[Album Review] Nightwish: Imaginaerum
Somehow I missed the release of Nightwish's latest album Imaginaerum in November, but remembered that it had been forthcoming and picked it up a couple of months ago. As I understand it, the band has made or is working on a movie by the same name meant as a companion piece to the album, or vice-versa. Or something. I have yet to investigate that side of things, but I thought I may as well share my thoughts on the music.
It's a good album. Not great, per se, but good. It's obvious that Annette and the band have had more time to gel since Dark Passion Play, that Tuomas knows her range and register and general vocal strengths and abilities better on this sophomore outing together, that he's writing his songs for her voice. Marco contributes a lot to the vocals, continuing the DPP trend of actually singing some of the time rather than just the raw-throated scream-rock stylings, and it continues to be a wonderful development. He and Annette blend well.
The prologue track 'Taikatalvi' is a lovely little music-box waltz beautifully sung by Marco in Finnish that starts the album off with a sense of sleepy nostalgia and just a touch of foreboding. Quite possibly this is my favorite on the album, despite its short length. It launches into 'Storytime', the expected up-tempo metal track that means to set a tone of magic, fantasy, and brilliant wonder. From there we hit 'Ghost River', which continues the metal in a very classic-Nightwish vein, darker than the track before and somehow more exhilarating; it has proven to be the surprise 'sleeper' track of the album for me. It left a 'meh' impression the first time through, but the more I listen to it the more I hear, and the more I like it.
'Slow, Love, Slow' follows immediately with a marked change of pace and some fascinating things happening in the time-sig--I honestly can't tell if it's a carefully-disguised 6/8-type rhythm or if it's a standard 4/4 with some very misleading triplets going on, or something else altogether. Whatever the case this track is an interesting departure from expected Nightwish style, more bluesy-jazz than metal or classical until it starts building with delicious dark foreboding into the end. Unexpected, but I definitely approve. After that, the celtic flavors from DPP's 'Last of the Wilds' make appearance throughout 'I Want My Tears Back', possibly the most radio-friendly track on the album. These flavors also appear briefly a couple songs later in 'Turn Loose the Mermaids', a sunset ballad that may or may not be a 'sequel' to DPP's 'The Islander'. 'Scaretale' sits in between, and it's maybe the most adventurous track on the album, stylistically. It leans toward the epic (more successfully than the actual 'epic' on this album) and careens into circus-carnival nightmare territory; Annette and Marco employ all sorts of vocal stylings in pursuit of that theme and while it's something that sort of wants a particular mood of the listener to really be appreciated, I definitely give them props for the departure and for not half-assing it.
'Arabesque' follows; it's an instrumental piece that, much the same as DPP's 'Sahara', flirts with middle-eastern musical flavors, but does so less cohesively than its predecessor. It's a decent listen, but it never quite gets where it sounds like it's trying to go. The afore-mentioned 'Turn Loose the Mermaids' comes next, then 'Rest Calm', a weighty metal-ish thing that isn't necessarily bad but...drags in the verses, somehow; it does more to bog the album down than move it along. From that we move into the ear-clearing 'The Crow, the Owl and the Dove' a mostly-soft philosophical-metaphorical piece that tends to leave a listener thinking, if only for a fleeting moment. 'Last Ride of the Day' harks back to classic Nightwish (it even pulls that obligatory 'dead boy' into the lyrics) and, in my opinion, would have made a better ending point to the album than the two tracks that follow it.
I'm a fan of Nightwish's epicness, I do admit. I like the long pieces that wander all over the aural map and mean to leave the listener a little out of breath by the end ('Beauty of the Beast', 'Ghost Love Score', 'The Poet and the Pendulum'). But the epic on this album, 'Song of Myself'--in my opinion, it's over-reaching a bit. It's not working for me--it starts off appropriately promising and the musical half, the first seven minutes or so, more or less delivers; the poem, however, that makes up the last six and a half minutes is...interesting, but it doesn't really bear repeated listening. I find myself skipping it more often than not.
The final track, 'Imaginaerum', is an instrumental recap of several themes that preceded it in the album, like the end-credit score of a movie; given the movie-accompaniment angle of this project, that's probably the point. Taken in that context, it works just fine. But strictly as a musical album, I find myself wishing for another individual song rather than the orchestral rehash. It feels more appropriate for b-side/bonus track/deluxe-album-version inclusion than an actual album track.
