Welcome to Imaginaerum!

[St Enigma]

From the official website

02. September 2011

The first single: "Storytime"

The new Nightwish single called "Storytime" will be released on Friday, the 11th of November! See the cover artwork by clicking the thumbnail!

The whole album tracklist with teasers of each song and the album release date will follow in a week. Stay tuned!

Cover art by "Toxix Angel" ( = Janne Pitkänen)



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[ben_uez]

i really like the cover artwork really looking forward to that single!

 

[Stingray11214]

The single is pure, unadulterated genius. The site crashed when they previewed the single on BWBK. Da link: http://www.bravewords.com/news/168341

 

[St Enigma]

Director Stobe Harju lifts a corner of the curtain of secrecy and reveals more about the Imaginaerum movie's plot. The film crew is about to start shooting the parts with human actors this week.

According to Jukka Helle, Executive Director of Solar Films Inc the shooting takes place at locations in Canada.


From Imaginaerum the movie at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ImaginaerumTheMovie

IMAGINAERUM – A word from the director (7. Sept. 2011).


It was four years ago. We had just shot Nightwish’s music video, ‘The Islander’, in Rovaniemi, Finland. As we sat down afterwards with Tuomas Holopainen, we pondered over the idea of having a music video for each of the songs on their next album. Back then it was the distant dream of two ambitious people.

One year later Tuomas called me and said: “This is it: would you be willing to come over and talk about our next project together?” The next few months were full of excitement, writing treatments for twelve clips, thinking how hard it would be to make all this happen.

At one stage I lost track of time as I was writing a story about a young boy, growing old in his own dream. It was in fact a fictional story about Nightwish, but above all about Tuomas himself, a forever-young genius, who loved life but also every single person around him. As we got inside each other’s minds, we knew that music videos weren’t enough for what we wanted to say to the world. We wanted something more.

Our love for life, our families, our memories, music, waking up to new wonders each day and love for the best tool available to us human beings, our imagination, became the cornerstones of the story. It had to be about the mixture of our lives and our worst fears of growing old. As we wanted to emphasize all these things, we found there was only one way to convey the story.

Imaginaerum tells the story of an elderly composer, Tom, who suffers from severe dementia. As he has had the disease for years and has regressed into childhood, he remembers practically nothing from his adult life. His music, friends, all his past including the memory of his daughter are a blur in his fragile mind. All he has left is the imagination of a ten year old boy. As he drifts away into coma, it seems impossible to get back what he has lost. Or is it?

The film is a journey between two different dimensions. Tom travels through his imaginary world seeking answers and finding memories, while his daughter, Gem, tries to recover the bond she had once shared with her father in the real world. As they have become more and more distant from each other over the years, and as there’s even greater obstacles separating them now – Tom’s coma and his imminent death – Gem’s project feels doomed to failure. However, through Tom’s darkest secrets, Gem discovers the path she must follow in order to find her father again.

There are some questions we must ask ourselves before entering the world of Imaginaerum. What is most important in life? Can the power of memories protect us during our last moments? Will our imagination help us find the spark of life in the deepest darkness? Can we still find love after bitter forgiveness?

Imaginaerum is an emotional fantasy-adventure powered by the music of Nightwish. The story reminds us of our childhood where the smallest but most precious thing meant everything and losing it would have left an everlasting scar. Now it’s time to reopen the wound and see what became of it, but above all, where it came from.

- Stobe Harju, Director

 

[St Enigma]

Imaginaerum 09.09.2011


Release dates:

Finland: Wednesday, 30. November 2011
Europe: Friday, 2. December 2011



The cover artwork

"Originally, this was supposed to be the centerfold image of the album but once I and some mates saw the final image, we immediately knew that the hunt for the actual cover artwork was over. I believe this is Toxic Angel's finest piece of work yet, capturing the deepest essence of what Imaginaerum is all about. The power of imagination and places of wordless wonders, magic and awe, of longing and the surreal.

I emphasized from the start that not a single living thing should be seen in the picture, and Toxic was able to create that sublime but desolate, "all this waiting for you, and you only" - feeling.

