Disco de Nightwish: “Dark Passion Play: Collector's Edition [Limited]”

So here we are at the first post-Tarja Nightwish album. My take on the Tarja vs. Annette debate is simply that Annette works. She's not as good a vocalist as Tarja...or even the likes of Sharon Den Adel or Floor Jansen for that matter, BUT she is good and doesn't sound at all out of place with this band. Also, Marcos sounds so much better on this album because his voice doesn't sound so drastically different to Annette's.

The best thing about this album is just how good it is musically. Since the Toumas and the rest of the band were now free from being labeled "Tarja's back-up band" the guys go all out with fantastic results. The work Toumas and crew prove to anyone who didn't already know he's the brainchild of this band.

Here's my track-by-track breakdown:

1.) The Poet And the Pendulum - Awesome. Utterly blew my mind. 5/5

2.) Bye Bye Beautiful - Bye bye Tarja, a hard hitting catchy song with Annette trading vocals with Marcos. The only fault the song has is that the lyrics are more somber and sad while the song sounds a lot more pissed off than it should, which is misleading. But it's irrelevant in the end because its such a damn good song 5/5

3.) Amaranth - OMG theez guyz wnt n totlee sold out!!!!111 DIz iz pop muzic! Shut up, you know you've had this song stuck in your head ever since you heard it and you love it. If you don't that's why there is a skip button on your CD player. And I thought "Nemo" was an addictive song! 5/5

4.) Cadence Of Her Last Breath - Musically this track is awesome but I just find the chorus kind of dull in comparison. I love the guitar solo though. - 4/5

5.) Master Passion Greed - Surgeon General's Warning: This song may cause involuntary moshing and headbanging which may result in neck injury or destruction of property. Eat it Marcelo Cabuli! 5/5

6.) Eva - It would be impossible for me to hate this song, it's just so damned beautiful and catchy. Nice work Annette. 5/5

7.) Sahara - One of the lesser tracks on the album. Catchy yes...but it just goes at this snail's pace and never really changes tempo or does anything interesting for that matter. 3/5

8.) Whoever Brings the Night - One of the few tracks I could hear Tarja singing. Damn good musically but the lyrics make me scratch my head. "You one-night butterfly"...? Something tells me some of the lyrics got lost in translation from Finnish to English. 4/5

9.) For the Heart I Once Had - The only thing that sticks out for me on this track is the poppy lighthearted melody in which Annette sings the verses. I dig that because it's unconventional. Other than that the song really doesn't gel for me. 2/5

10.) The Islander - The best Celtic sea shanty that Alice in Chains never did. One of the surprises of the album, the song that starts and makes you go "WTF is this?" and by the end of it you're singing along with it like nothing ever happened. A ballsy attempt at a folk song that pays off big time. 5/5

11.) Last Of the Wilds - Oh hell yes! I have been waiting for Nightwish to do an instrumental track since "Moondance" became one of my favorite tracks from this band. Easily one of the best and most unique tracks on the album - 5/5

12.) 7 Days To the Wolves - One of those songs that just doesn't work. Musically it sounds like an earlier Within Temptation song, and the chorus doesn't really work with the rest of the song. It's just a strange juxtaposition that never really takes off...even when the band tries to pick up the pace at the end of the song. 2/5

13.) Meadows of Heaven - Ugh....I really really wish they had omitted this track. This is how you do a ballad all wrong. First off, it's boring. Second, the chorus is just Annette saying "Meadows of heaven" over and over. If that wasn't bad enough they end the song with individuals in the chorus pulling that annoying Christina Aguilera style singing where you just vocalize all over the map and sound like a warbling cat. It's one of my biggest pet peeves in all music. Bad way to end this album 1/5

14.) Reach (Amaranth Demo Version) - Not a great track but it is an interesting view into the process in which they developed the songs on this album. Has a completely different chorus and feel to the song since Marcos is singing. And it is neat to hear this band sound raw and unpolished - 3/5

To sum up the album overall it has some duds but the majority of it is really impressive. I look forward to seeing how they advance with Annette, and hope they have as much luck with experimentation as they do on this album.

Dark Passion Play (Instrumental Version); 5 / 5. It's a major surprise to me and a great testament to the band how good this is. I'm also surprised at how much of a different dynamic tracks like Amaranth and Bye Bye Beautiful are without vocals. Even the track I hate "Meadows of Heaven" is a lot more beautiful without the boring vocals. Definitely made this Special Edition worth the money I paid for it.

