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Nightwish took a long break after
“Century Child” and it certainly paid off. This album is one of
the better, if not the best, from their discography. It’s even
almost impossible to compare “Once” with one of their previous
albums, as they added a lot of new elements to their music, and all
this without loosing their Nightwish sound.
One of the most important new elements is the addition of a
symphonic orchestra. And it’s not just any symphonic orchestra, but
the London Session Orchestra, that also played the soundtrack of
“The Return Of The King” from “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy. The
music of the symphonic orchestra is integrated perfectly into the
tracks of Nightwish. You can almost consider them as members of the
band, instead of being an orchestra that plays behind the band, as
it often happens.
The voice of Marco Hietala, who is playing his second album with
Nightwish, more and more proves to be an asset for the band. He has
a very beautiful voice which is used at the right moments as a
counter-weight to the fragile voice of Tarja. “Wish I Had An Angel”
is a great example of the perfect cooperation between this opposite
poles.
The guitars sound heavier than before but this is wonderfully
compensated by the crystal-clear voice of Tarja and even the
symphonic orchestra takes away some of the force of the guitars.
These three elements are completely complementary to one another and
they even act as a catalyst upon each other.
The
CD opens fabulously with “Dark Chest Of Wonders”. Immediately all
the energy of the heavy guitars, the symphonic sound of the
orchestra and the softness of Tarja’s voice come right at you. It’s
unbelievable how many things are concentrated into the 4 and a half
minutes. This surely will become an amazing gig opener.
“Wish I Had An Angel” contains an unbelievable drive that will
surely get you from your seat. This pumping rhythm fits the lyrics
perfectly. And no, I don’t really want to know what he would do with
that “Angel”. ;-)
The pure piano sound at the beginning of “Nemo” quickly drowns in
the bombastic music, after which it is immediately softened again by
Tarja’s singing. Most of the fans already know this track, as it was
already released as a single. The perfect choice for a single,
because of the very catchy chorus.
A
staccato choir opens a classical start of “Planet Hell”, a fast,
heavy song with, once more, a beautiful interaction between Tarja
and Marco.
“Creek Mary’s Blood” is the first of 2 epic tracks, that brings more
than 8 minutes of ecstasy, with beautiful vocals by Tarja, with the
symphonic orchestra, with a flute solo, a guitar solo and a real
Indian, John Two-Hawks who plays the flute, does the Indians chant
en tells an Indian story in his maternal language. (www.johntwohawks.com
)
“Sirens” contains all of the earlier mentioned elements. The song is
about the sirens who lead the ships to their destruction with their
voices. Impressive how Marco sings the chorus, while Tarja flutters
around it with her siren’s voice. And Tarja surely could lead a few
ships to their end!!!! ;-)
“Dead Gardens” and “Romanticide” are a bit superfluous. Just heavy
tracks. Beautiful songs if you like some heavier stuff, but they
can’t compete with the quality of the rest of the album.
“Ghost Love Score” is the second epic song. As you can already guess
from the title, this track could be used as a soundtrack for a
movie. Once again all of the ingredients of the earlier epic are
present, which makes it difficult to pick a favourite on this album.
The
CD ends with two ballads. The first is an emotional, Finnish ballad,
something they didn’t do since their first album while the second
ballad starts acoustically but soon evolves into a more bombastic
sound.
An album of
this high standard has only one major problem. How will they ever
make a better album in the future? It seems like an impossible task;
I think they will certainly need to use the symphonic orchestra
again. Maybe they can go for a concept album?
I wonder how this will sound on stage, especially if they tour
without the orchestra. Let’s hope that it’s financially possible to
bring them along. |
