Dark Passion Play

[AngelsFallFirst]

Tbh I've been viewing them as completely different bands. It's not until Anette starts doing old nightwish I compare. I feel like comparing ruins new nightwish because although they may not be as good as/they may be better than old Nightwish they're very different and both much better than the average band which alot of people tend to forget when comparing, they seem to just rate one as a God and the other as shit. I see where people are coming from when they say she's slightly "poppy" but their biggest song (here anyway) was Amaranth which is the poppiest on the album so immediately turned people off, plus people just like to complain many people got picky with old Nightwish songs with Tarja like Wish I had an Angel because it was "poppy".

 

[VeraRenczi]

Tbh I've been viewing them as completely different bands. It's not until Anette starts doing old nightwish I compare. I feel like comparing ruins new nightwish because although they may not be as good as/they may be better than old Nightwish they're very different and both much better than the average band which alot of people tend to forget when comparing, they seem to just rate one as a God and the other as shit.

Yeah, the new nightwish does kick any mainstream pop song's ass.

 

[Tramz]

I have often suggested that perhaps Dark Passion Play was Anette's Angels Fall First. There certainly was a period of adjustment for Tarja on AFF. It was not exactly easy for her. While i don't think there is a direct comparison in difficulty here, there *is* a direct comparison in terms of requiring a period of adjustment for everyone to really get comfortable with each other on a creative level before they can properly know what to expect from each other.

In this "new"/current/whatever you choose to call it era, the next Nightwish album could very well be Anette's Oceanborn. It's one to think on.

 

[Iced Dog]

I I love last of the wilds more and more everytime I hear it though. It's kinda folky (although nobody agrees with me on that haha).

I don't see how anyone could DISagree with you on that!

 

[Taotrac]

Although I completely hate the idea of singers quiting bands late in their career, I think Nightwish made a choice they should have made after their very first album. I never liked Nightwish before, but then I heard their new album with the new singer. I think her voice fits amazingly great with songs like Amarath, Eva, and Meadows Of Heaven, and she's a great backup singer on The Islander. Sad thing is, these are the only songs I liked on Dark Passion Play, and the rest sounded boring to me, and i don't like the bassist's voice at all exept on The Islander and Meadows Of Heaven (which he did a amazing job on both). I think he ruins the rest songs!!! I don't think he has a good metal voice. He has more of a good medolic celtic/soulful singing voice. While only the singles + meadows of heaven were good to me, i hope their next album makes EVERY song that same way as those songs sound like a new band and a great way to move foward with the new singer!

 

[AngelsFallFirst]

Although I completely hate the idea of singers quiting bands late in their career, I think Nightwish made a choice they should have made after their very first album. I never liked Nightwish before, but then I heard their new album with the new singer. I think her voice fits amazingly great with songs like Amarath, Eva, and Meadows Of Heaven, and she's a great backup singer on The Islander. Sad thing is, these are the only songs I liked on Dark Passion Play, and the rest sounded boring to me, and i don't like the bassist's voice at all exept on The Islander and Meadows Of Heaven (which he did a amazing job on both). I think he ruins the rest songs!!! I don't think he has a good metal voice. He has more of a good medolic celtic/soulful singing voice. While only the singles + meadows of heaven were good to me, i hope their next album makes EVERY song that same way as those songs sound like a new band and a great way to move foward with the new singer!

Seriously? I think he's got a brilliant metal voice. There's a kind of voice which is only really found in power metal and I think he's got it.

 

[spideyjg]

I think Marco has an outstanding voice for the band. Listen to him and Annette gel on The Poet and the Pendulum during their duet sections.

Not a "metal voice" I beg to differ. Sure he doesn't do that cookie monster stuff but then again the metal founders and pioneers didn't do that either.

Marco has a great bass sound for the band also IMHO.

I agree that the next NW offering will be very interesting now that Annette is fully integrated.

Wonder if she will go to Camp Nightwish when Tuomas unveils the potential new songs to the band.

Jim

 

[C.]

Marco doesn't sing on "Meadows", does he?

Those male voices on that song are gospel singers, if I'm not mistaken.

Re: Marco's voice...it took a long time for me to get into as well. Then again, I've been a Nightwish fan since before Marco joined the band, so I remember when his voice was still "new". It really runs hot and cold with me. Some days, his voice is f*ckin' killer, and other days, it annoys the hell out of me.

