Finland's Amorphis have been standard bearers for Nordic metal since the 1990s. Originally conceived as a death metal band, they transcended the genre limitation early on as 1994's Tales From The Thousand Lakes began incorporating elements of folk, Viking, and progressive metal into their sound. 2001's keyboards-and-saxophone-drenched Am Universum went further, threading psychedelia and poppy hard rock into their sonic quilt. 2009's globally celebrated Skyforger showcased riff driven melodic death balanced with hook-laden progressive tenets. 2015's Under The Red Cloud became a global bestseller. 2018's Queen of Time netted the streaming hit single "The Bee," and climbed into the metal top five. 2022's saw the release of Halo. Its songs utilized shifting time signatures, intricate melodies, choirs, and constantly changing dynamics underscoring the band's unrivaled prog-folk-melodic death metal fusion.~ Gary Hill