Amorphis- interview met Tomi Joutsen (vocals)
Tomi Joutsen: “We have light and shadow, light and darkness. We realize that, it is totally okay. That is the nature of human being I think.”
We hadden ons eerste gesprek met Tomi Joutsen in 2006, toen ‘Eclipse’ weldra zou verschijnen met hem als nieuwe zanger, ook al was alles al geschreven en gecomponeerd toen hij de band vervoegde. Het werd een succesverhaal dat nu al bijna twintig jaar aan de gang is. De band zelf mag zelfs dit jaar 35 kaarsjes uitblazen, want in 1990 werden in Helsinki de eerste stappen voor Amorphis gezet. Eind september brengt RPM het vijftiende studioalbum van de Finnen uit en over dit nieuwe werk ‘Borderland’ hadden we eind juli een hartelijk gesprek met zanger Tomi Joutsen. Voorafgaand: in 2022 bracht Amorphis ‘Halo’ uit en een paar live albums.
Vera Matthijssens Ι 30 september 2025
When did you feel the urge to write new material and make a new album?
Well, I think the guys who compose new music started early last year, in 2024. That’s when they started to compose stuff and before we entered the studio, we had 25 or 24 songs. So we had plenty material and could pick the best songs. It took over a year all together. Of course we did not work every day, it was more in periods, but still it was a long journey. It is funny that it is almost released now, we are looking forward to when it is coming out. We don’t play any shows during this summer, because the album is coming out after the Summer. So this is like a holiday for us. It feels quite weird, because we are used to play festivals in Europe and now we are just hanging out at home. Which is great also, but still I kind of miss the festivals and next Summer I think we are going to play a lot of shows. Festivals again.
Can’t you go on holidays on an exotic island or something in the Summer, now that you are free?
I could do that, but I don’t think I am going anywhere. I think I am just going to stay here in Finland. It is nice and warm here now. Summer is beautiful everywhere, but especially here in Finland. Compared to winter it is like paradise, so to speak. There’s plenty of things to do here in Finland. I have a motorcycle, so I am driving that a little bit and I have been swimming a lot, running, doing things I love. So it is nice and relaxed spending the whole Summer here in Finland.
I saw on the map of Europe yesterday that Finland is really having a hot summer…
It is hot, but it is nothing compared to Turkey for example. It is about 30° – which is of course hot, but it is not like 45° or more. I live next to a lake, so for me it is really easy to go to swim. When it is too hot, I can go swimming, but yes, it has been pretty hot here and let us hope it continues (laughs).
I know that lyrics are always written by Pekka Kainulainen, but there should be a kind of theme on the album, such as ‘the ancient wisdom versus our hectic modern world’. Can you guide me through the lyrics a little bit and what is behind them?
Normally when we start to work on a new album, I sit together with Pekka. We are good friends and we just talk of life in general, what is happening in our personal lives or what’s happening around us. We can talk about whatever. I think that is step number 1 for Pekka when he starts to work with lyrics. I think that is one big influence for him. Pekka always uses his dreams also as an inspiration. I just talked with him a couple of weeks ago about his dreams and they are quite interesting. Like movies, really intense and interesting dreams he has. I feel a bit envy for his dreams, because I also want to have such interesting dreams (chuckles), but that’s not what happens to me during the night. I don’t remember anything when I wake up. I think there is no big story behind the album, so it is not a concept album at all. It is just poems, poetry, but I guess you can read between the lines that the world around us is a bad place at this moment and I think these emotions are also reflected in the lyrics. Pekka is really into old myths and epic stories from the past, so that is also there when he is doing his lyrics.
You cannot ignore the fact that we are not gentle for nature and that will turn against us, but this theme was also prominent in a song like ‘The Bee’ from ‘’Queen Of Time’…
I think Pekka really loves nature and animals. Nature and lakes are very close to him. When he is doing his poems, nature is very important for him. He respects everything, which is rather obvious for us here in Southern Finland. We have so much forest and stuff here, so it feels natural to use nature as an inspiration. I don’t know what will happen in the future of course. It feels like Summers are getting hotter and winters are also not that great as they used to be when I was a kid. It seems that everything is happening really fast at this moment. I really hope that we still can enjoy life and the beautiful nature here in Finland in the future too.
As musicians there was also a challenge, because it was the first time that you recorded in Denmark with Jacob Hansen…
That’s right.
