Digital Booklet - The Beginning of Times

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LIMITED EDITION

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Battle for Light 

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She 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…… T  he sun no longer shines on us…

no silver moon reflects… the stars no longer give their light… to help us find our path…… 'm thrown on barren wastelands… in feverish swamps I'm lost… I stagger through white‐rimed lands… I drown in diseased black mire…… 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…… eyond the heaven, the highest one… the god supreme eyond smites with his sword… into the sea falls a fiery star… a pike of deeps swallows the spark…… kyforger, come to my aid… the magic‐smith by my side… daughter of creation… the tiny man from the sea…… lmatar 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…

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Mermaid  

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O n 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…… he waters, they parted… as she rose to shine…… he 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…

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My Enemy

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H  e set out to take my life… and the power of my soul… his spells against my might… my wrath he did ignite…… Y  our brain replaced by mine… your mind changed into mine… you lose sight of yourself… your world no longer yours…… T  he 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…… feel your feelings now… I know now what you knew… I see how you have lied… plunge you into your grave…… nder the ground I force you… to underworld I curse you… to arms of death deliver… nder and damn inside a rock…… emorse is useless there… and mercy never shown… bribery's futile there… no promises hold…… o one feels your pain… no one there will listen… no one takes your hand… no one helps you now…… ut I will show him mercy… ut let him return to life… I will show him mercy… I will let him come back…

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You I Need  

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I  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…… need you to be the guide… the mirror to the sky and sea… portray all above and below… the gate of life and death…… he 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…… ake the song go on… the creator of gods… make the song go on and on… on and on…… e my guide of life and death…

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TOMI JOUTSEN ‐ Vocals

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Song of the Sage

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N   o 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…… he birds flew to the singer… the wildfowl from the open sea…… he fingers plucked the brightest chord… tolled the fangs of a pike… the colors of rainbow lighted… above the silent waters…… ame forth the woodland creatures… the spirits great and small… the mistress ame and the master… of Tapiola forest folk…… ehind a cloud of blue… the moon wove ehind the strands of silver… on the edge of the cloud of red… the daylight gilded the cloth…… he 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…… rom rom distant fens came the swans… an eagle from it's heaven high…… ach one comprehended and understood… each one ach shed a tear, they wept and cried…… ach and every tear… tears of everyone… ach all joined the flow… into the silent waters…… he golden stream of life… carried the tears to sea… to ocean's deep dark keeps… the pearls were concealed…

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Three Words 

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F rom rom all the four corners… from the heights beyond the changing skies… from in between the golden stars…… F rom rom the lands of dead below… I seek the magic for my spell… the power for my charm…… F or or want of three words… for want of three words for my song…… T  hree 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…… A long long the Tuoni pathway… to gloomy shore across the lands of dead… to find the missing charm…… eath's daughter showed the way… to death's grim abode… where death's wife offered me… death's drink to have…… hree words for magic… three words from death…

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Reformation

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W  hen 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…… F ear ear not for me… weep not for me… for finally I'm released……  f  ear not for me… weep not for me… to the heaven of all earths… I am released…… W  hen 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…… on't you fear… don't you weep…

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Soothsayer 

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I  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…… ithin 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…… 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 forms are countless… like words, words, names and stars…… 've 've been here from from the beginning… echoes and tones I understand… eternal poems of nonexist nonexistence… ence… the birth‐w birth‐words ords of time's beginning…

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On a Stranded Shore

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Silk 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…… y maiden's flesh… now fish in the lake deeps… her blood now water blue…… god of sleep… tell me in my dream… where has my maiden gone… where lies my mermaid now…… ise above the waves… from the water's grave… from the side of spotted stones… become alive again…… hese shores are for memory… these waters not for baiting… no shallows for the thirsty…… o sun beheld above these shores… no reflection of the moon… on these waters here…… y maiden's hair… grass on the water's edge… now willows on a shore…

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Escape

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T  herein 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…… eath bestows no wisdom… no might from death endowed… they say there's no return but I made my way back home… back to life…… was there among the shadows… who whispered out their screams… I was transformed by the strength of my will to live…… eath bestows no wisdom… no might from death endowed… there is no return, no way to ever walk back home…… ack to life… ack

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ESA HOLOPAINEN ‐ Guitars

TOMI KOIVUSAARI ‐ Guitars

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Crack in a Stone

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I  n 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…… he 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…… n 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…… ne path, one sign, one star… one lock, one key, one crack in a stone…… ne

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Beginning of Time

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I  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…… he solitude of space my uncaring mother… my father salt of the sea…… till 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…… he solitude of space my uncaring mother… my father salt of the sea… the void and infinity were never ending… time had no beginning…… he songs were born into my mind… the knowledge of the stars… the stories before and after… the spells of war and peace…… he birth of the world was my birth too… I found the land, began the time… from shorelessness of the sea… from underneath the space…… have a wish to sing of time before the beginning…

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Heart’s Song

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LIMITED EDITION BONUS TRACK

T  he 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…… 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…… 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…

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NICLAS ETELÄVUORI ‐ Bass

s Amorphis is s Tomi Joutsen ‐ Vocals Esa Holopainen ‐ Guitars Tomi Koivusaari ‐ Guitars Niclas Etelävuori ‐ Bass Santeri Kallio ‐ Keyboards Jan Rechberger ‐ Drums

s The Beginning of Times is s Produced 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 Engine ered 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)

SANTERI KALLIO ‐ Keyboards

JAN RECHBERGER ‐ Drums

Lyrics by Pekka Kainulainen Translation by Erkki Virta Additional male vocals by: Savotta Choir Additional Additional female vocals by: Nett Nettaa 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

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.

01. Battle for Light  02. Mermaid   03.. My Enemy 03 04. You I Need   05. Song of the Sage 06.. Three Words  06 07.. Reformation 07 0 8. Soothsayer  09. On a Stranded Shore 10. Escape 11. Crack in a Stone 12. Beginning of Time  limited edition bonus track 

1313.. Heart's Song