Amorphis - Borderland (Bonus Tracks) [2LP Gold Opaque]

Borderland is Amorphis' fifteenth album, and this gold opaque 2LP adds two bonus tracks to a record already built for the long haul.

Thirty-five years in, the Finnish band have earned the right to coast, and consistently refuse to take it. Amorphis started in death metal, drifted through folk and prog, and settled into a sound nobody else quite owns: Tomi Joutsen's clean tenor trading off against his own growl, keyboards carrying melodies borrowed from Finnish folk tradition, riffs heavy enough to satisfy anyone who came for the metal. Jacob Hansen produces this 2025 record, and the mix gives every one of those elements room without letting the whole thing turn polite.

Bones is the obvious centrepiece, all crushing low-end and a chorus that opens up like weather clearing, and it's the track this pressing takes its colour from. The Circle sets the record in motion with the band's melodic instincts fully deployed, Dancing Shadow leans furthest into the folk melodies that have always been their secret weapon, and the title track closes the main sequence with genuine grandeur before the bonus material arrives.

Twelve tracks on this edition, and the two extras aren't afterthoughts. Amorphis rarely waste anything.