Esa Holopainen | Silver Lake [Marbled Vinyl] LP

Limited Edition Silver Foil Gatefold White/Black Marbled.

Since 1990, Esa Holopainen has been the lead guitarist of the progressively-minded heavy metal innovators AMORPHIS. Thanks to the metallic and melodic beauty of such classic albums as “Tales from the Thousand Lakes”, “Elegy” and “Skyforger”, Holopainen’s magnificent abilities to create enchanting atmospheres and innovative riffs have become widely known within the worldwide heavy metal circuit.
“Over the last few years, I have been writing a lot of music, and some of the stuff hasn’t exactly sounded like Amorphis. When Nino called me late March, I already had three decent-sounding Silver Lake songs in stock. These tracks, entitled “Sentiment”, “Ray of Light” and “Promising Sun”, worked as the backbone for the full solo album.” Although the making of the record had already started, some important decisions were still under discussion. “At first, I really didn’t know if the album would turn out to be purely instrumental or would there be vocalists as well. However, one thing was certain, I wouldn’t be the singer of SILVER LAKE”, smiles Holopainen.

So, before long, the intense search for the right vocalists had begun. “I started asking some of my longtime friends and favourite singers if they would be available”, says Holopainen. “Thankfully, it didn’t take long to find out that superb artists such as Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering, VUUR), Björn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork), Einar Solberg (Leprous) and Jonas Renkse (Katatonia) would be happy to join the project.”

During the pandemic and these restricted times, how was working with the singers? “Needless to say, we were mostly working remotely from our own studios. All the singers are professionals right down to the bone, so there were no problems whatsoever. Some of the vocalists wanted to write their own lyrics and melody lines, and for some other singers, I wrote more or less everything. I don’t write any lyrics for AMORPHIS, but it was a very pleasant experience to come up with some words for my own album. Talking briefly about lyrics, I am dealing with topics including serious mental health issues, for example, and I have also been drawing a lot of inspiration from nature. There are some other topics as well…”

SILVER LAKE also offers a nice surprise for diehard AMORPHIS fans. “Like I described, I wanted to work with singers that I highly respect. Tomi Joutsen – Amorphis’s lead singer – is a lovely person and phenomenal vocalist, so it was a no-brainer for me to invite him on my album. There are some musical “wild cards” available as well. “For instance, the first single off the album is called “Storm” and features some Dire Straits influenced 80s guitar vibes here and there”, smiles Holopainen.

But how would Esa describe SILVER LAKE’s material in the bigger picture? “First of all, the record’s very diverse. Silver Lake can’t really be compared to Amorphis, but then again, there is my fingerprint on both AMORPHIS’ and SILVER LAKE’s material… So I wouldn’t be surprised if some fans hear some distant similarities here and there”, ponders Holopainen. “I want to underline the fact that when we were working on Silver Lake’s material, there were no limits. Not at all. As a result, a few of the songs are really poppy and some other tracks are pretty damn heavy.”