Customer Reviews

Dark Passion Play (Spec)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

So here we are at the first post-Tarja Nightwish album. My take on the Tarja vs. Annette debate is simply that Annette works. She's not as good a vocalist as Tarja...or even the likes of Sharon Den Adel or Floor Jansen for that matter, BUT she is good and doesn't sound at all out of place with this band. Also, Marcos sounds so much better on this album because his voice doesn't sound so drastically different to Annette's.

The best thing about this album is just how good it is musically. Since the Toumas and the rest of the band were now free from being labeled "Tarja's back-up band" the guys go all out with fantastic results. The work Toumas and crew prove to anyone who didn't already know he's the brainchild of this band.

Here's my track-by-track breakdown:

1.) The Poet And the Pendulum - Awesome. Utterly blew my mind. 5/5

2.) Bye Bye Beautiful - Bye bye Tarja, a hard hitting catchy song with Annette trading vocals with Marcos. The only fault the song has is that the lyrics are more somber and sad while the song sounds a lot more pissed off than it should, which is misleading. But it's irrelevant in the end because its such a damn good song 5/5

3.) Amaranth - OMG theez guyz wnt n totlee sold out!!!!111 DIz iz pop muzic! Shut up, you know you've had this song stuck in your head ever since you heard it and you love it. If you don't that's why there is a skip button on your CD player. And I thought "Nemo" was an addictive song! 5/5

4.) Cadence Of Her Last Breath - Musically this track is awesome but I just find the chorus kind of dull in comparison. I love the guitar solo though. - 4/5

5.) Master Passion Greed - Surgeon General's Warning: This song may cause involuntary moshing and headbanging which may result in neck injury or destruction of property. Eat it Marcelo Cabuli! 5/5

6.) Eva - It would be impossible for me to hate this song, it's just so damned beautiful and catchy. Nice work Annette. 5/5

7.) Sahara - One of the lesser tracks on the album. Catchy yes...but it just goes at this snail's pace and never really changes tempo or does anything interesting for that matter. 3/5

8.) Whoever Brings the Night - One of the few tracks I could hear Tarja singing. Damn good musically but the lyrics make me scratch my head. "You one-night butterfly"...? Something tells me some of the lyrics got lost in translation from Finnish to English. 4/5

9.) For the Heart I Once Had - The only thing that sticks out for me on this track is the poppy lighthearted melody in which Annette sings the verses. I dig that because it's unconventional. Other than that the song really doesn't gel for me. 2/5

10.) The Islander - The best Celtic sea shanty that Alice in Chains never did. One of the surprises of the album, the song that starts and makes you go "WTF is this?" and by the end of it you're singing along with it like nothing ever happened. A ballsy attempt at a folk song that pays off big time. 5/5

11.) Last Of the Wilds - Oh hell yes! I have been waiting for Nightwish to do an instrumental track since "Moondance" became one of my favorite tracks from this band. Easily one of the best and most unique tracks on the album - 5/5

12.) 7 Days To the Wolves - One of those songs that just doesn't work. Musically it sounds like an earlier Within Temptation song, and the chorus doesn't really work with the rest of the song. It's just a strange juxtaposition that never really takes off...even when the band tries to pick up the pace at the end of the song. 2/5

13.) Meadows of Heaven - Ugh....I really really wish they had omitted this track. This is how you do a ballad all wrong. First off, it's boring. Second, the chorus is just Annette saying "Meadows of heaven" over and over. If that wasn't bad enough they end the song with individuals in the chorus pulling that annoying Christina Aguilera style singing where you just vocalize all over the map and sound like a warbling cat. It's one of my biggest pet peeves in all music. Bad way to end this album 1/5

14.) Reach (Amaranth Demo Version) - Not a great track but it is an interesting view into the process in which they developed the songs on this album. Has a completely different chorus and feel to the song since Marcos is singing. And it is neat to hear this band sound raw and unpolished - 3/5

To sum up the album overall it has some duds but the majority of it is really impressive. I look forward to seeing how they advance with Annette, and hope they have as much luck with experimentation as they do on this album.

