Imaginareum Review by a Nighwish fan

[Virtual Scott]

I *like* it quite a bit. Maybe on a par with DPP. Certainly more than anything previous to DPP (I'm not a Tarja fan(boy)). But it's a bit meandering in spots and the spoken word bit doesn't really do anything for me - that could've easily been replaced by an entire new SONG. The symphonic stuff is really quite nice, but a bit overdrawn. Otherwise, there's some killer melodies and vocal performances, and the production is great. "Storytime" is still my favorite track - just plain out rocks. So overall, a pretty solid release, but not quite there. A solid B- I think.

Looking forward to hearing how the tunes shape up live in Lost Angeles this weekend, though. But I won't rub that in or anything...

 

[Harvester]

Imaginaerum has entered the American billboard charts at #27 !

I wonder if it would have been higher if the labels had worked towards a simultaneous release date as opposed to the stagger strategy.

 

[txprog]

My son is spending his final semester in college in LA - he is a University of Texas at Austin Radio, TV, & Film major - and is living right across the street from Universal. He will walk to the show on Saturday.......

 

[nailz]

What a great story.

 

[J-Man]

I wonder if it would have been higher if the labels had worked towards a simultaneous release date as opposed to the stagger strategy.

I would venture to guess that it might have been way higher (maybe top 5) if they had done a simulataneous release.

I wonder now how many copies have been sold in the US so far, and what the total worldwide is.

 

[SkiBumMSP]

Can you please take a video on your phone, upload it to youtube and then post the link so we can all hear how good it sounds too?

I don't have a video on hand, but this is a (somewhat dated) picture of the audio rig in question:

 

[usaprogmusic]

Finally got around to writing my review on the latest Nightwish album: http://progpowergrrl.com/?p=243

 

[AeonicSlumber]

I wonder if it would have been higher if the labels had worked towards a simultaneous release date as opposed to the stagger strategy.

I think that it probably would've been higher, but between Spinefarm, Nuclear Blast and Roadrunner compromising on a simultaneous release date would have been almost impossible considering distributors have different schedules to meet as well, labels requiring 3 months to shoot out a promo campaign, and the fact that December is generally a terrible time to release metal in the US due to Christmas albums and compilations/best ofs taking over the charts during this time. Not to mention that I'll bet dollars to donuts Spinefarm is guaranteed in writing to release the record in Finland before anyone else. Could be wrong, but I'd be shocked if it wasn't the case.

 

[nomisofsiman]

I *like* it quite a bit. Maybe on a par with DPP. Certainly more than anything previous to DPP (I'm not a Tarja fan(boy)). But it's a bit meandering in spots and the spoken word bit doesn't really do anything for me - that could've easily been replaced by an entire new SONG. The symphonic stuff is really quite nice, but a bit overdrawn. Otherwise, there's some killer melodies and vocal performances, and the production is great. "Storytime" is still my favorite track - just plain out rocks. So overall, a pretty solid release, but not quite there. A solid B- I think.

Looking forward to hearing how the tunes shape up live in Lost Angeles this weekend, though. But I won't rub that in or anything...

I think that about sums it up for me as well. The only difference is I probably would give it a B-. The problem I have with it is outside of Storytime, while there are other good songs, I just don't find them memorable. Where I found almost every song on DPP memorable and good. Who knows? Maybe with all the hype I was expecting way too much.

But man, there is a lot of minutes wasted on the disc. While it is good to have opening instrumentals, if you add that, the spoken word element and the final song which is just a compilation of the songs, that's a lot of wasted space if you ask me.

 

[St Enigma]

******************************
Not to mention that I'll bet dollars to donuts Spinefarm is guaranteed in writing to release the record in Finland before anyone else. Could be wrong, but I'd be shocked if it wasn't the case.

Nightwish's contract with Spinefarm ended after Dark Passion Play and was never renewed. (The once great Spinefarm seems to be waning, Mother Universal squeezing it dry, perhaps?) The band released Storytime CDS and Imaginaerum CD in Finland through their own company Scene Nation Ltd. Distribution of SN's releases is handled by Sony Music.

Imaginaerum sold about 68 000 units by the end of the year in Finland, making it in 32 days the most sold CD of 2011 in the country. This week is the 12th for Imaginaerum on the national charts, current place is #13. Expect to see it peaking in a couple of weeks again because the domestic arena tour will start next Friday.

The new CD is completely financed, produced, published and copyrighted by Nightwish which means that the band will pocket the lion's share of the total income, as there's no middlemen skimming. They also carried the full financial risk in case it'd have flopped but with one triple Platinum and 5 Gold records under their belt already it looks like they can still afford another CD in the future.

.

 

[nailz]

I don't have a video on hand, but this is a (somewhat dated) picture of the audio rig in question:

Haha, I was kidding about the video thing. Still, looks like it's awesome.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

Nightwish's contract with Spinefarm ended after Dark Passion Play and was never renewed. (The once great Spinefarm seems to be waning, Mother Universal squeezing it dry, perhaps?) The band released Storytime CDS and Imaginaerum CD in Finland through their own company Scene Nation Ltd. Distribution of SN's releases is handled by Sony Music.

Imaginaerum sold about 68 000 units by the end of the year in Finland, making it in 32 days the most sold CD of 2011 in the country. This week is the 12th for Imaginaerum on the national charts, current place is #13. Expect to see it peaking in a couple of weeks again because the domestic arena tour will start next Friday.

The new CD is completely financed, produced, published and copyrighted by Nightwish which means that the band will pocket the lion's share of the total income, as there's no middlemen skimming. They also carried the full financial risk in case it'd have flopped but with one triple Platinum and 5 Gold records under their belt already it looks like they can still afford another CD in the future.

.

Thanks for clarifying that! Although I would not say Spinefarm is waning, it seems like they are focusing more on the UK though as of late for sure, but they have had some pretty recent international successes such as Amaranthe as of late.

Your last paragraph is yet another reason why it's harder for labels to cooperate on a simultaneous release. Since Nuclear Blast and Roadrunner license the record from Nightwish directly, as opposed to a normal deal in which the label gets the larger chunk of publishing/mechanical and direct sales royalties, the labels have less incentive to push the CD as hard and spend as much money on promotion since they receive very little in the way of recouping those costs. With most other bands, such deals wouldn't even be a thought to labels, but since we're talking about a band that is maybe only a few tiers below Metallica in terms of international size, it's still tough to say "no" to releasing the record.