How do you look back on that, on this experience?
Well, it was a really nice experience. We did not know him before we started working with him. We just heard some good things about him, for example from the guys of Volbeat, Michael and the guys they have done many albums with Jacob. We had some ideas who could be a perfect producer and Jacob was one of those guys. It was really fun and easy to work with him. He is really friendly and a down to earth guy, very talented. I think he was more like a team player. He always wanted to hear our opinions about the structures and about the songs. He did not want to change too much on arrangements, so it was a really relaxed feeling in the studio. I was there once when we recorded drums, so we travelled with the whole band to Denmark, to the studio and we recorded drum parts there. After that I travelled back to Finland and I finished my stuff here in Helsinki. That was for me a really nice way to work, because I really enjoy going back home after the long studio day, so I can do some sports or walking in a forest or go to a sauna or something like this. Something totally different than hanging out in the studio. For me as a singer, I really need that time of peace after the long studio day.
Let us focus on some of the songs now. Let us start with the funny one: ‘Dancing Shadow’ should be new territory for Amorphis and there is even a connection with disco…
Yes, but it is not the first time we are having that disco rhythm in a song. In a song called ‘Smoke’ for example, for us it is quite a natural thing to do, because we all like, for example Michael Jackson (chuckles). We try to be open-minded with music. I think that song is going to be the next single I heard yesterday. It is kind of a funny song, it is really catchy in a way. If you want to dance in a metal show, then it is possible with this song.
When I go to an Amorphis concert, I always wonder how you manage to be so catchy, while having folk influences and metal as well…
I think the guys who are composing stuff for us – mostly on this album Santeri Kallio, the keyboard player, and Esa Holopainen (he actually composed all the material) – they really like catchy melodies. It is the most important thing in our music I think. There are so many melodies on every album. There are clean vocals, then there are Esa’s lead guitar melodies and also some keyboard melodies and they are like swimming together in between. So there are always lots of layers here and there and when you want to hear everything what’s going on, you have to listen to those songs a lot of times. Sometimes for me as singer, it might be a challenge to find a melody if there is already a keyboard or a guitar melody going on and when I have to add vocal melodies there, it is sometimes a little bit complicated. There I have these growls I can use sometimes, it is a good solution when there are too many melodies going on.
Some of the songs were a bit demanding for you. Which ones were the hardest for you?
Well, I cannot name just one song. I think – for me as a singer – the most demanding part is arranging rhythms and stuff like this. That is maybe the trickiest part in the studio. I don’t have any problems with techniques or anything like that. For me it is quite easy to find the right emotions in the studio. I don’t have to do any tricks in the studio, but the thing is that since I am not originally from an English speaking country, I just struggle with the language a bit. That is sometimes a little bit frustrating, but in the end I am really glad that I have great people around me. As I said I recorded everything here in Helsinki. I did some preproduction with a guy called Jonas Olsson and then we recorded everything with Matias Koskiniemi and they are like extra ears in the studio, so they were a big help for me when I was doing my vocals.
The title track ‘Borderland’ is the only one with some folky touches…
Well if you say so (laughs) I cannot hear it like that, but well yeah. I think as a singer I am really satisfied that I can use both styles, clean and harsh. I think on this ‘Borderland’ song and on this album in general, I think there might be a little bit more clean vocals than there was on last album. I don’t know what’s the reason, it just came out that way, because I compose all the stuff, all the vocals, by myself and with the guys in the studio, I mean, with Jonas and Matias, so there is no chance that there will be like a totally death metal album. I always have free hands as a singer when we start a new album and that is great.
It is also nice how the title is reflected in the artwork. You see both figures on a kind of borderland, son and father so it seems. It also looks like a kind of meeting between the dead and the living…
That is right. That is something that… when I was talking with Marald van Haasteren, who did the cover art, I had some ideas about a bridge there. I think that is a really strong picture. The idea comes from the lyrics. When you see the landscape on the cover, you can say it is from Finland and the swan in the centre of the cover, that idea came from Marald, because he wanted to add something really powerful on the cover and I think it ended up really nice. The swan is a really important character in our national epic story Kalevala. So we decided to have this character on this album.
