Nightwish – Imaginaerum
Finland's metalheads Nightwish are back after a five-year absence with their new album Imaginaerum. The band are also set release a movie of the same name this year.
The sounds heard on Imaginaerum could have easily been pulled from a Tim Burton movie. Opening track Taikatalvi sounds lullaby like and is sung entirely in Finnish. The second song in Storytime is the lead single, and perfectly shows off Anette Olzon's vocal talent, while it is irresistible there's a part of me that still longs to hear Tarja Turunen's vocals.
Slow, Love, Slow sees Nightwish take their music in a different direction, it may not be a hit with Nightwish fans, it is a beautiful jazz influenced tune, and credit should be given to the band for doing something a little different. Scaretale is a creepy little number, completed by children singing eerily, this song could happily live on the soundtrack of a horror movie.
Last Ride Of The Day raises the tempo, is home to some epic guitar playing and sees Olzon singing her heart out, there's no doubt that she has an impressive set of lungs. It's a catchy number, and will appeal to a wide variety of people. Last Ride Of The Day is probably the most commercial sounding song on Imaginaerum but is incredible well produced and performed.
Title track Imaginaerum is a real music journey. Somehow, the band has packed all the different sounds found on the album into a single track without sounding like a car crash - genius.
Imaginaerum highlights Nightwish's musical and vocal talent, here's a band that are not afraid to be different and aren't afraid to try new things, which is refreshing. The creativity of Nightwish ensures that no two tracks on this album sound alike. To many Tarja Turunen is the true voice of Nightwish, but Olzon does a superb job on Imaginaerum, which is undoubtedly one of the band's strongest albums.