Well, here it is ladies and gentlemen one of the most anticipated metal albums of the year… and um… it’s not all metal. See, Nightwish have gone down what they call the ‘concept album’ route, although you or I may actually call it recording a soundtrack for the film Imaginaerum that band member, Tuomas Holopainen wrote the story for.
As any good soundtrack does Imaginaerum tackles a lot of different genres, which I must give credit to Nightwish for as they pull it off sensationally well, but unfortunately I can also see this alienating a lot of the fans they have managed to make over the years.
Imaginaerum opens with something foreign for most Nightwish fans, an actual intro song titled ‘Taikatalvi’ (which is in Finnish… something else that is rare amongst Nightwish’s back catalogue. The track itself sounds like a musical box but then comes the first single from the album, ‘Storytime’ which kicks in with some brute force.
‘Ghost River’ sees Marco Hietala join Anette Olzon with the vocals and the track works sensationally well, but then comes ‘Slow, Love, Slow’ which is Nightwish doing 1930s club style jazz (yes I can hear some fans hitting the ‘skip’ button already). ‘I Want My Tears Back’ finds Nightwish heading into a 1980s metal sound (which a little Van Halen infused in there as well)… and to be honest it sounds great.
Olzon produces some manic vocals on ‘Scaretale’ a track that sounds like the soundtrack to somebody dipping into insanity… although it would have been a perfect track for Tim Burton to have used in Alice In Wonderland.
It’s here that Imaginaerum does yet another U-Turn. ‘Arabesque’ is symphonic instrumental while ‘Turn Loose The Mermaids’ sees Nightwish mix a real folk sound with some heavier rock (its not quite metal) and then the metal returns with ‘Rest Calm’ which is Nightwish at its old sound.
‘The Crow, The Owl, The Dove’ is a dip down into some folk rock (with some drum beats adding real atmosphere) while ‘Last Ride Of The Day’ will again appease the metal fans. ‘Song Of Myself’ keeps the metal going and the album closes with its title track, a piece of orchestral film score.
Taken as an album on its own Imaginaerum is a masterpiece… I’m just not sure that metal fans will feel the same way.
Rating: 