1

s LIMITED EDITIONs

2

3

sBattle for Light sShe robbed the moon from the sky… derailed the sun off it's course… inside her mountain

enchained the light… she took the wisdom for her own…… The sun no longer shines on us…

no silver moon reflects… the stars no longer give their light… to help us find our path……

I'm thrown on barren wastelands… in feverish swamps I'm lost… I stagger through

white‐rimed lands… I drown in diseased black mire…… I fight the forces, forces of dark

and cold… upon the witches I cast my spells… I strike with a sword, touch with a feather…

and sing my song into the night…… Beyond the heaven, the highest one… the god supreme

smites with his sword… into the sea falls a fiery star… a pike of deeps swallows the spark……

Skyforger, come to my aid… the magic‐smith by my side… daughter of creation…

the tiny man from the sea…… Ilmatar the ancient… the mighty ocean‐dwarf… skyforger

by my side… thunder and lightning… we find the hidden moon… release the mountain‐bound…

we light the wisdom of the heart… the sun dawns anew…

sMermaid sOn the blue waters of mermaids I was sailing, on the blue… brought up a catch

of strangest wonder, on the blue… and I drew my knife to gut what I had taken, from the

blue… but it was gone back to the lake and vanished into, into the blue…… The waters,

they parted… as she rose to shine…… She was my maid, my wife to be… returned to me this

one time… I did not know her, I made her flee… flee from me…… Beneath the

waves and marbled rocks… watery canyons of blackest depths… my hope was sunk…

my dream taken away…… Woe to you, she said to me as she broke cover of the blue…

don't you know me… I couldn't been yours after all… I never knew…

4

sMy Enemy sHe set out to take my life… and the power of my soul… his spells against my might…

my wrath he did ignite…… Your brain replaced by mine… your mind changed into mine…

you lose sight of yourself… your world no longer yours…… The lightning of my eyes

crumbles you… my fingers as snakes drag you to mire… the trembling earth now melts

under you… your legs turn to sludge from my ire…… I feel your feelings now… I know

now what you knew… I see how you have lied… plunge you into your grave……

Under the ground I force you… to underworld I curse you… to arms of death deliver…

and damn inside a rock…… Remorse is useless there… and mercy never shown…

bribery's futile there… no promises hold…… No one feels your pain… no one there will listen…

no one takes your hand… no one helps you now…… But I will show him mercy…

let him return to life… I will show him mercy… I will let him come back…

sYou I Need sI was born as all the world here was born… as tones, words and stories of the

primeval song… I need no bow, I need no sword… my kingship's known to gods… let their

song go on…… I need you to be the guide… the mirror to the sky and sea… portray

all above and below… the gate of life and death…… The sea of my loneliness…

it needs to have a sky… to go with my story… I also need to have your words…

like a king has his moon… a queen has her sun… to make the song go on……

Make the song go on… the creator of gods… make the song go on and on…

on and on…… Be my guide of life and death…

5

6

TOMI JOUTSEN ‐ Vocals

7

sSong of the SagesNo man, nor a god… with a sword he carved… with a feather conjured… an instrument

from the bone of fish… a kantele from the jaws of a pike… sat on a golden rock… on a

bank of golden river… by the brink of golden falls… under the golden sun…… The birds

flew to the singer… the wildfowl from the open sea…… The fingers plucked the

brightest chord… tolled the fangs of a pike… the colors of rainbow lighted… above the silent

waters…… Came forth the woodland creatures… the spirits great and small… the mistress

and the master… of Tapiola forest folk…… Behind a cloud of blue… the moon wove

the strands of silver… on the edge of the cloud of red… the daylight gilded the cloth……

The small fish in the shallows… and the big ones under the surface… the king of

waters on the waves… the queen on an open sea…… From distant fens came the swans…

an eagle from it's heaven high…… Each one comprehended and understood… each one

shed a tear, they wept and cried…… Each and every tear… tears of everyone…

all joined the flow… into the silent waters…… The golden stream of life… carried the

tears to sea… to ocean's deep dark keeps… the pearls were concealed…

s Three WordssFrom all the four corners… from the heights beyond the changing skies… from in

between the golden stars…… From the lands of dead below… I seek the magic for my spell…

the power for my charm…… For want of three words… for want of three words

for my song…… Three words for my magic… my magic song… a boat for love I'd carve…

three words for my magic… my magic song… a craft of life I'd built…… Along the Tuoni

pathway… to gloomy shore across the lands of dead… to find the missing charm……

Death's daughter showed the way… to death's grim abode… where death's wife

offered me… death's drink to have…… Three words for magic… three words from death…

