Customer Reviews

My Winter Storm (U.S Version)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Everyone who is familiar with the heavy metal band Nightwish, last year the band had an acrimonious split with their former lead singer Tarja Turunen. It came to a shock for every fan of the band as well as Tarja. After a year since her dismissal fromt he band, Tarja returns to the music scene with a new album. MY WINTER STORM is Tarja's second solo album. The album is a concept album, split into three parts: ITE MISSA EST, THE ESCAPE OF THE DOLL, and SUNSET, complete with eighteen tracks.

I have to admit I have enjoy the new Nightwish album and their new singer Anette but alas I had missed hearing Tarja's operatic vocals. Thankfully I recently got a hold of her new solo album. Initially MY WINTER STORM did not impress me that much. Some of the songs left a flat taste in my mouth. Now that I am listening to the album again, the songs are starting to grow on me.

Tarja sounds as good as she ever did when she was with Nightwish. Her classically trained vocals takes a front seat on the album. I have noticed that there is a distinct classical sound. There still is a hard rock edge but it is more subtle and it takes a back seat to Tarja's classical roots.

I'm not really sure what to make of Tarja's cover of the Alice Cooper song "Poison". It is an interesting cover to say the very least. I wouldn't say that the song is all that hot but I don't think it is terrible either. I am more of a fan of songs like "I Walk Alone", "The Reign", and "Oasis".

At the moment MY WINTER STORM is only available as an import. An official US release won't happen until early 2008. For people have missed Tarja Turunen, MY WINTER STORM is certainly worth checking out.

I'll be up front & say that I'm not not a huge operatic metal/rock fan, but I am pleasantly surprised by this CD. Back when I first listened to Nightwish years ago, I didn't get into them as much at that time, but years later after hearing Tarja Turunen was going solo I was actually curious to see what direction she would go into musically. Well here we are & it seems that she went a little more into the operatic side of rock but I surprisingly really dig this sound. Normally I would want more metallic sounding songs & less operatic vocals, but here Tarja actually delivers less metallic songs but her vocals aren't as intense like when she was in Nightwish so I think the music is more pleasing to the ear. This is definitely one of those CDs to listen to if you just want to float away from the craziness in your mind & let the music sooth you. Give it a listen, you might actually like it.

I bought this CD because I have listened to Nightwish since 2000. I did not expect this solo CD from Tarja to be as good as any of the Nightwish material. But I was wrong. I have listened to it many times and find something new every time. The writing is very different than Nightwish, and Tarja's voice is better than ever. The writing is more mature than Nightwish in my opinion. It is difficult to try to categorize this album into one genre.

At this time, Amazon does not have any sound clips from the CD available. I suggest visiting the CD s site mywinterstorm.com and click the album link for samples.

I suggest to anyone that this is a great CD and worth getting. It will see a lot of play time in my player.

It's not a coincidence that former Nightwish lead singer Tarja has released her solo album at almost the same time at Nightwish has released Dark Passion Play with their new singer.

My Winter Storm is a far stronger CD than the Dark Passion Play, in which I was very disappointed. Where DPP started strong and fell apart halfway through, MWS moves from one fantastic track to the next. A perfect balance of the softer and harder songs at which Tarja excels.

I Walk Alone is a great lead off track. Boy and the Ghost is another favorite of mine. Ciaran's Well rocks as hard as anything she did with Nightwish. Damned Vampires & Gothic Divine may be my favorite. A very full CD of over 75 minutes, there never a dull moment.

If you have to choose between two pricey imports, Nightwish's Dark Passion Play and Tarja's My Winter Storm, choose Tarja. You Won't be disappointed.

I bought this CD because I have listened to Nightwish since 2000. I did not expect this solo CD from Tarja to be as good as any of the Nightwish material. But I was wrong. I have listened to it many times and find something new every time. The writing is very different than Nightwish, and Tarja's voice is better than ever. The writing is more mature than Nightwish in my opinion. It is difficult to try to categorize this album into one genre.

At this time, Amazon does not have any sound clips from the CD available. I suggest visiting the CD s site mywinterstorm.com and click the album link for samples.

I suggest to anyone that this is a great CD and worth getting. It will see a lot of play time in my player.

For a long time, I've hoped in vain that the universe would turn upside down and Tarja Turunen and Nightwish would get back together and go back to making the epic opera rock they were famous for everywhere (except America). However, Nightwish moved on with a new singer and a somewhat different sound, leaving me to hope that maybe Tarja would be back with the sound I loved so much.

Well, all hopes might not be in vain after all...

"My Winter Storm" brings back much of what I've been missing, even from the new Nightwish. Tarja's powerful voice is showcased throughout, and deservedly so; there's no mistaking that the Queen's voice is the focus and the reason for it.