Dark Passion Play (Instrumental Version); 5 / 5. It's a major surprise to me and a great testament to the band how good this is. I'm also surprised at how much of a different dynamic tracks like Amaranth and Bye Bye Beautiful are without vocals. Even the track I hate "Meadows of Heaven" is a lot more beautiful without the boring vocals. Definitely made this Special Edition worth the money I paid for it.

As everyone knows by now Nightwish kicked out their iconic and much adored vocalist at the height of their fame, plummeting them into mire of cynicism, childish dismissal from Tarja fans and abandonment from the press who had clamoured to interview and promote them in the Once days. Rather than disband to rest on their past laurels or try to resurrect their old glory by imitating it, they have resurfaced with an album so very different yet full of the melody, passion, creativity and emotion that has long made Nightwish so adored. The new singer Annette Olzon is certainly not Tarja Mark 2. Whilst Tarja's voice was heartbreakingly sad, coldly distant and overwhelmingly majestic, Annette's is warm, open and full of happiness and enthusiasm; even the ballads are never sad, instead full of hope and love. Of course not everyone will like this change, but Annette's talent in undeniable and her range and power is unquestionable.

The most striking thing about this new album is the level of creativity and difference between the songs, in many ways it is reminiscent of the melodic side of avant-garde metal such as Arcturus and Diablo Swing Orchestra. The vast majority of metal bands with outside influences either use them so little that they're insignificant or milk them as their only gimmick. This album does neither, taking vast amounts of very diverse influence, making excellent use of each but relying on none.

Power metal - though Nightwish's power metal side has been in decline since Wishmaster there's somewhat of a return to form with DPP. First of all the vocals are enthusiastic, bright, high pitched and expressive. It sounds nothing like Tarja, but a lot like a female equivalent to most male power metal singers. As well as Emppu's perfectly composed and passionately played solos there are some wonderful power metal riffs in here, more so than any other `femme metal' band around. For one example listen to 7:37 in the massive Poet and the Pendulum; I almost cried with joy. And that's only one part of Nightwish's longest and most sophisticated song.

Thrash metal - Marco's impassioned old-style thrash yelps and screeches make the `beauty and the beast' pseudo-death metal growlers of most bands sound pathetic. Master Passion Greed is an excellent thrash power song reminiscent of a more complex Morgana Lefay, entirely sung by Marco. The thrash influence is also evident in some excellent riffs throughout the album.

Symphony - There's no classical and no opera: the `symphonic' side of Nightwish clearly draws almost entirely on film scores, which is no bad thing, the more immediately dramatic and overwhelming sound fits with the bombast and speed of power metal perfectly. No other band blends metal with symphony so clearly, neither side ever compete with the other for space as is the case with most similar bands, the guitars and drums know when to silence to allow the orchestra to shine and there's more than enough room for awesome riffs and solos. The utterly flawless orchestration and production is a large part of this as well as the composition. This is present throughout the album but best displayed in the vast epics Poet and the Pendulum and Seven Days to Wolves.

Folk Music - The Islander is based around a Native American sounding melody with acoustic guitar and Marco's newly found beautiful clean voice. It creates a unique feel that I can only describe as being somewhere between serene and `piratey'. The instrumental Last of the Wilds is a straight up cheery Celtic piece, thankfully given a decent length unlike the paltry instrumental intros to most metal albums.

Eastern Music -Every metal album seems to have an obligatory `eastern sounding song' and Sahara so obviously fitted this bracket I almost laughed when I heard it. Though the instrumental influence is present but not massive, just listen to the crazy Arabic sounding singing towards the end and tell me you don't love Annette.