I think it is the first time working with Marald, because when I think of recent Amorphis album it was always the very detailed art of Valnoir…
He did great, he really is into these kind of things. He has been working with cool bands and we found his artwork. He had lots of animals and flowers and stuff like this in his art and that interests us also. We wanted to have like a painting style for the cover instead of just geometrical stuff that we had on previous albums. There is nothing wrong with geometrical stuff, but we wanted to change things with this one. We had a new producer, so we also wanted to change the cover artist. Marald was really into what he was doing, he had some great ideas and when you get the final album in your hands, you can find lots of more stuff what he did for us. Not only the front cover, but also the back cover is really beautiful and when you put together this front and back cover art, it is just like one big picture. It is going to be fantastic. We talked a little bit with Marald at the phone and I realized that he is really into these kinds of stories about history and mystery things. So he was the perfect person for us as a cover artist.
Based on his name, I think he is from the Netherlands…
Yes, he is from the Netherlands. That is right.
‘Light And Shadow’ should be a metaphor for the album title…
Indeed, we have always two sides, we have light and shadow and darkness. It is not that simple, it is really hard to not have the dark side, that’s how it is, just realize that. We realize that, it is totally okay. That is the nature of human being I think.
The album rounds off in a very dark way, without hope, with the song ‘Despair’…
It is a great song to end the album. When we had the pre-listening session, I think one reporter started to cry. She thought it was a really sad song, but beautiful. I share the same feeling about it. It is really a sad song, there is no happy end, but I think it is more a traumatic than as sad song. When the album ends in a sad feeling, then you have the idea to listen again (chuckles). I don’t know if we are going to play that song live, but for the album I think it is perfect. It is beautiful, quite sentimental.
Please tell me something about the new item Amorphis whiskey…
Haha okay… it is good quality whiskey. It is a small distillery here in Finland. We have some professionals there. We met the guys when the whiskey came out. I think in Finland it is already sold out. I am not a big fan of whiskey. I can drink whiskey, but I am not like a specialist about whiskey or wines, but I heard from the people who really understand about whiskey and the different tastes, that it is a great whiskey, lots of different flavours and it is something special for the fans who want to have something like a total Amorphis experience: listen to the album and meanwhile enjoying good quality whiskey. I think that is not for everyone, but it is great that we can have it as product also for the fans. It is really strong too, I think it is something like 47 degrees. It is a great quality whiskey from Finland. If you are into whiskey, then I think you are going to love it.
Does it differ a lot from the other blends?
Well of course it is done here in Finland. I cannot remember what is inside, but it definitely comes from Finland. It is not like a single malt whiskey, so there are different things inside it. That is all I can say about it, like I said, I am not a specialist or a whiskey professional (laughs).
The next step is touring. Can you tell me about your plans please?
Oh yeah! So there is going to be a long European tour at the end of the year. We are going to play lots of shows in Europe. We are supporting Arch Enemy and playing with Eluveitie and also a great band from the US Gatecreeper. Actually I saw them here in Helsinki a couple of months ago and they are really great. It is simple death metal, so I am really looking forward to tour. For us in the band it is a great opportunity to get some new friends. I think the venues will be pretty big, like ice halls or something like this. I think we have not more than four shows in a row, so for me as a singer it is a quite easy tour I hope, it is going to be fun. It is nice to start promoting the album with a decent European tour and after that we are going to do some shows in Finland and next year we are going to play at 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise in January and then we have some plans to go to Asia. Then it is already Summer and there’s going to be a bunch of Summer festivals of course. Maybe after Summer we are going to do another European tour, a headline tour. I don’t have any details about that tour yet, but there’s going to be another European tour.
I am looking forward to the concert in Brussels this Fall…
Oh cool! I think it is an interesting package. Really aggressive death metal and then Eluveitie and Amorphis, they are more melodic. I don’t know how the Arch Enemy fans will react when we are doing our softer songs, but let us see. We know the guys from Arch Enemy and they are great people. It is going to be easy I think, I am looking forward to it.
If you want to add something to occlude…
We are just waiting what the fans will say about the new album. We did our best again and luckily we found Jacob who was a great choice as producer. We are just waiting to get the album out and also to get in a tour bus to do what we love. We are still really motivated. Everyone is doing this for living and we are really happy that we can still do this after more than 30 years, so it is incredible. I cannot complain, I am really happy.
It was nice to talk to you and have a good evening…
Likewise, take care and thank you for the questions, bye!