All you need is the courage to enter."

- Tuomas



The tracklist

01. Taikatalvi
02. Storytime
03. Ghost River
04. Slow, Love, Slow
05. I Want My Tears Back
06. Scaretale
07. Arabesque
08. Turn Loose The Mermaids
09. Rest Calm
10. The Crow, The Owl And The Dove
11. Last Ride Of The Day
12. Song Of Myself
13. Imaginaerum




Track-by-Track teasers

"Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it."

- Henry David Thoreau


1. TAIKATALVI
This world is but a canvas for our imagination.


2. STORYTIME
How would it feel to take a midnight flight with a snowman through the most wondrous landscapes, like in the classic animated Yuletide film? The meaning of our very existence is created though stories, tales and imagination. They are at the very core of humanity.


3. GHOST RIVER
LIFE is the ultimate privilege; a river filled with wonders and horrors. Love, sorrow, beauty, evil and temptation. And we need them all to survive and enjoy the journey.

Good, Evil, Pain and Pleasure - members one of another.


4. SLOW, LOVE, SLOW
Truest love needs no words, demands or promises. It is wordless territory, and thoroughly unconditional.


5. I WANT MY TEARS BACK
Longing for things long gone, but still possible to bring back.


6. SCARETALE
Monsters in the closet, squealing pigs, hordes of spiders and flesh-ripping harpies. A peak into childhood´s unforgettable nightmares- a vivid and twisted circus sideshow.


7. ARABESQUE
A catharsis to a nightmare. Giving birth through a death-dance.


8. TURN LOOSE THE MERMAIDS
We quietly witness as her dying loved one takes his last journey...forever now, a haunting moment of beauty and comfort.


9. REST CALM
Memories and hope are two things no-one can ever take away from you. The sweetness of my own past is a bottomless chest of comfort and inspiration.


10. THE CROW, THE OWL AND THE DOVE
"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me Truth"
- Henry David Thoreau

Love is everything, and only Truth is our guide to a deeper state.


11. LAST RIDE OF THE DAY
The theme park is just about to close, but the rollercoaster runs one more time and you get to take the last ride by yourself. It`s dark and the fireworks have just started. Moments such as these are portals to infinite dreams, of deep realisation, and ultimately the thrilling awareness of being a speck of dust in this vast swirling cosmos.


12. SONG OF MYSELF
Our homage and version of Walt Whitman`s transcendental celebration of life and existence, delving deep into a personal catharsis.


13. IMAGINAERUM
Thank you for sharing the ride and we hope to welcome you back soon. The stage is lit, and the Magnificent Play is beginning...


- Tuomas

The first promo listening sessions for invited journalists are due tonight Sept 9. and tomorrow Sept 10. with Tuomas and Anette presenting the CD. Soon we will get the first impressions and reviews based on those on-time hearings. More reviewers have been invited at promo sessions in other cities to hear the CD later. No sampler clips coming this time.

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[C.]

Kiitos Enigma; I've got all the info up on the OSA site now. The Imaginaerum film/album concept sounds awesome. I can hardly wait to hear the music and watch the film.

In case you all haven't noticed, I've been without internet access at home for nearly a month now, so I've had to make intermittent trips to internet cafes to check my mail and do the most basic things online. This is why my updates to the OSA site haven't been very timely as of late. My apologies. I'll be getting my internet installed on Monday, so hopefully this will be my last visit to the internet cafe, and I'll be back at home, updating the OSA site accordingly.

 

[St Enigma]

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The first bite of Imaginarium has been taken by Terrorizer magazine

Track-by-track guide to Nightwish's new album 'Imaginaerum'
By Tom on Sep 13, 2011

We've heard the new Nightwish album, and as it's amazing, we thought
we'd present to you are track-by-track guide.
Nightwish's sixth album, and their first for four years, is a 75 minute
epic that covers far more territory than can be summed up briefly. So
that's why we have our track-by-track guide to 'Imaginaerum'
(released on December 5) in full, and without further ado...