Pop music - Yep, Annette used to be in an ABBA tribute band and it's blatantly obvious in the infectiously catchy very straightforward Amaranth. The album is full of the wonderful vocal melodies that have always been a Nightwish signature.

Musicals - The very soft ballad Eva which made a rather uninspiring single works so much better between the bombast and drama of the other songs around it. It is a song about love and devotion, not tragedy, hence makes a very different sort of song to most metal ballads. The line `the good in her will be my sunflower field' is one of the most touching lines I have ever heard.

Gospel - The very end of the album, towards the close of the lengthy ballad `Meadows of Heaven' explodes with a Gospel Choir in duet with Annette. Yes. It sounds like those Ladies and Gentlemen in churches wailing their hearts out with their love for Jesus. Sounds stupid doesn't it? Surprisingly not, it's the most original and inspiring way to end a metal album I have ever heard.

Influences that are thankfully definitely NOT present in Dark Passion Play:

Gothic music - I doubt I was alone in fearing Nightwish would jump on a faggoth bandwagon of some sort in their future direction. This album is almost never depressive or tragic and not a moment of goth rock or even gothic metal sound is to be heard.

Industrial - This album has no `Wish I Had an Angel' sound-alikes, everything is very flowing and natural with no electronic beats whatsoever.

Nu Metal - Nightwish's huge popularity with many alt-rockers has led to accusations of being `mallcore', but these are as entirely unfounded as ever, there's not a trace of it here. Yes there are power chords, but there are power chords in every metal band. There are more 'metal' riffs here than on a ManOwaR album for example.

The lyrics sadly are not as poetic or emotional as before. Usualy they're uninteresting, occasionaly too much more of Tuomas's self-pitying silliness and two songs dedicated to slating Tarja and her husband Marcelo. The artwork is simple but perfect, with the sense of wonder and excitement that fills the music. The digipack comes with the whole album as orchestral intrumentals. Enjoyable and worth having but not as engaging as the real thing as the gaps where the vocals are meant to fill are too obvious.

Many Tarja fans will not be won over because Annette is so different and of course people who hate bombastic, melodic, sensitive or feminine metal will still hate Nightwish. For most fans of female fronted symphonic metal, the importance of any Nightwish album is given but the absence of semi-operatic warbling, which was the ultimate in love-hate vocals, will open Nightwish up for people who didn't enjoy Tarja's style. The new areas this album covers; its immense diversity and increased complexity will hold a lot of appeal to people who find most symphonic and power metal too repetitive, predictable and straight forward.

In my review of 2005's "Once", I focused on two musical strengths that Nightwish had developed; the album's variety of sound, ranging from celtic-inspired melodies to raw metal tracks; and the over-the-top symphonic bombast that made each song sound like a Tolkien battle scene. Songs like "Ghost Love Score" made any other symphonic metal creation sound dated and halfhearted.

But now we have that album's successor, "Dark Passion Play", which, like Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia"/"Deadwing" duo, attempts to both copy and one-up itself. It's almost as if the band structurally analyzed "Once" and then injected it with performance improvement meds. Though not without its flaws, the album has proven itself with the 7 - 10 spins I have given it.

Many fans will criticize the band's decision to adopt a more mainstream voice to their line-up. To such comments, I will say: though I was always a fan of Tarja's operatic pipes, I like the change for two reasons:

1.) Tarja's booming voice was very limiting. Though a good match for the epic metal the band was concocting, it would not have fit with more accessible, standard hard rock tracks.
2.) Her voice was already becoming less and less operatic album after album. The voice we heard in "Wishmaster" wasn't the same one coming across in "Nemo".

For these reasons (and of course, the ongoing personal drama that often spills into the music) I fully endorse Anette Olzon. She has the range, the power and the intensity to sing songs both old and new. For validation, look no further than the album's opener, the near 14-minute behemoth "The Poet and the Pendulum". I'm not a fan of epic tracks starting albums (see: Riverside's "Out of Myself", Draconian's "Where Lovers Mourn"), but after the first two minutes of this song's spiraling tempest of horns, strings and choirs, all is forgiven. Once again (pun intended), Emppu Vuorinen's guitars play second (more like fifty-second) fiddle to the orchestra, serving almost only as a metronome to the symphonic ensemble.

