Finnish’s AMORPHIS have produced their finest album since 1996’s excellent Elegy with their latest album, Silent Waters. Similar to last year’s delightful Eclipse, Silent Waters is a solid collection of heavy rock/metal tunes awash with effective and lasting melodies. AMORPHIS pull no surprises in adopting an episode from Finland’s national epic, the Kalevala, as the theme for Silent Waters, though musically, the songs are less folksy, more straight ahead rock, and retain none of the psychedelics they experimented with on albums past. The addition of singer, Tomi Joutsen (SINISTHRA), who replaced former vocalist, Pasi Koskinen, on Eclipse, brings about an added versatility in the vocal department. His delivery is far beefier, and he can sing clean or growl with the best. Musically, AMORPHIS remain very simple in their songwriting approach (as they’ve been for the past 10 years). Basic verse-chorus-verse can be pretty un-exciting, but AMORPHIS succeed in composing beautiful and powerful melodies through distorted and acoustic guitars, keyboard accompaniments, and vocal parts. Since the band’s songwriting isn’t as adventurous as it once was, Joutsen’s vocal versatility becomes a key proponent of AMORPHIS’s music. And with Silent Waters, Joutsen and AMORPHIS truly deliver an album that validates a band’s continued existence nearly two decades after their formation. (Nuclear Blast Records)