'Taikatalvi'
An intro track of sorts, the album opens with chiming percussion and
soft male vocals under which the instrumentals swell, more and more
elements coming into play that becomes a surging, choral climax into
'Storytime'.

'Storytime'
Immediately storming into much faster, heavier and darker
territories, this is, even before Anette Olzon's vocals come in,
consummate Nightwish- driving, epic and richly layered with deep
brass tones and sweeping strings. Later, it falls away into wordless
choir and piano before the drums and guitars return before the
massed choir enters. It's one of the most grandiose, atmospheric and
sumptuous sequences of music Nightwish have put their name to.

'Ghost River'
Another heavy track that retains its richness through the heft, this is
all dreamy melodies in the symphony and swung rhythms in the vocals
which feature some beautiful interplay between Marco Hietala and
Anette, before a huge orchestral break leads into crunching riffage.
song structures of 'Dark Passion Play' have been left way, way behind
and have been replaced by much more interesting, evocative
composition.

'Slow, Love, Slow'
A husky, sexy and sultry jazz number (yes, jazz) with some fantastic,
delicate drumming and an extraordinary vocal performance from
Anette, who showcases an entirely new aspect to her abilities. Later, a
fusion solo is followed by ethereal orchestrations as the metallic
darkness returns, only to fade as a Louie Armstrong trumpet solo
plays out over a ticking clock, rounding off a moment the like of which
has never been heard from Nightwish before.

'I Want My Tears Back'
One of the very few straight-up verse-chorus-verse structured songs,
this is all the stronger for standing out so clearly- it's big, bombastic,
full of hooks and swaggering with riffage as Celtic melodies swirl
around, and sounds like one the crowds will know backwards by the
time Nightwish come to tour. The density of ideas is still there in
force, but it's one of the more accessible numbers on an album with
wonderfully too much going to take in at one sitting.

'Scaretale'
A children's choir leads into an ascending, staccato orchestral depth as
the young voices are replaced by mature choral power on this racing,
turbulent journey that features some sinister vocal inflections before a
circus-style march emerges in a style all of Nightwish's own. The
absolutely vast choir, orchestra and guitars all return in force before
fairground music ends the piece.

'Arabesque'
A sweeping instrumental odyssey that once again sound enormous and
genuinely epic, like the score to a gigantic adventure in the East
complete with seductive dance rhythms and massive percussion, that
ends suddenly and dramatically.

'Turn Loose The Mermaids'
The start of a triad of softer songs, 'Turn Loose The Mermaid' is all
acoustic guitars and soft strings that rise gently but with huge
emotion. Anette's performance on vocals is once more superb,
needing to carry much of the weight of the track as the instrumentals
become more subtle in pipes and piano parts.

'Rest Calm'
Initially sounding slightly like one of Rammstein's slower numbers –
'Mutter', for example – 'Rest Calm' is at it's heart beautifully soothing
and tranquil, but achieves this by first storming to highlight the placid
centres in between the chug.

'The Crow, The Owl And The Dove'
Acoustic guitars lilt beneath a superb duet between Marco and Anette,
before Marco drops away and and the strings swell beneath the
frontwoman, only for the soft vocal interplay to return. Folky sounds
lead into more metal territory that falls back for the last time to piano
and crooning.

'Last Ride Of The Day'
The album's second simple track, this is classic Nightwish at their
catchiest- rise and fall, hard and soft, crunching and luscious... it's big
and pumping and sequentially if not texturally instantly
comprehensible, and leads into the album's climax.

'Song Of Myself'
A four-part epic that starts with a huge orchestral attack in colossal,
Danny Elfman-esque drama and sets out purposefully through the
myriad of moods that between them almost surmise everything that
Nightwish do best in one single track- metallic weight and pace
balanced with lyrical slowness, vast, melancholy sounds of true
beauty, and the moving spoken poetry in the last section brings to an
end one of the most heroic achievements of the band's career.