As a song, "Poet" puts previous symphonic epics ("Creek Mary's Blood", "Ghost Love Score") to shame. With spoken word passages and a story all of its own, it provides an intense dramatism that succesfully guides the song along its multi-part path. I would honestly recommend this album for purchase for this track alone. It's my favorite track of the album and will reign in the annals of epic metal songs for years to come.

The album overall follows the same format as "Once" or Kamelot's "The Black Halo" in that the first third of the album is spectacular, the second third is forgettable and the final third making up for the lackluster middle. We have many melodic heavy-hitters up front ("Amaranth", the electro-heavy "Bye Bye Beautiful" and "Cadence of Her Last Breath"). Afterwards, we have a hard-rock song that could easily have gone the way of the recycle bin ("Master Passion Greed"), a painfully slow ballad ("Eva") and two songs that I always skip ("Sahara", "Whoever Brings the Night"). Then the final third of the album rewards listeners for enduring the previous four cuts. "The Islander" is a beautiful acoustic number with various singers, centering around a primarily celtic melody. "Last of the Wilds" is an instrumental piece that is very reminiscent of Amorphis' "Relief" - folk, instrumental, fast, melodic. Finally, "7 Days to the Wolves" and "Meadows of Heaven" kick the orchestra into overkill, sending horns, flutes and strings into every single beat, accompanying Marco Hietala and Olzon in a competition for attention.

"Dark Passion Play" is, at its simplest, an inflation of "Once". They make better what worked in the previous album, and for some reason, make worse what didn't. Despite these imperfections, Holopainen and company have crafted an intense album that will ultimately survive the public scrutiny that surrounded its production. I give it two thumbs up ... as long as I can fast-forward to the end.

See also: Nightwish - "Once", Therion - "Sirius B"

OK, if anyone complains about this music and also claims to be real Nightwish fan, then somethings wrong. Its always been about the whole music, not just their former vocalists singing. Anette Olzon can certainly sing, she may be even MORE musical and accurate than her somewhat bombastic predecessor, I find her terrific with this group of awesome musicians.

What struck me about Dark Passion Play, is that is was an even greater leap forward than Once, in a musical adventure sort of way. The orchestral portions just tickle me, and the HUGE sound is so nice to hear. Tuomas seems to be on his game in a big was as the main songwriter.

Annette certainly screeches far less than others in this genre, and I find her accuracy to be refreshing and very listenable to. I always noticed that people I introduced Nightwish to (as well as After Forever) always commented on how harsh and screechy some of the vocals always were, while at the same time they always loved the ambition and range of the music composition, playing and arrangement.

Interestingly enough, I've been straying more toward Sabine's sound in Edenbridge, as she is SO musical, without being harsh, as well as amazingly accurate and sweet in her vocal delivery.

This newest Nightwish effort gets them into that zone for me at least. The same huge ambition in the writing and playing, and now a certain delicateness to the singing. Bravo for a terrific album, return, and effort!!!

First, Tarja vs. Anette. I honestly don't think they're comparable; they're totally different vocalists. Tuomas has been guiding the vocals of Nightwish away from their operatic roots since "Century Child". There are songs on this album that Tarja's voice simply would not fit. Nightwish purposely sought out a non-operatic vocalist because operatic vocals were just not fitting the style of music Tuomas wanted to write. Anette fits this bill to a T. Her voice is strong and doesn't get lost in the bombastic strength of the music; she can sing delicately ("The Heart I Once Had", "Meadows of Heaven") as well as she can spit out gritty lines ("Sahara"). Anette also has better pronunciation of the English language, if that matters to people at all.

