Well. I didn’t know how much I needed a new Crimfall album until I hit play and listened to Amain. This is good; really good.
There’s just something magical about this release. There’s so much colour and vibrance to the music, with a decent amount of variety for good measure, and it really makes for special listening. Each track brings something different to the table, yet all ten tracks are interwoven together to create a coherent and unified piece. The flow is magnificent and it’s one of those albums that you’ll have to listen to over and over.
One especially good element of Amain is the four-part epic Ten Winters Apart, which sits nicely in the middle of the album. It’s an adventure of a listen, with each twist and turn of the four parts keeping you on the edge of your seat – the vibrancy and emotion of the instrumentation is particularly good, too. Another great inclusion is penultimate track Wayward Verities. There’s a great folksy vibe to it and the vocals from both Mikko and Helena are so versatile over the course of it, with harsh, clean and half-spoken all contributing strongly to the song.
All in all, this is a mighty album and a welcome comeback from Crimfall! I won’t be forgetting this album in a hurry.
9.5/10
