Past, Present and Future - A Review of Amorphis' The Moon & More EP

The Moon & More EP is a wonderful gimmick that was released with German Hard Rock magazine to promote the upcoming Amorphis album Halo. This decent release offers six diversified songs with a total running time of thirty-three minutes.

The first two songs ''The Moon'' and ''On the Dark Waters'' are the first two singles used to promote Amorphis' upcoming studio album Halo. They perfectly exemplify how the band combines haunting and uplifting melodies with liberating brutality while being guided by melancholically atmospheric soundscapes and lyrics inspired by traditional Finnish folk tales. The band has really found this particular niche since Tomi Joutsen joined as a singer eighteen years ago. The two songs offer nothing new but Amorphis stagnates on such a high level that every single release remains beautiful and significant.

''Brother and Sister'' is a bonus track from the limited edition of the brilliant last studio record Queen of Time. The creative, melodic and progressive song was considered a true hidden gem by the band that even released this track as a single last year. If you haven't listened to the song yet, do yourself a favour while exploring it as it represents Amorphis' adventurous, haunting and imaginative qualities very well.

This release concludes with three live songs taken from the excellent Live at Helsinki Ice Hall released last year that came as a wonderful surprise in times when concerts and festivals are still being canceled due to the ongoing pandemic. The three songs selected here represent three very different phases of the band. ''Into Hiding'' stands for the band's sinister, raw and atmospheric early years as it explores melancholic melodic death metal soundscapes. ''House of Sleep'' on the other hand is a melodic power metal song with an incredibly catchy chorus from the band's middle years that marked the beginning of Tomi Joutsen's stint with the Finnish legends. ''The Golden Elk'' combines the previous two phases as it opposes a captivating melodic chorus with intense melodic death metal verses and an imaginative progressive middle section that grows with each spin and requests multiple spins to unfold its pure magic that represents last studio record Queen of Time best.

The only thing that could have been improved on this excellent extended play is to include some rare tracks on here, such as recent Japanese bonus tracks ''Honeyflow'' and ''The River Song'' for instance.

Still, Amorphis' The Moon & More EP is a wonderful collector's item for faithful fans, offers thirty-three minutes of diverse entertainment for occasional listeners and might even intrigue recent and new supporters enough to discover one of the most consistant metal bands in the world that deserves much praise and recognition.

Final Rating: 90%