No matter WHO sings the songs, the music is unmistakeably Nightwish. If you fell in love with Nightwish soley because of Tarja's vocals, then you're probably more of a Tarja fan, so stop criticizing Nightwish. If you fell in love with the music itself, the new vocalist shouldn't throw you at all just as adding Marco's male vocals didn't throw most fans.

As for the album itself... When looked at in the context of the entire Nightwish discography, I think the evolution to this album makes sense. It follows the more 'mainstream' appeal of their previous album, "Once" with a few catchy songs ("Amaranth", "Cadence of Her Last Breath"), but nothing too far-fetched, especially if you don't forget previous 'catchy' Nightwish tunes "Bless the Child" and "Nemo".

Some songs continue to be as dark and biting as the darker songs off "Once". These include "Bye Bye Beautiful" and "Master Passion Greed". Others are more experimental, expressing Nightwish's newfound freedom of expression with Marco's acoustic sea-ballad "The Islander", the celtic instrumental "Last Of The Wilds", and the gospel-inspired "Meadows of Heaven".

Overall, the music is superb. The full orchestra is larger than the one on "Once" - it's huge and dynamic, making this Collectors Edition totally worth it just for the instrumental disc, which is basically the songs without vocals. Generally I'm not too excited about 'kareoke' versions of songs as to me they tend to sound thin without the lyrics. But these stand up wonderfully on their own. One or two of the tracks I actually prefer without the lyrics.

I can see how people think Nightwish is "selling out" and sounding more "mainstream" - while I think the music is a bit more accessible, it still sounds like nothing out there today. It's well written and stands well on its own. There are a few weak spots for me: "Whoever Brings the Night" is nothing special and "7 Days to the Wolves" is a bit anti-climactic, but there are some songs that have instantly become some of my very favorite Nightwish tracks: "Cadence of Her Last Breath", "Last of the Wilds", "The Islander", and "Bye bye Beautiful" - and my very favorite, "Sahara", which is thematically the sequel to Nightwish's first album's "Tutankhamen".

This Collectors Edition/Special Edition includes the demo version of "Amaranth" called "Reach": the chorus is different and Marco sings it. The jewel case comes in a card sleeve that has the alternate artwork on it; the booklet itself has the regular album cover art on it.

I can pretty much sum up this album in one word: amazing. But even that doesn't do it justice. In some ways this album defies and transcends description by words.

Nonetheless, here I am, trying to review it. Well, that's how it goes. Let me start by saying that this was my first experience with Nightwish. One of my best buds had played a couple of the songs off the single disc version while we were goofing around in halo 3, and it sounded intriguing, but I wasn't paying attention to it so I didn't give it the credit it so truly deserved. When I bought this extended version online a couple months later, I was astounded to discover what I had listened to was merely the tip of the iceberg for a true masterpiece. Truly, all the words that have been used to describe this brilliant meshing of metal and symphonic orchestra, such as epic, bombastic, brilliant and more are all to be believed.

I also didn't know there was a huge contoversy over the album because they had ditched their long time leading lady Tarja. I discovered this while trying to find out more about the band later on, figuring that if this album was so good the rest of them must be as well. Well, I'm here to tell you that assumption was wrong.

Don't misunderstand me, I can see (or I suppose in this case, hear) the appeal to their music prior to Dark Passion Play. All of the same basic elements are there, making its predecessors as brilliant a foray into symphonic metal. There's really just one difference.

For my money, Anette's vocals are worlds apart and far better than Tarja's. I'm sure I'll get called down by some long time fans for sacrilege, but as a new guy on the Nightwish scene I feel I can get away with this. After I listened to DPP for the umpteenth time (it really still hasn't lost its luster, and I must be on something insane like play number one hundred fifty since I bought it a little less than two months ago) I thought it might be nice to diversify my Nightwish playlist with some of their older stuff. I downloaded several songs that I was told online were representative of their sound prior to DPP. After about three or so plays each to make sure it wasn't just acclimating to the different voice, I summarily deleted them. I found that Tarja's vocals, while good in their own right, didn't blend well with the rest of the band. In fact, several times I had the feeling that the band was forced to accommodate her, instead of fully exploring their own unique style. The operatic style she is so well known for was stifling, and I had to stop listening just to catch some air; I felt vaguely like she was suffocating me.

