds to the meaning of the song, but not if the lyrics are not understandable. After all, why have lyrics if no one can tell what they are? I'll give them another look, once I finish exploring Eld Varg, something new I stumbled on today.
felt I owed it to you to reply again after listening to around ten songs, my favorite was Death of a King. Harsh vocals added to the song, as it brought out the tension between the narrator and the protagonist. Good instrumentals, I liked the mystic arabic flavor. Added to my playlist. But it also showed what I find lacking in this band. this was the only song that had more than two or three verses that were not endlessly repeated. Having a verse repeated 4-5 times makes the song a little boring and keeps from allowing a more expanded theme and story. Their singing, instrumentals, and music aspects are good, but their song writing needs a lot of work.
Never understood the growling stuff…Seems like something I might have thought was cool when I was in junior high, but now find it sort of silly in an adolescent way. It tends to get formulaic, as well…either growling verses and a clean chorus or clean verses with a growling chorus…Jinjer comes to mind. Having said all that, I’ve heard the studio version of this song, and this live version doesn’t do it any favors.