Overall, Imaginaerum doesn't thrill me the way 'Once' or 'Oceanborn' or 'Dark Passion Play' might have, but it has its moments and it's a solid addition to the Nightwish catalogue all the same. It meshes well with their prior work. If you're a fan, you should definitely check it out. If you're not a fan, I can't guarantee this will be the album to get you hooked, but I encourage giving it a listen all the same. ^_^
It's a good album. Not great, per se, but good. It's obvious that Annette and the band have had more time to gel since Dark Passion Play, that Tuomas knows her range and register and general vocal strengths and abilities better on this sophomore outing together, that he's writing his songs for her voice. Marco contributes a lot to the vocals, continuing the DPP trend of actually singing some of the time rather than just the raw-throated scream-rock stylings, and it continues to be a wonderful development. He and Annette blend well.
The prologue track 'Taikatalvi' is a lovely little music-box waltz beautifully sung by Marco in Finnish that starts the album off with a sense of sleepy nostalgia and just a touch of foreboding. Quite possibly this is my favorite on the album, despite its short length. It launches into 'Storytime', the expected up-tempo metal track that means to set a tone of magic, fantasy, and brilliant wonder. From there we hit 'Ghost River', which continues the metal in a very classic-Nightwish vein, darker than the track before and somehow more exhilarating; it has proven to be the surprise 'sleeper' track of the album for me. It left a 'meh' impression the first time through, but the more I listen to it the more I hear, and the more I like it.
'Slow, Love, Slow' follows immediately with a marked change of pace and some fascinating things happening in the time-sig--I honestly can't tell if it's a carefully-disguised 6/8-type rhythm or if it's a standard 4/4 with some very misleading triplets going on, or something else altogether. Whatever the case this track is an interesting departure from expected Nightwish style, more bluesy-jazz than metal or classical until it starts building with delicious dark foreboding into the end. Unexpected, but I definitely approve. After that, the celtic flavors from DPP's 'Last of the Wilds' make appearance throughout 'I Want My Tears Back', possibly the most radio-friendly track on the album. These flavors also appear briefly a couple songs later in 'Turn Loose the Mermaids', a sunset ballad that may or may not be a 'sequel' to DPP's 'The Islander'. 'Scaretale' sits in between, and it's maybe the most adventurous track on the album, stylistically. It leans toward the epic (more successfully than the actual 'epic' on this album) and careens into circus-carnival nightmare territory; Annette and Marco employ all sorts of vocal stylings in pursuit of that theme and while it's something that sort of wants a particular mood of the listener to really be appreciated, I definitely give them props for the departure and for not half-assing it.
'Arabesque' follows; it's an instrumental piece that, much the same as DPP's 'Sahara', flirts with middle-eastern musical flavors, but does so less cohesively than its predecessor. It's a decent listen, but it never quite gets where it sounds like it's trying to go. The afore-mentioned 'Turn Loose the Mermaids' comes next, then 'Rest Calm', a weighty metal-ish thing that isn't necessarily bad but...drags in the verses, somehow; it does more to bog the album down than move it along. From that we move into the ear-clearing 'The Crow, the Owl and the Dove' a mostly-soft philosophical-metaphorical piece that tends to leave a listener thinking, if only for a fleeting moment. 'Last Ride of the Day' harks back to classic Nightwish (it even pulls that obligatory 'dead boy' into the lyrics) and, in my opinion, would have made a better ending point to the album than the two tracks that follow it.
I'm a fan of Nightwish's epicness, I do admit. I like the long pieces that wander all over the aural map and mean to leave the listener a little out of breath by the end ('Beauty of the Beast', 'Ghost Love Score', 'The Poet and the Pendulum'). But the epic on this album, 'Song of Myself'--in my opinion, it's over-reaching a bit. It's not working for me--it starts off appropriately promising and the musical half, the first seven minutes or so, more or less delivers; the poem, however, that makes up the last six and a half minutes is...interesting, but it doesn't really bear repeated listening. I find myself skipping it more often than not.
The final track, 'Imaginaerum', is an instrumental recap of several themes that preceded it in the album, like the end-credit score of a movie; given the movie-accompaniment angle of this project, that's probably the point. Taken in that context, it works just fine. But strictly as a musical album, I find myself wishing for another individual song rather than the orchestral rehash. It feels more appropriate for b-side/bonus track/deluxe-album-version inclusion than an actual album track.
Overall, Imaginaerum doesn't thrill me the way 'Once' or 'Oceanborn' or 'Dark Passion Play' might have, but it has its moments and it's a solid addition to the Nightwish catalogue all the same. It meshes well with their prior work. If you're a fan, you should definitely check it out. If you're not a fan, I can't guarantee this will be the album to get you hooked, but I encourage giving it a listen all the same. ^_^