Rating: RRRRr
Label: Nuclear Blast
Review By: Alan Holloway
My relationship with Nightwish is not the most fanboyish, as
I never thought much of them when they had operatic diva Tarja on vocals. I
actually found the wailing version of ‘Over the Hills & Far Away’ quite
hilarious, and although I appreciated that the music was clever and passionate
I just couldn’t get over the vocal style. When they ditched the diva and got in
Anette Olzon I was intrigued at first, then overjoyed with the superb ‘Dark Passion
Play’. Like many I didn’t go mental over ‘Imaginarium’, but still enjoyed it
for what it was.
With Olzon gone, it was a relief that Nightwish picked up
the amazing Floor Jansen, a woman certainly capable of delivering all the power
and passion required to tackle old and new tunes. Having proved herself live,
few could doubt she would hold her own on the new album, and she certainly has.
Opening track ‘Shudder Before The Beautiful’ blasts out of the speakers with
speed and gusto, a song that sounds as Nightwish as it possibly could. Floor
sounds excellent, although very slightly low in the mix for my taste, and the
track barrels along with aggression and melody – should be a great live opener.
The track is obviously designed to convey the message that Nightwish are back,
and it does so most effectively.
‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’ is a masterful work, based
around the concept of evolution. It features several spoken word pieces by
Richard Dawkins, and hopefully will annoy creationists everywhere. The song mix
is typical of Nightwish, with fast tracks balanced by slow, haunting melodies.
Standout tracks for me are the faster pieces like ‘Weak Fantasy’, ‘Yours is An
Empty Hope’ the opening track and the title track, as well as the lead single ‘Elan’,
which really grew on me the more I listened to it (and the louder I turned it
up). ‘our Decades In the Sun’ is a beautiful power ballad, ‘My Walden’ has an
uplifting, mid paced Celtic lift to it, whilst ‘Edema Ruh’ and ‘Alpenglow’
round off the bulk of the album in marvellous melodic style.
So that’s about 47 minutes, enough for any album, really,
but Nightwish aren’t your usual band. The last half an hour of the album
consists of just two tracks, the rather dull ‘The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula’ and the
24 minute epic closer ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’. The former is 6 minutes of
the dullest background music I’ve ever heard, is responsible for the docked
half mark, and will definitely be deleted from my iPod. The latter is, well,
rather epic. The running time is roughly split in half between the lengthy, and
atmospheric, opening and closing pieces, which sandwich a monster of a mid
section that will delight fans of the ‘Dark Passion Play’ title track. It’s not
perfect, as the outro is far too long, really, but taken as a whole it’s a
great piece of music.
Anyone who had doubts after ‘Imaginarium’ and the departure
of Olzon can rest easy with ‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’. It’s a wonderful
example of what orchestral power metal can do when it’s in the hands of the
right people. Full of life and some very catchy music, it should put Nightwish
back at the top where they belong.