In my review of 2005's "Once", I focused on two musical strengths that Nightwish had developed; the album's variety of sound, ranging from celtic-inspired melodies to raw metal tracks; and the over-the-top symphonic bombast that made each song sound like a Tolkien battle scene. Songs like "Ghost Love Score" made any other symphonic metal creation sound dated and halfhearted.

But now we have that album's successor, "Dark Passion Play", which, like Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia"/"Deadwing" duo, attempts to both copy and one-up itself. It's almost as if the band structurally analyzed "Once" and then injected it with performance improvement meds. Though not without its flaws, the album has proven itself with the 7 - 10 spins I have given it.

Many fans will criticize the band's decision to adopt a more mainstream voice to their line-up. To such comments, I will say: though I was always a fan of Tarja's operatic pipes, I like the change for two reasons:

1.) Tarja's booming voice was very limiting. Though a good match for the epic metal the band was concocting, it would not have fit with more accessible, standard hard rock tracks.

2.) Her voice was already becoming less and less operatic album after album. The voice we heard in "Wishmaster" wasn't the same one coming across in "Nemo".

For these reasons (and of course, the ongoing personal drama that often spills into the music) I fully endorse Anette Olzon. She has the range, the power and the intensity to sing songs both old and new. For validation, look no further than the album's opener, the near 14-minute behemoth "The Poet and the Pendulum". I'm not a fan of epic tracks starting albums (see: Riverside's "Out of Myself", Draconian's "Where Lovers Mourn"), but after the first two minutes of this song's spiraling tempest of horns, strings and choirs, all is forgiven. Once again (pun intended), Emppu Vuorinen's guitars play second (more like fifty-second) fiddle to the orchestra, serving almost only as a metronome to the symphonic ensemble.

As a song, "Poet" puts previous symphonic epics ("Creek Mary's Blood", "Ghost Love Score") to shame. With spoken word passages and a story all of its own, it provides an intense dramatism that succesfully guides the song along its multi-part path. I would honestly recommend this album for purchase for this track alone. It's my favorite track of the album and will reign in the annals of epic metal songs for years to come.

The album overall follows the same format as "Once" or Kamelot's "The Black Halo" in that the first third of the album is spectacular, the second third is forgettable and the final third making up for the lackluster middle. We have many melodic heavy-hitters up front ("Amaranth", the electro-heavy "Bye Bye Beautiful" and "Cadence of Her Last Breath"). Afterwards, we have a hard-rock song that could easily have gone the way of the recycle bin ("Master Passion Greed"), a painfully slow ballad ("Eva") and two songs that I always skip ("Sahara", "Whoever Brings the Night"). Then the final third of the album rewards listeners for enduring the previous four cuts. "The Islander" is a beautiful acoustic number with various singers, centering around a primarily celtic melody. "Last of the Wilds" is an instrumental piece that is very reminiscent of Amorphis' "Relief" - folk, instrumental, fast, melodic. Finally, "7 Days to the Wolves" and "Meadows of Heaven" kick the orchestra into overkill, sending horns, flutes and strings into every single beat, accompanying Marco Hietala and Olzon in a competition for attention.

"Dark Passion Play" is, at its simplest, an inflation of "Once". They make better what worked in the previous album, and for some reason, make worse what didn't. Despite these imperfections, Holopainen and company have crafted an intense album that will ultimately survive the public scrutiny that surrounded its production. I give it two thumbs up ... as long as I can fast-forward to the end.

See also: Nightwish - "Once", Therion - "Sirius B"

OK, if anyone complains about this music and also claims to be real Nightwish fan, then somethings wrong. Its always been about the whole music, not just their former vocalists singing. Anette Olzon can certainly sing, she may be even MORE musical and accurate than her somewhat bombastic predecessor, I find her terrific with this group of awesome musicians.

What struck me about Dark Passion Play, is that is was an even greater leap forward than Once, in a musical adventure sort of way. The orchestral portions just tickle me, and the HUGE sound is so nice to hear. Tuomas seems to be on his game in a big was as the main songwriter.

Annette certainly screeches far less than others in this genre, and I find her accuracy to be refreshing and very listenable to. I always noticed that people I introduced Nightwish to (as well as After Forever) always commented on how harsh and screechy some of the vocals always were, while at the same time they always loved the ambition and range of the music composition, playing and arrangement.

