Tales from the Thousand Lakes

This is the first Amorphis release to have an official keyboardist, Kasper Mårtenson, as any previous of the band's releases had the band's own drummer, Jan Rechberger, provide the empty keyboardist role until the band decided to have a keyboardist and also to find one being Mårtenson. With Mårtenson in the band, it is the first time the band's original lineup changed by having an additional member. Jan Rechberger would leave the band after this album but rejoin the band for 2003's Far from the Sun. The original limited version (on digipack) had a cover of "Light My Fire" by The Doors added as a bonus track. It was later re-released in 2001 with most tracks from the Black Winter Day EP and the "Light My Fire" cover added as bonus tracks. == Music and lyrics ==

The album was an influential release in the development of the melodic death metal genre, and gothic metal, compared to the band's death metal debut. The music is considered to be less extreme than other melodic death metal releases, incorporating heavy metal singing in addition to death growls on some tracks. The instrumentation draws from neo-prog. == Legacy ==

According to Tom Morris of Invisible Oranges: "The influence of Amorphis’ second album can be heard in countless branches of the history of metal. The Finnish band’s incorporation of their homeland’s native melodies and lyrics based on epic poetry had a clear impact on the development of folk metal, while the kinetic riffs of “Drowning Maid” and melodies of “Black Winter Day” laid down foundations for the then-burgeoning melodic death metal genre." AllMusic gave the album four stars. == Track listing ==

Bonus tracks Tracks 11–13 added from the Black Winter Day EP; track 14 is a bonus track: == Credits ==

Band members • Tomi Koivusaari – vocals, rhythm guitar • Esa Holopainen – lead guitar • Olli-Pekka Laine – bass • Jan Rechberger – drums • Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards Additional musicians • Ville Tuomi – clean vocals, speech Art • Sv Bell - Cover artist == References ==