1. Better unborn 5:52 2. Against widows 4:06 3. The orphan 5:18 4. On rich and poor 5:19 5. My kantele 5:02 6. Cares 4:30 7. Song of the troubled one 4:08 8. Weeper on the shore 4:52 9. Elegy 7:22 10. Relief 4:09 11. My kantele (acoustic reprise) 5:55 total time 57 min
Better Unborn ------------- Better it would be for me And better it would have been Had I not been born, not grown Not been brought into the world Not had to come to this earth Not been suckled for the world If I'd died a three-night-old Been lost in my swaddling hand I'd have needed but a span of doth A span more of wood, But a cubit of goof earth Two words from the priest Three verses from the cantor One clang from the bell Against Widows -------------- The Devils weds a widow Death another's leftovers Better to lie on a willows Rest on alder boughs Then upon a widow's bed On a used woman's pillow Sweeter the side of a fence Then a widow's flank Softer the side of a grove Than a widow's beside is The Devil weds a widow The grave one twice wed A widow's hand is rougher Than a dry spruce bough With which she strikes the playful Grabs the one who laughs A widow has had her games And spent a merry evening The Orphan ---------- The calloo's spirits are low Swimming on the chill water But the orphan's are lower Walking down the village street. The sparrow's belly is chill Sitting on the icy bough But my belly is more chill As I step from glade to glade. The dove's heart is cold As it pecks the village rick But I'm colder still As I drink the icy water. On Rich and Poor ---------------- Old folk remember And those today learn How before their time Life was different here: Without the sun people lived Groped about without the moon With candles sowing was done Planting performed with torched. At the time we lived Without the sunshine Who had covered up our sun And who had hidden our moon? Without the moonlight stumbled With our fists fumbled the land With our hands we sought out roads With hands roads, with fingers swamps We could seek out the sun Who spy out the moon? Who else if not God The one son of God? My Kantele ---------- Truly they lie, they talk utter nonsense Who say that music reckon that the kantele Was fashioned by a god Out of a great pike's shoulders From a water-dog's hooked bones: It was made from the grief Moulded from sorrow Its belly out of hard days Its soundboard from endless woes Its strings gathered from torments And its pegs from other ills So it will not play, will not rejoice at all Music will not play to please Give off the right sort of joy For it was fashioned from cares Moulded from sorrow. Cares ----- Many rocks the rapid has A lot of billows the sea More plentiful are my cares Then cones on a spruce Beard moss on a juniper Gnarls upon a pine bark Knobs upon a fir Husks on a grass-top Boughs on a bad tree. Drag my cares away Carry off my griefs For no horse can draw No iron-shod jerk Without the shaft-bow shaking off The cares of this skinny one The sorrows of this black bird Song of the Troubled One ------------------------ What the thrush toils at The partridge asks for The hapless one takes The troubled one steals Puts upon a spade Sets on a runner Hides under a door Shields with a bath-whisk The farmer hammers And tempers his spears Marries off his sons Hands out his daughters In boots clogged with ckay In fancy mittens The sea-swell rumbles And the winds it blows And the king hears it From five miles away From six directions From seven back woods From eight heaths away. Weeper on the Shore ------------------- In the vale where I once listened out for the light Where the little birds warble The ptarmigans babble And my heart looked for some rest from its trouble I cast my eyes downward upon the seaside And a fair young girl on the shore I espied Who was sitting and weeping To see the waves leaping And over the skyline sad vigil was keeping. O why are you weeping alone on the shore? Now still from your eyes I can see the tears pour. What sorrow and smart So pierces your heart That even at midnight it will not depart? Elegy ----- Long evenings full on longing Low-spirited my mornings Full of longing too my nights And all times the bitterest. 'Tis my lovely I long for It is my darling I miss My black-browed one I grieve for. There's no hearing my treasure No seeing my marten-breat No hearing her in the lane Driving below the window Chopping the wood by the stack Clinking outside the cook-house: In the eart my berry lies In the soil she's mouldering Under the sand my sweet one Beneath the grass my treasure The one I grieve for.  Lyrics in plain text format	Line up Tomi Koivusaari - Vocals, Rhythm & Acoustic Guitars, Tambourine Esa Holopainen - Lead and Acoustic Guitars, Electric Sitar Olli-Pekka Laine - Bass Kim Rantala - Keyboards & Chordian Pekka Kasari - Drums Pasi Koskinen - Lead Vocals Artwork Info Recorded at Sunlight Studio, Stockholm, Sweden (Engineer: Tomas Skogsberg) MDStudio, Helsinki, Finland (Engineer: Kaj Hiilesmaa) Finnvox Studios, Helsinki, Finland (Engineer: Mikko Karmila) Mixed at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, England Engineer: Pete "Pee Wee" Coleman, Assistant Engineer: Dave Buchanan Mastered By Dave Shirk at SAE Mastering Produced by Amorphis Executive Producers: William J. Yurkiewicz Jr. & Matthew F. Jacobson Published by Release Relapse Music (BMI) Cover Art: Kristian Wahlin Photography: Juollo Lehtola Art Direction: Eric Horst Management: Frank Pagen for Scoop Music Entertainment. Phone +49.40.3096.340 Fax: +49.40.3096.3434 Booking agency: Paul Taylor for Asgard, London, UK. Phone +44.171.387.5090 Fax +49.171.387.8740 Finnish agent: Mr. Pekka Rahkonen. Phone/Fax: +358.0.667.456 Amorphis are endorsed by Gibson guitars and GHS strings Visit the relapse website at www.Relapse.com The Legend of the Kanteletar Comprised of nearly 700 poems and ballads on ancient finnish traditions, the kanteletar serves as written documentation of these tales, originally passed by word of mouth from generation to generation. First compiled in 1840 by Elias Lonnrot, the kanteletar was created as a companion work to the kalevala, on which Amorphis based their previous album, Tales From the Thousand Lakes. The kanteletar reflects the everyday joys and sorrows of the finnish people, including their philosophical and religious beliefs, and paints a comprehensive picture of the society that inspired it. Although it's impossible to determine the age of some poems, many are literally thousands of years old. Inspired by the intensity of the poems and their ability to communicate everyday simplicity with such vigor, Amorphis have crafted the music of Elegy to reflect the honesty and majesty found within the kanteletar's legendary verses... Review After the first cds, it was a bit to be expected that the influence of the folk music would be bigger. But I didn't expect it to be this much. The guitars aren't very distorted anymore, the vocals hardly have any grunts, and the folk sometimes makes the music so happy that it makes my toes curl with irritation. For people who don't like the depressive doom that much, this is an excellent album I guess. And it is good, just a bit too damn happy. Rating: 7 out of 10