8

9

sReformation sWhen I am broken, when I depart… when my eyes stray from yours… when I no

longer know you, my love… when I am broken, when I depart…… Fear not for me… weep

not for me… for finally I'm released…… fear not for me… weep not for me… to the

heaven of all earths… I am released…… When from my head my mane is torn… when

my hair's blowing in solar wind… when into my eyes driven are the nails…

when weighted boots march across my grave…… Don't you fear… don't you weep…

sSoothsayersI rose and raised… the others with me too… I shared the ancient wisdom… and

taught the ways to be… I sang the charms of stars… and sowed the land with strength…

I set the abodes for men… and steered the rightful roads…… Within my being

sings the god on high… the glimmer of stars in my bloodstream… I am the abyss,

I am the bridge… I am the sky, I am the land…… I feel the communion… of the largest

and the least… the way from death to life… the path of stone and gold… I live on

the wings of eagle… I know the secrets of seas… my forms are countless… like words,

names and stars…… I 've been here from the beginning… echoes and tones I understand…

eternal poems of nonexistence… the birth‐words of time's beginning…

10

sOn a Stranded Shore sSilk of blue… woven by the moon… threads spun by the sun… of the suns

gold…… Silver in wrists… and in her rings… hair braided in red… her shoes

featherlight… as reeds and straws… on the shore… as bark and

foliage… as clamshells and sand…… My maiden's flesh… now fish in the

lake deeps… her blood now water blue…… O god of sleep… tell me in my

dream… where has my maiden gone… where lies my mermaid now……

Rise above the waves… from the water's grave… from the side of spotted

stones… become alive again…… These shores are for memory… these waters

not for baiting… no shallows for the thirsty…… No sun beheld above these

shores… no reflection of the moon… on these waters here……

My maiden's hair… grass on the water's edge… now willows on a shore…

sEscapesTherein lie the nets of iron… and snares of copper made… they offered

drinks that lull to sleep of everlasting chains… but I changed my mortal

shape… and took the form of a snake… I swam through the nets of

deception, crawled back to life again…… Death bestows no wisdom… no

might from death endowed… they say there's no return but I made my way

back home… back to life…… I was there among the shadows… who

whispered out their screams… I was transformed by the strength of my

will to live…… Death bestows no wisdom… no might from death endowed…

there is no return, no way to ever walk back home…… Back to life…

11

ESA HOLOPAINEN ‐ Guitars

12

13

14

TOMI KOIVUSAARI ‐ Guitars

15

sCrack in a Stones In the north, a prisoner of darkness… in black court, a victim of sleep… slither like a

snake I tried… a mole under the soil… a king, a fool trapped in a strange land… a slave

of the black queen… I was under the darkest magic… bound by unknown spell…… The one

crack in a stone I need… just the one, one fracture in the wall… just the one hole in the

sky I need… just the one lock with the key…… An otter lost in muddy waters…

an elk upon strange trail… a prisoner in black court… victim of sleep in lands of dark…

one path there to be known… one sign in a dream… in time just one direction… one star in

my mind…… One path, one sign, one star… one lock, one key, one crack in a stone……

sBeginning of TimesI have a wish to sing of time before the beginning… when nothing was all… but how to

sing of nothing… so I sing of the beginning… the birth of all creation… the borders

of nothingness… the substance of inception…… The solitude of space my uncaring mother…