'Imaginaerum'
An orchestral summation of the whole album, in effect- the huge
massed wind, brass, strings and percussion recapitulate some of the
highlights from the whole album, wonderfully weaving a final bow on
the whole parcel.


The step up in strength from the last album is quite spectacular. All
involved put in stellar performances, and Tarja is now decidedly not
missed- Nightwish have come too far from that era, and are something
different and astonishing. 'Imaginaerum' offers a vast depth of utterly
splendid music.

Very promising indeed...

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[C.]

Hell yeah, it sounds *very* interesting! I'm particularly curious to hear the jazz track.

Now if we could just get a North American release date, I can start counting down the days!

 

[ben_uez]

that sounds more than promising
do i get that right that arabasque and imaginaerum are only instrumental tracks?

 

[C.]

It says the title track is "orchestral", but I don't see "instrumental" anywhere in the description.

 

[St Enigma]

From Nightwish.com Sept 18. 2011

IMAGINAERUM will be released in the US on January 10th 2012! The release dates for the rest of the world will follow soon.


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[St Enigma]

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And our friends at Nightwish.fr have got some brand new promo pics of Imaginarium to share:

Doesn't Anette look gorgeous... and Tuomas looks stiff and uncomfortable as ever hahaha!



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[C.]

Kiitos Enigma; everything's updated at the OSA site.

 

[kaotic_order]

Pretty cool looking pictures!

 

[C.]

Welcome to the board!

 

[Bianca74]

Hi all you Nightwishers,

I just read the first review of the new album, anyone interested in hearing what it said?? It was posted on one of the biggest Finnish new sites yesterday at around 9 pm local time.
Now I feel I just CAN'T WAIT ANYMORE!!! For further info, pm me! There are those here that probably don't want to hear about it before listening to it themselves and I respect that.

Michèle

 

[Bianca74]

You all probably read the review already! Sorry about that! Michèle

 

[C.]

Enigma translated the latest review on the Nightwish forum, so here it is for everyone to read here. And some more new promo pics from Nightwish.com.

The new Nightwish album in pre-listening

The new Nightwish album Imaginaerum, due out on Nov 30. was presented to the media today. At the pre-listening session was present also Mikko Räsänen, the news chief of Voice.fi. based on one listening of the CD the message for all fans is: Everything is fine in the Nightwsih-land.

The pre-listening session happened at teh finnvox studios in Helsinki. Expectations on the new CD are high as was participation in the session; besides me there were over 20 representants of domestic and foreign media.

The global piracy was fought by sealing all cellphones in envelopes and collecting them before entering the studio. Also cameras and other suspicious gadgets had to be left outside before the flock of media representatives were allowed in the studio.

Huge posters and paintings of the cover art of Imaginaerum album had been hanged on the walls. But more important than those was of course the music itself.

Marco Hietala welcomed the media, then he posotioned himself in the back row with other band members where they was able to observe reactions of the media people in front of them.



At least my own expectations were high. Nightwish's long career started a new era when Tarja turunen was fired and Anette Olzon was hired. The first album of the new arrival was Dark Passion Play in 2007.

Dark Passion Play was a mind-blowing album which stands time even today. I gave it a full five stars on my review. I had similar expectations about this listening session as I had when I heard DPP for the first time.

Next will be my descriptions of each track of the album. I wish to higlight the fact that becasue we only listened the CD through one time, these are only the first reactions aroused by the tracks. My opinions may change after I have the opportunity to re-listen to the album for several times.

1. Taikatalvi

It's brave to begin an album with a track sung in Finnish when it is aimed to the global market. Marco sings and the sound is as cinematic as styled as ever possible. Towards the end the bass sounds keep booming in such a way that it reminds us of the sheer power bubbling just under the surface even in the slowest Nightwish song.

2. Storytime

The drums beginning the song bring the message: Here we go! The song moves on the familiar Nightwish soil. The stomping drive reminds me of an older Nightwish song, Bye Bye Beautiful perhaps?