Anette is quite the opposite. As far as I can tell, she has a wider vocal range, and her voice is much crisper. Her voice reverberates in your ear, much the way a well-made bell will continue to ring out long after it is struck. She sounds much more authentic and sincere than Tarja ever did, and she blends flawlessly with the band, perfectly complementing the sound and never preventing the others from finding their own unique sonic imprint. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Tuomas had most of the songs already written long before she was hired on, but I can only hope that her influence continues to mesh so well with the rest of the sound.

Now, why four stars instead of five for such a glowing review? Well, the answer is that while this album truly is a masterpiece, it is also not without its flaws. My complaints are small, in truth, and if I could have given a four and three fourths I would have. Basically, my main complaint is Marco. He is an accomplished bassist, and vocalist, but sometimes his vocals just go too far. Specifically, in Master Passion Greed, he sounds far too angry and pompous. I understand that this is intentional, but it gets in the way of the wonderful musical journey going on beneath him at times. You can tell in the instrumental version that it is a truly complex sonic playground all its own; sometimes this is quashed by his vocals. Also, I have to say that I am glad that Reach stayed as a demo version of Amaranth. The finished product is much better and had Reach been all there was it would have been a detriment to the entire album. Primarily, again, due to Marco's vocals. He takes the gritty demonic stereotype of male vocals in metal to ridiculous extremes; sometimes he is so out of tune it makes my ears want to bleed. However, he is brilliant in Bye Bye Beautiful, where his gritty, grinding sound is appropriate, and so melodic in the Islander that I still have a hard time believing it is even the same guy.

One last thing stands against this extended version: The instrumental versions. While in some cases the instrumental disc is an amazing showcase of the orchestration behind the vocals, many times it falls flat on its proverbial face. Many of the songs on this album rely on the vocals for the melodies, so removing them leaves only the accompaniment which is often repetative. It is obvious that the brilliance of Nightwish isn't in its blazing technicality but in the way it all comes together to provide an overall mindblowing musical experience. The Instrumentals do provide wonderful background music for reading or playing video games, but if you aren't looking for that I'd say you are better off to simply buy the regular cut, especially since it's much cheaper.

To sum up this admittedly long winded review, newcomers to Nightwish will absolutely love this album, people who were turned off to Nightwish by the vocals in prior releases should give them another shot, and for long time fans, the basic essence of the band is preserved, even though it is obvious they are moving in new directions.

Well Nightwish is back and better than ever.

First...I'll admit that I was quite upset that Tarja was kicked out of the band and that I didn't think that the band could ever find anybody to replace her and I was right. Tarja was unique. Anette doesn't have Tarja's voice but that's not a bad thing. She's a completely different singer than Tarja and that's just fine cause she does an outstanding job in her own right.

"Once" was such a great and over the top album that I felt that the band could never top it but "Dark Passion Play" does top it. I read a review of this CD somewhere where it said how the departure of Tarja has "released the band from their shell" and I agree. The songs are still Nightwish but you can tell how this album has just been another step up for the band. The Orchestral and choir recordings on the album are just outstanding!!

The one thing I did notice on this album that isn't like the previous Nightwish albums is how much singing that Marco got to do on this album. He sings on almost every song on the album and even gets to sing "lead" on a few songs. His vocals are the best he's ever recorded. The combination of Marco and Anette on vocals is what really makes this album so great and an aspect that was missing from the Tarja albums.

If you are a Nightwish fan don't worry you will truely enjoy this album. It's "Once" taken to a higher level.