my father salt of the sea…… Still unborn I remained… unopened the narrow gate…

unborn in my hiding place… no release by my maker… wrapped around my darkness…

I knew that my time was waiting… I knew the passage of the days and nights

and northern stars…… The solitude of space my uncaring mother… my father salt

of the sea… the void and infinity were never ending… time had no beginning……

The songs were born into my mind… the knowledge of the stars… the stories

before and after… the spells of war and peace…… The birth of the world was my

birth too… I found the land, began the time… from shorelessness of the sea…

from underneath the space…… I have a wish to sing of time before the beginning…

16

sHeart’s SongsLIMITED EDITION BONUS TRACK

The spirit of clouds I am… and the spring creeks

singing… a stillness within a river great… a rainbow

on the falls… a blackness of waters… the spirit of

man… in a warrior straw‐haired……

I am not a god… a man I'm not… I am my people,

the song of my tribe… the wisdom and the skills…

a sword turned into poem…… I am the oaken sage…

the bone‐hurling one… the boulder on some riverside…

the eye of the golden hawk… the embrace of red

bear… the song in the heart…

in the heart of the man…

17

NICLAS ETELÄVUORI ‐ Bass

18

sAmorphis issTomi Joutsen ‐ Vocals

Esa Holopainen ‐ Guitars

Tomi Koivusaari ‐ Guitars

Niclas Etelävuori ‐ Bass

Santeri Kallio ‐ Keyboards

Jan Rechberger ‐ Drums

s The Beginning of Times issProduced and Arranged by Amorphis

Mixed by Mikko Karmila

Recorded at Sonic Pump Studios, Helsinki

and Marco's CockPit, Kuopio

Mixed at Sonic Pump Studios, Helsinki

between September 2010 ‐ February 2011

Engineered by Sami Koivisto

Vocals produced by Marco Hietala

Mastered at Chartmakers by Svante Forsbäck

Music by Santeri Kallio (1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10),

Esa Holopainen (6, 7, 11, 12, 13), Tomi Koivusaari (3, 8)

19

SANTERI KALLIO ‐ Keyboards

20

JAN RECHBERGER ‐ Drums

21

Lyrics by Pekka Kainulainen

Translation by Erkki Virta

Additional male vocals by:  Savotta Choir

Additional female vocals by: Netta Dahlberg

Additional flute, clarinet & saxophone by Iikka Kahri

Art Direction by Travis Smith

Layout by Thomas Ewerhard

Band‐photos by Stefan de Batselier

Management and Agency:

Jouni Markkanen for King Foo Entertainment Oy Ltd

Booking for Europe (except FIN):

Volkmar Udri for Continental Concerts & Management GmbH

A&R: Andy Siry for Nuclear Blast GmbH

Official Website: www.amorphis.net

Official Amorphis Webshop: www.fanzone.fi/amorphis

Official Merchandise: www.art‐worx.de

22

23

Amorphis would like to thank following people and companies for their great support:

Mikko Karmila, Marko Hietala, Sami Koivisto, Svante Forsbäck, Nino & Sonic Pump Studios,

Pekka Kainulainen, Erkki Virta, Travis Smith, Stefan de Bastelier, Jouni, Toni, Ewo,

Niko & whole King Foo, Juha Lassila, Volkmar, Gerald & whole Continental staff,

Andy, Tobe, Markus, Jaap, Holle, Nadine & everyone at Nuclear Blast, Gerald & NB USA,

Yori & JVC Victor, Makoto, Hide, Allen, & everyone at ESP, Alex & Seymour Duncan,

Kai & whole Musamaailma staff, Iikka Kahri, Netta Dahlberg, Mika Jussila & Finnvox,

Ile@DLX for lending piano, Falle, Pelle, Masi, Pimpola, Gerrit, Mats, Risto & SMI,

Robert Palomäki, Kimmo Aroluoma, Jari Niiranen, Frank Jacobs & Pearl Europe,

Harri & Custom Sounds, Art‐Worx staff, Tara Kojonen, Amphion, Janne Suni & F‐musiikki,

Teemu Tiainen, Fanzone, Tina Solda, Sami & Off Consult. 

Special thanks to Amorphis fans all over the universe for your great support.

Amorphis uses:

ESP Guitars & Basses, Bogner Amps, Marshall Amps, Ampeg, Pearl Drums.

DR‐Strings, Seymour Duncan pickups, Line6 effects, Voodoo Lab switching & effects,

HBE effects, Tanglewood Acoustic Guitars, Sennheiser, Audix,Tech 21, T‐REX, 

Wincent drumsticks, Sabian cymbals, Remo drumheads, Liszko straps, Circa,

Volcom & White Moment clothes, Electric, Amphion loudspeakers. 

24

25

Battle for LightMermaid

My EnemyYou I Need

Song of the SageThree WordsReformationSoothsayer

On a Stranded ShoreEscape

Crack in a StoneBeginning of Time

Heart's Song

01. Battle for Light02. Mermaid

03. My Enemy04. You I Need

05. Song of the Sage06. Three Words07. Reformation08. Soothsayer

09. On a Stranded Shore10. Escape

11. Crack in a Stone12. Beginning of Time

limited edition bonus track

13. Heart's Song