Disco de Nightwish: “Siren”

...in my modern Gothic novel, One Star Awake. The Katacoombs being a Gothic/Dark Culture nightclub, in which the likes of Bauhaus, Switchblade Symphony, Nightwish and The Mission UK tend to be played, in a dry ice-drenched wasteland in New England.

In the real world, I must throw myself at reviewer Erica Anderson's feet for recommending this superb band. The combination of Erica's rightful praise of Nightwish (I also ordered their latest DVD) and the title The Siren made me take a chance on this CD single/mini album, as my own book is heavily laced with mermaid/siren imagery.

From the outset, when the band come at you with a chunky wall of cello and electric violin, this CD delivers value off the scale. Tarja's operatic vocals (especially evident on the closing track,) soar majestically over a solid Gothic Rock foundation, and it is a pleasure to have three versions of this superb song, along with an excellent live version of Megadeth's Symphony of Destruction. Dave would be pleased, I'm sure.

While there is a very Germanic feel to the band and even in their looks, they hail from Finland, where they are understandably huge. My copy came through (from Holland, I think) in less than a week, so it's a safe bet to order this and other CDs by the band.

If there's a more beautiful woman in this world than Tarja, I have yet to see her. Having a classically-trained goddess like her fronting a band as powerful as this one, especially given the band's writing prowess, is just about as good as it gets.

Superb.

The Siren is the fifth single from Nightwish's album Once. The title song, "The Siren," is an interesting departure for Nightwish. The song is more atmospheric, a little bit longer in length, the heavy use of strings, the use of more exotic instruments such as a sitar, and -the centerpiece of the song -the unique vocal work by singer Tarja Turunen that sounds like the faint, tempting song of sirens calling to Odysseus. Though the song is still performed with new frontwoman Anette Olzon, the song has taken on a very different sound, as Anette handles the non-lyrical vocal sections differently.

Like many other songs on Once, "The Siren" is filled with references to Greek mythology -great lyrics. Three different versions of the song are offered here -full album version, a rather jarring and somewhat choppy edit version (well, when you're used to the full version it seems that way) and a live recording of the song with Tarja.

There's also live recordings of "Symphony of Destruction," a Megadeth cover preformed by the band while Tarja took a break that features the vocals of bassist Marco Hietala, and "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" or "Death Makes An Artist," the second of the band's songs in Finnish.

Sadly, there really isn't much that's new about this single. I'd suggest it for fans who need to have every piece of Nightwish music out there, but it's not worth the price for more casual fans -just go with the Once album.