One thing I have said before, Tuomas as a songwriter, really knows how to bring out the potential of any singer he has. Marco has improved vocally with every album (I know he's been singing with Tarot for ages beforehand, but I have never heard their music so I can't make a comparison to anything other than Marco's voice from Century Child to now). Nowadays I have more moments where he sounds great to me, than when he annoys me. Especially after listening to the radio edit of "The Islander", which I've said more than once on this forum that it's my least favorite song of the album. Even seeing it live did not change my mind on it. But when listening to the edit of the song, and the part where Marco's vocals are dueting with Anette's (towards the end, the "this is the long forgotten..." part). I don't know why those vocals were not kept on the regular version, but he sounds absolutely great on it.

Another fantastic example, for me, is "While Your Lips Are Still Red". I would have to say that right now, it's one of my favorite Nightwish songs. My opinion about Marco's voice definitely shifted more towards a positive attitude (although I never outwardly disliked his voice). I do agree that he should sing more in this style, but his angrier voice certainly gets the job done for those songs like "Bye Bye Beautiful", "Slaying the Dreamer", "Master Passion Greed", etc.

Anyway, I'm rambling on at this point so I should probably stop.

 

[cmbhb913]

I love both of their voices, but Annette is so much easier to understand. Sometimes it was hard to understand them before, but with Annette, it's easy.
Nightwish is still one of the best bands.:Smokedev:

 

[AngelsFallFirst]

The only thing that annoys me slightly with the new album (or maybe it's just that I didn't notice with Tarja?) is that for some reason they don't make the tune so that all the sentences have breaks so it doesn't make much sense, an example from Bye bye beautiful, it sounds alot like;
"Blind dead Siblings walking the dying earth" because it's all said like one sentence =/ obviously though it's "Blindfold for the blind, dead siblings walking the dying earth".
Maybe that's because that whole verse is a bit "what she say?" for me.
I'm not explaining that enough for it to make sense/be a valid point. I might put in more detail if people misunderstand me or just have no idea what I'm on about.

...maybe I'm just being weird though.

 

[jPod]

I thought it was a pretty good album.

The sound of the band has changed, but it would have anyway. You can't go back and listen to Angels fall first and Oceanborn and then listen to Once and say the sound is the same. Its the evolution of the band.

Annette does a good job, she complements Marco's vocals well, and does her vocals well, it is pretty easy to see after listening to it a few times why they picked her.

She was really good live too, I saw them on the Australian tour.

 

[TageRyche]

My best of 2008 list just went online. You can check it out HERE and see where I have Dark Passion Play placed.

 

[C.]

DPP was an '07 album, but hey, it was still great for many repeat listens in '08 as well.

 

[Para Bellum]

Tbh I've been viewing them as completely different bands. It's not until Anette starts doing old nightwish I compare. I feel like comparing ruins new nightwish because although they may not be as good as/they may be better than old Nightwish they're very different and both much better than the average band which alot of people tend to forget when comparing, they seem to just rate one as a God and the other as shit.

I completely agree! I view them as different bands as well and believe that is the best way to look at the Nightwish. It allows you to appreciate what was.... Tarja was great. Annette is also fantastic! And I look forward for whatever Nightwish releases next. DDP is an awesome album.

 

[TageRyche]

DPP was an '07 album, but hey, it was still great for many repeat listens in '08 as well.

I know it was a 2007 album but as I said in the text of my article, I didn't listen to it until after the site's deadline for the 2007 Best of, thus it qualifies for the 2008 list.

 

[C.]

Hey, you get no complaints from me, that's for sure.

Great music is never limited to a time frame.

 

[Liverslapper]

Annette just sounds to mainstream to me. There isn't that power that Tarja had. It's kind of like what happened with Dino in Fear Factory. Once Dino left, Fear Factory lost its sound. Listen to "digimortal" then listen to "trangression".

 

[C.]

Well, I think that's a given when any singer is replaced by someone else. People complained that Van Halen sounded mainstream with Sammy Hagar. That's the chance a band takes when they choose to replace their vocalist, you can't please everyone and there's always going to be those who think a band takes a turn for the worst.

 

[SheisMySin]

I definitely prefer Tarja over Annette, but the only true measure of sound would be to have Tarja sing the DPP songs and see how they sound compared to Annette.

I think Toumas' songwriting is amazing, and even not liking Annette's vocals, I still adore DPP as much as any other Nightwish albumn.

 

[C.]

I agree, I think that's what it is for me too. I don't necessarily think Anette is the world's best singer; hell, I wouldn't even cite her as one of my favorites, but there's no denying that as a songwriter, Tuomas knows how to bring out the better qualities of the singers he works with.

And there are some songs on DPP, definitely, that I could almost hear Tarja's voice on. Songs like "Eva" and "Meadows of Heaven", especially, have that feel like they could have been written for Tarja, or at the very least, that her voice would sound fitting on them. Not so much on songs like "For the Heart I Once Had", "Cadence of Her Last Breath", or "The Islander".