Interestingly enough, I've been straying more toward Sabine's sound in Edenbridge, as she is SO musical, without being harsh, as well as amazingly accurate and sweet in her vocal delivery.

This newest Nightwish effort gets them into that zone for me at least. The same huge ambition in the writing and playing, and now a certain delicateness to the singing. Bravo for a terrific album, return, and effort!!!

First, Tarja vs. Anette. I honestly don't think they're comparable; they're totally different vocalists. Tuomas has been guiding the vocals of Nightwish away from their operatic roots since "Century Child". There are songs on this album that Tarja's voice simply would not fit. Nightwish purposely sought out a non-operatic vocalist because operatic vocals were just not fitting the style of music Tuomas wanted to write. Anette fits this bill to a T. Her voice is strong and doesn't get lost in the bombastic strength of the music; she can sing delicately ("The Heart I Once Had", "Meadows of Heaven") as well as she can spit out gritty lines ("Sahara"). Anette also has better pronunciation of the English language, if that matters to people at all.

No matter WHO sings the songs, the music is unmistakeably Nightwish. If you fell in love with Nightwish soley because of Tarja's vocals, then you're probably more of a Tarja fan, so stop criticizing Nightwish. If you fell in love with the music itself, the new vocalist shouldn't throw you at all just as adding Marco's male vocals didn't throw most fans.

As for the album itself... When looked at in the context of the entire Nightwish discography, I think the evolution to this album makes sense. It follows the more 'mainstream' appeal of their previous album, "Once" with a few catchy songs ("Amaranth", "Cadence of Her Last Breath"), but nothing too far-fetched, especially if you don't forget previous 'catchy' Nightwish tunes "Bless the Child" and "Nemo".

Some songs continue to be as dark and biting as the darker songs off "Once". These include "Bye Bye Beautiful" and "Master Passion Greed". Others are more experimental, expressing Nightwish's newfound freedom of expression with Marco's acoustic sea-ballad "The Islander", the celtic instrumental "Last Of The Wilds", and the gospel-inspired "Meadows of Heaven".

Overall, the music is superb. The full orchestra is larger than the one on "Once" - it's huge and dynamic, making this Collectors Edition totally worth it just for the instrumental disc, which is basically the songs without vocals. Generally I'm not too excited about 'kareoke' versions of songs as to me they tend to sound thin without the lyrics. But these stand up wonderfully on their own. One or two of the tracks I actually prefer without the lyrics.

I can see how people think Nightwish is "selling out" and sounding more "mainstream" - while I think the music is a bit more accessible, it still sounds like nothing out there today. It's well written and stands well on its own. There are a few weak spots for me: "Whoever Brings the Night" is nothing special and "7 Days to the Wolves" is a bit anti-climactic, but there are some songs that have instantly become some of my very favorite Nightwish tracks: "Cadence of Her Last Breath", "Last of the Wilds", "The Islander", and "Bye bye Beautiful" - and my very favorite, "Sahara", which is thematically the sequel to Nightwish's first album's "Tutankhamen".

This Collectors Edition/Special Edition includes the demo version of "Amaranth" called "Reach": the chorus is different and Marco sings it. The jewel case comes in a card sleeve that has the alternate artwork on it; the booklet itself has the regular album cover art on it.

Well Nightwish is back and better than ever.

First...I'll admit that I was quite upset that Tarja was kicked out of the band and that I didn't think that the band could ever find anybody to replace her and I was right. Tarja was unique. Anette doesn't have Tarja's voice but that's not a bad thing. She's a completely different singer than Tarja and that's just fine cause she does an outstanding job in her own right.

"Once" was such a great and over the top album that I felt that the band could never top it but "Dark Passion Play" does top it. I read a review of this CD somewhere where it said how the departure of Tarja has "released the band from their shell" and I agree. The songs are still Nightwish but you can tell how this album has just been another step up for the band. The Orchestral and choir recordings on the album are just outstanding!!

The one thing I did notice on this album that isn't like the previous Nightwish albums is how much singing that Marco got to do on this album. He sings on almost every song on the album and even gets to sing "lead" on a few songs. His vocals are the best he's ever recorded. The combination of Marco and Anette on vocals is what really makes this album so great and an aspect that was missing from the Tarja albums.

If you are a Nightwish fan don't worry you will truely enjoy this album. It's "Once" taken to a higher level.