Storytime will be the first single from Imaginaerum. The chorus will confirm that this is a good choice. It is catchy, even at the first listen. While the song grows along the choir and orchestra towards the end, one will get an urge to hit the "repeat" immedieately.

3. Ghost River

The guitar opening the track took my thoughts somewhere to Van Halen of the 80's. I'll see if that will happen again on the next listen. Anette sings the A-part and Marco gets to handle the angry chorus.

After Storyline this song feels weak amd gives room to a thought that this is custom made for a scene in the upcoming Imaginaerum movie. In the pure Nightwish style this song proofs us that a song is not over before it actually is over; at the end the listener get surprised with a child choir among other thisngs.

Despite the above, this will remain as a filler.

4. Slow, Love, Slow

The first huge surprise on the album. Beginning with a dreamlike intro this song doesn't sound like Nightwish at all even when in full pace. It could be like custom made for a hazy jazz club or for a David Lynch movie. At least the brushes used instead of drumsticks will not diminish the effect.

Before everything this is Anette's song. Anette gets the chance to reveal tones of her voice which remained unheard on the previous CD. Slow, Love, Slow will also deliver more fodder to fans who still bother to debate whether Tarja or Anette is better. Even when Tarja has her undenied strengths, this is a song she could not handle as well as it is done here.

But even when this song is tailored for Anette's voice and she performs it perfectly, it is a song which may take some time for fans to get acquainted with.

5. I Want My Tears Back

The best track on the CD! marco opens the song by shouting I Want My Tears Back. Those wods will become familiar to everyone becasue I'm sure that this will be the second or third single. A fast song with a chorus that works. Brilliantly arranged bagpipes bring an appropriate amount of Celtic influence for extra spice. A granted hit!

6. Scaretale

Tuomas Holopainen said in the interview with Voice last spring that nothing is so scary than a child. The remark referred to making Imaginaerum and how the children choir is included. I recalled the interview when this song started because it begins with a child chanting a haunting verse. Maybe Tuomas was referring to this?

Just when I believed that this is an instrumental, Anette gets her turn. The special effect odf Nightwish's music is that when I close my eyes, I will get images forming on my retinae. In this song after a fairy-tale-like instrumnetal part Anette's singing is so spiteful that she reminds me of an old witch.

When it's Marco's turn the music change circus-like and one can see Marco as the director in the middle.

The song has a variety of parts after parts which leaves the whole quite confusing after only one listen. If Scaretale is made with the movie in mind, it would explain the odd structure.

7. Arabesque

Instrumental, in which Tuomas is allowed to show his best creativity. Tuomas has told that he respects the great movie score composers like James Horner. Arabesque has cinematic presence and the structure how this composition for a big orhestra is created doesn't fall short in front of the admired masters.

8. Turn Loose The Mermaids

Folk'ish beginning reminds me of Blacmore's Night and the feeling gets stronger when Anette Begins to sing. While in most Nightwish songs the listener has to wait until the end for all the most unexpected elements and structures to unfold or expand, this track will stay compact till the end. Which is good becasue it doesn't need any extra in order to work.

9. Rest Calm

THis heavy song performed by Marco take the listener by surprise at the chorus part since Anette's slow part is like taken form another song. While I was pondering it, the rest of the song passed and I have to leave a deeper analyzing of this track for the future. At the end Anette and the childrens choir together reminded me of the Parrrasvalot song by Yö with the childrens choir in the end. I hope that I can drop that association by the time Imaginarium is released.

10. The Crow, The Owl and The Dove

Anette and Marco duet again reminding me of Blackmore's Night. The lyrics forming a tale could be out of a folk song. Anette again shines in her own element.

11. Last Ride of the Day

And we go again! WE ahve choir, we have orchestra, we ahve pompousness and a huge wall of sound. The result is traditional Nightwish. Something folk'ish in the melody, even there is a massive roar of instrumets behind it. A working track, but not quite on the level of I Want My Tears Back or Storytime.

12. Song of Myself

Tuomas has told that it is easier for him to compose a 12 minute epic with different parts than one catchy 4 minute song. This here is closer to the former as there are four parts. At least the long spoken sections in the end will underline the fact Song of Myself isn't just a track but rther a works of art.