For the last two years, controversy has broiled over the dismissal of Tarja Turunen from the Finnish "Epic Metal" band, Nightwish. With their latest release, "Dark Passion Play", Nightwish reminds us that this band is a collection of talented musicians playing the masterfully written pieces penned by keyboardist Tuomos Holopainen. If Wolfgang Mozart or Ludwig Von Beethoven were alive today, they would be writing Symphonic Power Metal in the vein of Nightwish.

Nightwish began in 1996, originally as a musical project by Holopainen as an attempt to introduce traditional folk music influences into heavy metal music. Their first album, "Angels Fall First," demonstrates how unsuited Turunen's voice was for this task. Holopainen altered his original concept to incorporate more influences from opera and classical symphony to give the classically trained opera singer Turunen a better back drop. For the next nine years, this decision to forgoe the artist's original vision helped shape Nightwish into a band of truely epic proportions. Nevertheless, the artist was still forced to forgoe his original vision, which is perhaps the greatest shame of all.

With tracks like "The Islander," "Last of the Wilds," and "Meadows of Heaven," we see the artist returning to this vision, with stunning results. These are perhaps the most surprising pieces on "Dark Passion Play." Their place in the album is unquestionable -- they fit perfectly -- yet the discrepency between these tracks and much heavier fair such as "Master Passion Greed" and "7 Days to the Wolves" is staggering. Taken in full, the album is a brilliant display of song-writing; it is nearly unimaginable that such a broad range of musical styling could come from mostly one writer.

The epic masterpiece of the album is the opening track, "The Poet and the Pendulum" (from the lyrics of which we gain the title of the album). At nearly 14 minutes long, not only is it Nightwishes' longest track (over 3 minutes longer than 2002's "Beauty of the Beast"), it is their most ambitious piece to date, a veritable rock opera in a single track. It never falters, never lingers, running at 100% power to its sweet-yet-sad ending. This track sets the tone of the entire album, an excellent introduction to Nightwish's vast breadth. It resembles traditional Nightwish fair, while also expanding into new territories.

This is perhaps the most awe inspiring part of this album: that it spans the full range of Nightwish's entire history, while still experimenting with new ideas. With 13 tracks, Holopanien, et. al., not only create tracks that should please even the oldest of Nightwish fans, but also draw in new fans. Other bands would take two albums over the course of years to perform such a wide swing of styles. The only one that comes to mind in recent time is the double-disc set "In Your Honor" from the Foo Fighters. However, this was more of a pairing of polar opposites than a single, comprehensive collection of styles perfectly meshed together.

What this album also displays is that Holopainen is not the only talent in the band. Nightwish is ultimately a compendium of extremely talented artists, each capable of great things in their own right. Tarja Turenen fans will focus on her absence, but the truth is that only three members remain from Nightwish's original lineup: the mastermind Holopainen, guitarist Empuu Vuorinen, and drummer Jukka Nevalainen. Bassist Marco Hietala replaced the original bassist Sami Vänskä in 2002. Additionally, Nightwish has recorded their studio albums with a full orchestral accompanyment since 2003. The sharing of writing credits and the greater participation of Hietala with lead vocals speaks clearly, "Nightwish is more than just one person". It was Turunen's violation of their Muskateer-like devotion to the band, and by extension the fans, that led to her dismissal.

One cannot deny that Turunen possesses a powerful voice. However, for too long that voice represented a niche shtick for Nightwish. As opera singers are concerned, Turunen was average at best, and recent performances show her to be slipping in her training. Annette Olzen brings a much more versatile voice to the group, one that is capable of schooling Turunen with her own songs ("Ever Dream," the demo with which Olzen gained acceptance into the band), matching her with new songs ("For the Heart I Once Had," "Whoever Brings the Night"), and sailing further than Turunen ever could ("Meadows of Heaven," "Eva"). Do not underestimate Olzen, she has power to spare, with the control that Turunen lacked.