The music itself is evocative of "Once" and "Century Child", albeit with less metal emphasis. Her band is actually quite good; tracks like "Lost Northern Star" and "Damned and Divine" can stand up against anything that Nightwish has done. My favorite track has to be "Sing for Me"; it sounds like a lost track from "Once".

If you miss the old Nightwish, this album won't disappoint.

but how can you not as it would be a rare person who didn't come to Tarja from Nightwish. I happened to buy both Dark Passion Play and My Winter Storm together because I wanted to listen to them together with no biases ahead of time as to what I would like or not.

Unfortunately I found DPP very lackluster, due to no fault of the new singer. I listened to it twice, the second time to confirm that it was still just as boring as the first time. Even had Tarja been on it, there was no saving it. I do own all their previous cds.

My Winter Storm, on the other hand, I've been listening to quite a bit. I'm actually surprised at how much I'm enjoying it, considering my favorite Nightwish song is Dark Chest of Wonders. There is nothing with that kind of hard punch on this cd at all (though Die Alive has a decent hard drive to it). But if you enjoy Tarja's singing, I don't see how you wouldn't like this recording. The songs create an atmosphere that suit her voice and style perfectly.

Except for the cover of Alice Cooper's "Poison," I found this disc to be very listenable. Tarja's voice is at it's peak. I'd like to hear her stretch her voice a bit more, as she sometimes gets a little too relaxed. Overall, though, this is definitely a good disc and I look forward to hearing more from this amazing artist.

None of the reviews that I read seem to touch on the topic that this is a great album if you like opera/film/ or a big symphonic metal fan. It is a lame album if you want a Gothic rock or heavy metal experience.

As for me it was just what I was looking for. A few songs like lost Northern Star are heavy and resemble Nightwish. Most of the album takes on an atmospheric tone with lots of violins and acoustic sounds and limited drum patterns that are simplistic and in the background when they do occur. The entire album is dripping with emotion and feeling. Strong operatic tones mixed with some more contemporary singing is done in what I would rate as Tarja's best vocal performance to date.

While the song writing is great and the album takes on a much neglected softer side to symphonic metal I must admit that it lacks the complex vocal arrangments of say Therion and even takes a step backwards from the duet stylings of Nightwish. There is one guest appearance of male vocals that sound like Nightwish and one instance of a choir being used, but mostly the entire album is just Tarja singing. Though she sounds very good and puts a lot of feeling into it, she is not the most talented Operatic singer out there and seems to fall a little short (and I know die hard Tarja fans will disagree with me) just a little short of some of the competition (like Liv of Leaves Eyes). There are no guitar solos and what guitars are in the album (some of them acoustic, some rock) they are not bad, but not impressive either. The music is not beat based and the drumming is pretty simplistic as well. The violen scores are probably the most impressive aspect of the album besides the singing. So while I give it 5 stars it has limitations. If you are looking for an atmospheric operatic album heavily influenced by film music with only a few small rock elements for flavor this is a good album. If you are looking for a rock album with opera singing and screeching guitar solos this will disappoint. If you are a classical music fan you will also find it lukewarm because despite what metal fans think tarja is not the greatest opera singer, though she isn't bad either.

Tarja Tuuren has a nice voice. No, not a nice voice, an AMAZING voice. She is an amazing vocalist and Nightwish's fame is due in no small part to the work she did with them from '97 to '05.

So now she's on her own and making her own music. My Winter Storm, in my opinion, does an amazing job of showing its listening just how strong Tarja's voice is. Every track on this album gives its listener very high quality vocals.

However, other than that, its well... not that good. Tarja comes from a Metal background and this album really isn't proper metal. Most of the music is slow songs in the vein of Creek Mary's Blood from Nightwish's Once Album. And while that's an amazing song, I don't want an entire album of Creek Mary's Blood. Tarja made her name as a metal vocalist.... were did that go?

Furthermore, musically, this album is mediocre. Vocals alone do not make an album and no matter how good a vocalist Tarja is she needs good instrumentation to back her up. This album just doesn't have that. The music is, generally speaking, plain old boring. Ciarán's Well, one of the heaviest songs on the album is just plain BAD in fact.

Personally, while I know a lot of people don't really like Annette Olzon (Tarja's replacement in Nightwish) I think Nightwish is still the better band. Whoever is writing music for Tarja can't beat Tuomas Holopainen's music, or lyrics for that matter.

All in all, I'm rather disappointed with this album. I was expecting something... more. Something more epic and something better done. This isn't a bad album, but its not my favorite, not by a long shot.