From the album booklet we will soon discover whether the spoken parts refer to the movie or are a psrt of Holopainen's mental scenery.

"How can you just be yourself if you don't know who you are?" is asked in the lyrics which makes me wonder if Tuomas has been delving his inner mind while writing the lyrics.

13. Imaginaerum

It is common that in the grand classical works the listener is presented with a theme which then is developed and created futher on. I don't now if this track got it's ispiration from the classical music, but many of the leading themes from previous tracks have been combined in this title track. Everything is so skillfully packed that the whole works well as instrumental.


Conclusion:

Dark Passion Play was almost perfect album, IMO. Imaginaerum left me with quite a confusing first impression. I Want My Tears Back and Storytime will definitely become huge hits. The slow tracks will work as well even though Slow, Love, Slow may cause some of the fans first coughing for a while.

On the previous album the grand works was the awesome epic The Poet And The Pendulum and before that was Ghost Love Score. I expected continuation for those grand epics on this album but at the first listen Song of Myself didn't quite reach the goal. I will admit that one reason may be the long spoken part which did not open to me without a booklet to follow the text. Add a couple of instrumentals, the scattered Scaretale and the jazzy slow song the album os so full of stuff that the familiar Nighwish must be occasinally sought among it.

The trademark of Nightwish on their recent albums has been the perfectly finalized production. Imaginaerum makes no exception, it's production is blinding clear. Each and every sound is thoroughly considered. The listener can't hear a single note which wasn't meant to be there by Holopainen and Co. It is a strong performance, while one is able to figure out how massive amount of instruments and singers are peresent on the album.

Holopainen is a genius, no doubt with this record. Anyway, at the moment I consider that Imaginaerum does not quite reach the level of Dark Passion Play. But because the album is so strongly connected with the upcoming movie, the final judgment can't be given until the movie is released and srrn and the album has had many more spins in my player. At least the album has so much stuff and elements that details to be discovered will not run out even after a number of listens.

One thing is sure, Imaginaerum will add to Nightwish's chain of succesful albums. Everything in the Nightwish-land is fine.


Text: Mikko Räsänen, Voice.fi, Oct 10. 2011

Translation: The Enigma

 

[St Enigma]

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Here is a pre-view by Mape Ollila, the author of the "Nightwish" book. Enjoy!

Source: Imperiumi.net

Nightwish: Imaginaerum pre-listening session at Finnvox Studios; Helsinki
Oct 10. 2011


Usually pre-listening sessions happen in one of Finnvox's isolated studio rooms where media people are stuffed like sardines in a can. Not today. About 30 representatives of media have arrived for the 14 pm pre-listening session of the Imaginaerum CD by Nightwish, due out Nov 30. 2011. Such a large flock of "media reindeers" is chased in an auditorium which has been set up in the drum recording room.

The room has bee decorated with art from the CD booklet. The whole back wall is covered by the Imaginaerum-panorama with the CD-cover included. In front of us we have the wheel from Storytime CDS cover, formed of a raven, a dove and an owl. Seven more symmetrically placed framed pictires and wall-cloths present us a dusty library, airships, a storm-beaten rocks occupied by mermaids and other fantastic images which I'm not allowed to tell about yet. The band also banned photography in the listening room, hence I will not describe even verbally the booklet art by ToxicAngel, the band's "palace-artist" from Kitee, but anyone can have a look at the photos and t-shirts which have been published already.

Viewing the art is a clever move from the band. The pictures are not set up for decoration, but to guide us. They intend to manipulate the listeners, to tell us what kind of images the music is about to create.

The band sit in the right-hand corner in the back. We guests are about to hear the album for the first time. The four in the back - the singer is not present - have had the 75-minute colossus for an album up to their throats. Like any band after finishing a new CD.

The meadia monkeys set their asses to the bench, shut the traps and open the ears.