This album is a collection of songs written by Nightwish spreading their wings after throwing off their preconceptions. It is a test drive for a new lead signer. It is the first reallization of an artist's great vision. It is a premonition of the future and shows that Nightwish will become one of the classic bands that music theorist must study.

To start, I need to say that I am a huge fan of Nightwish, and Tarja. When I heard Tarja was no longer with the band, I was disappointed. However, Nightwish has always had some of my favorite (and in my opinion best) music I've ever listened to, so of course I got their new album. However, I was a bit disappointed by it.

No, a lot of people that don't like this album focus almost solely on Anette versus Tarja. Now, I will admit that I prefer Tarja to Anette, but I think Anette has a fine voice and sings pretty well in most of the songs she's in. She's not my problem with this album, though, it's the rest of it. I just didn't get the same feeling of greatness with most of their songs that I did in the past. They just sounded harsher and less symphonic to me, even compared to their other heavier songs like "Romanticide" and "Dead Gardens."

Now, don't get me wrong, most of the music on the album is good, but I never felt it achieved the level of greatness that previous albums did. Maybe it's just me, but it seemed like even though they had a lot of orchestra, it was less orchestral. Some of the guitar and bass were a bit overwhelming.

But my biggest beef has to be the amount of vocal time Marco got. No offense to the guy, or any of his fans, but his vocal style doesn't fit well with most of Nightwish's songs. Now, some of them he added to the song, and it was beneficial that he was there, "Bye, Bye Beautiful" being the example that comes to mind. But he shouldn't have sung lead in any song, it just doesn't fit.

So, all in all, this is an OK album, but it doesn't reach the greatness of previous endeavors. So, musically this album gets a four for the great epic sound of most of the songs, but it's not perfect and I'd even rate their previous albums higher. Vocally, this album gets a two for having too much Marco and not enough Anette.

Everyone has an opinion, and I respect stagecrewlizzy's; nonetheless, for the sake of others considering purchasing this album, I wanted to express a few points of disagreement.

SCL wrote: Yes, it's no lie it would be better if Tarja would be here but that's not going to happen.

RWF: In my opinion, that's a good thing. While Tarja was great, Anette is also great, and I truly enjoy her voice more than Tarja's - for me Anette's a better match for Nightwish's music. I'd love to hear them go back and remake all their previous albums with Anette's voice replacing Tarja's. Don't be afraid that Anette is either incompetent or unsuitable for their music - I'd say she's perfect for them.

SCL wrote: Basically the way to compare it is if Amy Lee of Evanescence joined the band. More of a pop voice than operatic but it works. So honestly, Annette isn't why I have an issue with the album.

RWF: I'm going to have to disagree with this as a bad comparison. Amy Lee's voice has a very blues/jazz flavor to it. Anette's has a very stage-musical, Disney-musical flavor to it; she reminds me a bit of the singers of Abba, and she reminds me a LOT of the singer for the Gathering (Anneke Van Giersbergen). Trust me, aside from both being talented female Metal singers, Anette and Amy Lee have altogether different voices.

SCL: Despite me saying how great a song writer Tuomas is, he has one major dud. "Master Passion Greed" is atrocious ... this song just seems angry and loud with no real artistic integrity behind it. This song should've been omitted but it wasn't which is too bad because had it not been for this awful song, I would've given this a 5.

RWF: I have to say I was impressed with "Master Passion Greed". Being a longtime listener of Metal (since 1980), this song made me say "All right! Nightwish doing a classic-Metal song!" It hearkens unto the styles of Mercyful Fate and Judas Priest, with the quasi-classical atmosphere of King Diamond and Rising Force; it also reminds me of some of Kamelot's faster tunes. Definitely a worthy number, and I for one would enjoy hearing more classic-metal from this band!

By the way, I simply can't stop listening to track 4, "Cadence of Her Last Breath". I've had it on repeat for up to an hour at a time!