Metal Reviews

I might be standing alone with this comment, but I can't understand the raving about track 1 "The Poet and the Pendulum" bad choice for track 1 i thought, but it seems to me more a mishmash of songs stuck together to form 1 super song, rather than a well crafted epic to me. i didn't like the high pitched child's voice or the spoken parts and much too slow at the end, it just didn't work. the epicness that was "Ghost Love Score" from "Once" will never be beaten, or even "Beauty of the Beast" from "Century Child" was much better and i really felt the emotion that Tuomas was trying to portray, how can you beat a line like "All of my songs can only be composed of the greatest of pains, every single verse (or werse as Tarja and most Finns prenounce) can only be born of the deepest of wishes" So indeed how can you beat that? well you cant frankly, a victim of his own success in someone ways is Tuomas. That said, soon as track 1 was over it was fantastic, 'bye bye beautiful" is awesome and my fav, everything else is really good, not jaw dropping amazing, but good. why on earth is "Eva" on the album? it just kills the mood, not that it matters cos i just skip it every time, "for the heart i once had" is far too pop metal for Nightwish and is more suited for Within Temptation or Evanescence, loving the celtic influences, especially the ballad "the islander", thought i was listening to Korpiklaani when "last of the wilds" came on, very Un-Nightwish but still cool, although they did something similar on "Oceanborn" with "Moondance". i would have prefered "7 days to the wolves" to close the album, rather than a dreary ballad with "meadows of heaven" i think that was Tarja's strength, to be able to capitvate with just her voice on the slower songs, especially on "Once" with "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" (Death Creates An Artist). I'm satisfied with "Dark Passion Play" not ecstatic but it's an enjoyable listen despite a few poor tracks and i love Annete's voice, as Tuomas said in an interview, they said from day 1 they didn't want a Tarja clone so as to not have endless comparisons (although that didn't quite work as people will always compare the two), they would rather have someone who sounds as different as possible, and they did.

I won't be able to tell for at least a years time where this album stands among all of their discography. As of now though, Im in love with it and I think its their best release since Oceanborn. Making it my 2nd favorite Nightwish album.

WALL OF TEXT

if you like this band you are probably gay

fixed lolol

Are you the exception to the rule?

IMO, this is there strongest album ever....Its amazing....So much better then ONCE....Im sick of those first couple albums too so idc if you tell me wishmaster and oceanborn are better cuz i disagree, those albums are so blah....

This and Century Child are my favorite nightwish albums.

oh sorry i forgot people in forums have short attention spans, let me summarise my review in an easier to read format thus discarding the whole point of a topical discussion

"This album is good", how's that?

This album definitely gets better with time and is a very strong effort after all the turmoil. Wouldn't say that this is their best ever, but as far as biggest changes go, nearly everything clicks.

Not missing Tarja for a second, even though I liked her singing. But in all pop-ishness, I feel Anette fits the band really well. Not surprising that as a Swede, her singing has a lot of ABBA-flavour.

And surprisingly, Poet, while quite good, is at least for now one of my least favourite tracks here. If useless comparisons are needed, Ghost Love Score smacks it around silly. Don't really know why it doesnt appeal more, because Im crazy about epic tunes. Master Passion Greed however is amazing and the chorus for Amaranth is absolutely maddening - in a good glue-way. Might be the catchiest song of the year, although Iced's Ten Thousand Strong and the upcoming Helloween-goodness might have a word to say there yet.

But all in all, an excellent album which will probably only get better (even score-wise) with continued listening. The bonus disc with the whole album as instrumental-versions is a very nice add for instrumental nuance freaks like me.

Scorewise right now....id say 88 / 100

[quote="itsjoeymoose"]I might be standing alone with this comment, but I can't understand the raving about track 1 "The Poet and the Pendulum" bad choice for track 1 i thought, but it seems to me more a mishmash of songs stuck together to form 1 super song, rather than a well crafted epic to me. .[/quote]


You're not standing alone at all. I agree with this word for word. I'm still absorbing the album, but have been really focusing on this first track for a while - given it's gotten such accolades, and, given the band has rather unorthodoxedly placed such a long song to lead things off. Hey, must be something to it, right? But, I have officially decided this is an automatic skip from now on. The arrangments are nice and the production is great, don't get me wrong. But there's nothing memorable in Annette's portion of the chorus. And while I appreciate Marco's fierce singing, that's not particularly catchy either. And there are just to many changes going on throughout the track. I could never have the patience to listen to this over and over.

AotY my ass

well argued

For as much as I have hated Nightwish in the past, this album smokes. I am really enjoying it. I think a lot of it has to do with me despising Tarja's vocals, especially on the ballad tracks. Talented, yes... but I just didn't enjoy them. I have similar sentiments towards Dream Theater in general. But that's a whole 'nother thing to discuss elsewhere.

I like Anette's vocals quite a bit... pretty good fit for the direction the band is heading. And the instrumentals from the orchestra are fantastic on many of the tracks, with "The Islander" being my favorite track.

I absolutely agree with you both. The down shift that takes place around the 4.5 minute mark is a bit too lengthy. I understand dramatic effect but the song doesn't get rolling again for another three minutes (around the 7.5 minute mark). Once it did take off again I felt like, this is back to kicking ass. Marco is just incredible as always, the chorus returns, and then the song falls off a cliff at the 10 minute mark. You get 4 minutes of drivel.

Some critics of the last Iron Maiden CD felt that some songs were just lengthy for the sake of being long. I tend to feel the same way about this track.

No homo.

Regarding TPATP: I can kind of understand some people's feelings towards it. I mean it's a great song but when I first listened to it I didn't get that "wow" feeling I got when I first listened to Ghost Love Score. But after a few more listens I really got into it. Maybe it's because NW has made these long epic songs in the past that it's now become hard to really wow us, I don't know. I think it's definitely as good as GLS....not sure if it's better. And I don't mind the last part at all although the transition from Part III to Part IV is kind of abrupt.

Now to the album. I've listened to it quite a few times and it's definitely awesome. I think the standout track for me on this one is The Islander. It's so different than anything NW has done in the past and it's brilliant. Other favourites include TPATP, Bye Bye Beautiful, 7 Days To The Wolves, and Meadows Of Heaven. I have absolutely no problems with Anette, they made a great choice.

My favourite NW album is Century Child but man this one comes really close. Maybe in time it'll surpass it.

93/100

Also, there's a bonus track on some editions of the album called The Escapist which is really good. It kind of has the old NW sound in it (the riff sounds a lot like the one from She Is My Sin). They really should have at least made it a bonus track on every edition. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1agsSZqqWTc

Totally agree about The Islander. They could make that an 80-minute song and I would probably still enjoy it. The bridge, with the faint tribal drums and the bagpipe/violin solos... fuckin' awesome.

I really like this cd. Probably because Tarja isn't there anymore.

Been listening to the instrumental version a lot lately. For some reason it manages to be better than the original in some cases. It sounds like there is so much more stuff going on, and I love it. Amaranth rises to totally new levels, just listen at the choir aaahs the second time the chorus kicks in. Things like that go totally unoticed when Anette is singing. Sahara kicks ass as an instrumental and Whoever Brings the Night suddenly became awesome.

I think the album is fanastic.

Took the plunge and ordered this a little earlier from Amazon. Let's hope the Evil Postmen don't slow it down too much...