Before I started to write this review, I thought It’d be a good idea to listen through Nightwish’s whole discography back to back. It was so long since I’ve heard those records I had forgotten if I liked them or not. The answer is, I really don’t like them that much even though every release was better than the last though none of them better than 6/10. I also re-discovered that I found Tarja Turunen’s somewhat annoying. With that, I can state that the Nightwish I really do enjoy is the one where Anette Olzon stepped in as Tarja’s replacement back in 2007. I know that many old fans find Anette’s voice too mainstream and AOR for Nightwish’s bombastic, cinematic and dramatic music but it’s exactly that contrast that I find so appealing. And I don’t find her voice the least mainstream, I think she has a special voice, recognizable within the second. To this day, my favorite Nightwish album is Imaginaerum (2011).
However, it didn’t feel like a huge shock when Anette quit/was let go in 2012. Looking at live clips, Anette never looked comfortable fronting that band and she didn’t let herself go on stage. Her replacement, Floor Jansen of After Forever fame, on the other hand felt natural and a perfect fit since day one. She also happen to be on heck of a singer with a distinct voice and a broad register. Her debut album with the band, Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) was a tough nut to crack, though and took a while to get into but when it stuck, it turned out to be a real monster of an album. Fast forward five years and it’s time for the follow-up – a double-album – and this time, Floor has been in the band for seven years – not the new vocalist anymore. And it comes with some expectations rising in the backwater.
Opener and official lyric-video “Music” begins with a long atmospheric intro which heavies up after a while and holds a bombastic outlook, full of orchestration and Celtic undertones. At this point the song throws an influence that brings my mind to a movie-score. When Jensen’s vocals comes in, the tune slows down and takes a more laid-back approach which feels like I’m listening to a musical-theater tune. The tune speeds up and gets a bit heavier when the big chorus comes in. The melodies brings on lots of catchy pop-vibes but still symphonic under a lot of orchestration. It’s an epic track but also quite easy to get hooked on and it stuck with me right from go. Very good.
The uptempo, punchy and straight-forward “Noise” was chosen as the album’s leading single – an understandable choice. With some heavy, Metal riffing and an in-your-face latter-day Nightwish sounding swing, it holds a very direct verse-melody, a somewhat cinematic ambience and a massive, hook-laden refrain that screams hit with pop-catchy melodies everywhere. For dynamics sake, we also get a dark, metalized and riff-happy passage to contrast the poppier touches. This is awesome. Also released as a lyric video – all the songs on this album have been given a lyric-video – “Shoemaker” is a mid-paced, stompy and bouncy rocker on a fat-grounded rhythm. It’s also quite dramatic and cinematic with folky, medieval arranged melodies that brings Blackmore’s Night to mind. The song alters between upbeat and faster tempos and more laid-back, slow and atmospheric ones. As the song reaches the end, a slow, down-to-earth passage with a spoken-word on top comes in only to finish with a masterful operatic section. It’s not a catchy tune but it’s very good when it’s given the time to grow.
“Harvest” starts out with a slightly tribal drum-rhythm after some organic and earthy acoustic guitars comes in for the verse on which the band’s pipe-master Troy Donockley sings lead, slow and soft with an Irish folk melody-structure. The Irish influences is something that lies to close to Nightwish’s heart, they have done it successfully many times before and they do so here as well – the Irish twist follows throughout the song. Without being overly hit-catchy, the tune’s chorus is enormous and hits without mercy. The tune both gets more upbeat and faster but it never goes Metal. It’s really a pop-song in disguise but that matters little as it’s a brilliant track.
The pop-vibes remains for the mid-paced, quite laid-back yet orchestral “Pan”. This mostly describe its verses as it heavies up towards the refrain and it also sends some really heavy, riff-happy passages our way. It’s pretty straight-forward but with symphonic arrangements and it holds a cinematic touch in a dark and at times even eerie way. It’s quite a dramatic tune that alters between a musical-like direction and Heavy Metal with blast-beat-like drumming and aggression. It takes a while to get into but I dig it. On a more slick and smooth note, “How’s The Heart” takes us down the road of AOR although it holds an orchestrated arrangement that takes us into a folky, Celtic laden musical of sorts within its main melody. Also a single, it’s a straight ahead pop-rocker with an almost ridiculously catchy chorus. It’s also a song that would have fitted Anette Olzon like a glove. This is fantastic!
“Procession” is the closest we get to a ballad here. It starts out laid-back and slow, stripped down even, almost a lullaby and Floor Jensen’s sombre vocals lies like silk blanket all over the music and transfers a very emotional expression. Damn she’s good. With sullen and slightly gothic melodies, the song gets more bombastic halfway through, still holding on to the melancholy and even though its not catchy as such, the song is still very memorable. Very good. “Tribal” is heavy, dark and even sinister with a symphonic touch where the orchestration even sends a wink towards latter day Dimmu Borgir. It’s heavy, punchy and aggressive with some raw guitar-riffing and a headbang-friendly rhythm. It comes with a truck-load of hooks but it’s not written for hit purposes – a full-on album track that lifts the band’s Metal background upfront. Thumbs up!
“Endlessness” is slower in pace, heavy and blackened and rests on a punchy, solid rhythm. Towards the entering of the chorus, the song gets bigger and more bombastic with a dramatic arrangement and overblown and striking vocals. It’s atmospheric yet doomy and raunchy but with some Stadium Rock filled melodies. Floor shares the lead vocals with bassist Marco Hietela which changes the dynamics – to the better, that is. It’s a damn good track that closes CD one.
CD two on the other hand is a completely different beast. The whole CD is pretty much one song called “All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World” divided into eight connecting parts that runs into the other without any silence in between songs. It’s a classical music inspired number, well orchestrated, kind of like a movie score without any Hard Rock elements at all. Without going into each part of the song, it covers lots of areas – symphonic, orchestrated, folky, sometime sullen and melancholic, sometimes big, bombastic, powerful and overblown. Some spoken word sections also shows up and at the end, where “Ad Astra” comes in, the song actually starts move with a slightly up-paced rhythm.
I admit that this album was a bit tough to get into the first time I heard it but on the other hand, Nightwish’s music has never been that direct, numerous spins of their albums is always recommended for best result. But in time, this album has grown lots and lots on me. Musically, it feels like the natural continuation of the last record where the band mixes symphonic and even progressive progressions with more melodic, AOR-laden melodies and both works really well. As for Floor, she fits the band perfectly – in my book the best fit both visually and vocally the band has ever had. The only downside to the album is disc 2. To me, this CD feels more like something the band enjoyed to do for themselves – and I support that. But to me, this CD feels a bit pretentious and is something I could have been without, to be honest. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t work for me and I doubt I will be listening to it that much in the future. Other than that, a great record that will probably grow even more on me in the future to come.
CD 1: 8/10
CD 2: 4/10
More Nightwish reviews:
Imaginaerum
Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Tracklist:
Disc I:
1. Music
2. Noise
3. Shoemaker
4. Harvest
5. Pan
6. How’s The Heart?
7. Procession
8. Tribal
9. Endlessness
Disc II:
1. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World – Vista
2. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World – The Blue
3. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World – The Green
4. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World – Moors
5. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World – Aurorae
6. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World – Quiet As The Snow
7. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World – Anthropocene (incl. “Hurrian Hymn To Nikkal”)
8. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World – Ad Astra
CD & Festival reviews 