Rattle, like winding a watch. Taikatalvi. no, it's not a watch, rather a musical box. Yes. Bling, blong, bling, a baby's musical box starts up for a walz. An old-style Finnish walz sung by Marco Hietala in his domestic language, softly, but scratchy.

On Storytime Emppu's guitar growls an edgy, thrashmetal-like riff. The guitar wall is so thick and sharp that the guitar doesn't ring but only growls; industrial-like, without a melody. The London Philharmonics roar with full line-up straight from the beginning. No wonder why this track was picked as the first single. The sound of Anette Olzon who first time gets to sing a song composed for her own voical range makes me think that probably nobody has ever welded so seamlessly together some pole-hammer riff, Hans Zimmer and ABBA. The chorus is light like the wind, luminous and uplifting, it flies, in the same spirit as "Dark Chest Of Wonders". Towards the end Anette Olzon's harmonic singing grows constantly into bigger role and makes the hair stand up. Now, she has taken a serious hold of the singing duties and makes me think "hey, is this how the genuine Anette can sing"?



I hear the chorus, it is a grand opera,
Ah this indeed is music -- this suits me.



The main riff of Ghost river is atypically twisted for a Nightwwish song. In some pervy way it reminds me about Eddie Van Halen's string twirling. The song is partially more depressing than "Higher Than Hope", but never so slow. In the backing noise spins a carousel with horses; step right up, two-pence a ride, would I dare? Guitar plays surprising hardrock-ish melody leads. The orchestra roars itself into the same category of massiveness like on "Poet And The Pendulum" which actually comes to mind in the C-part of this track. Also the children choir is heard.

Slow, Love, Slow is smoky nightclub jazz from Hell. After the piano intro we can hear the miraculous thing that on a Nw-record there are brushes used to play swing. The song is built by a piano, a cello, a clarinet, a trumpet and a completely clincally played guitar solo which according to Vuorinen's own words would never had happened in sober condition. Hence the best take was saved "at zero-point-three level at the last year's summer camp". Anette Olzon moans, stretches, ruffles, sighs and almost howls, like flirting on top of a grand piano. If Tuomas still writes his diary in music and everything affects in anything, so could these influences have come from New Orleans? The track ends in clanking, like a pendulum of a grandfather's clock. TICK – TOCK - TICK – TOCK – TICK – TOCK – TICK – it doesn't seem to end at all – TOCK – TICK – TOCK – TICK – TOCK – TICK – TOCK – TICK, until, without a break between tracks, explodes...

I Want My Tears Back, with thrash-like riffs spiced celtic folk. Wellwhynot? The track could be re-named ”Last Of The Wilds”/”Erämaan viimeinen” part two. The "sixth member" of Nightwish, the ethno-piper maestro Troy Donockley takes responsibility about the melody with his Uileann pipes and tin whistle. The light-hearted orchestra accompany him. The track is melodic, a fresh gust of wind and the chorus makes a granted hit. Would be a miracle if this song one day didn't find it's way on a CDS release.

Scaretale. A grand piano, a church bell and a child's horror. A new sound emerges from Anette's throat. Now Olzon snarls and growls like an evil witch. The orchestra plays loud and rattling double bass drumming takes Nightwish back to their powermetal roots for a while. The interlude is frightening, depressing. The track turns into a nightmare in the bouncing, insane play which souds like Danny Elfman chewed one magic mushroom too many and attacked in the Finntrolls' training cave in the middle of their most intense fly-agaric-mushroom ratatattat-humppa session.

Arabesque brings the lunatics back down from the walls and takes them straight to the Middle East. The track is very strange, oriental sounding instrumental. The rhythmic part felt distant but created strong images. Is this an Arabic bar? A death dance of an Egyptian arabesk dancer?

Turn Loose The Mermaids starts with a piano, strings and acoustic guitar as a slow song. Pounding drums and Troy's flute will take over and the song turns into Irish-folk gear. Marco whistles a clean Ennio Morricone -style spaghetti-western theme for the C-part. Close the end Anette's harmonies make the hair stand up again. The song stops abruptly in the middle of a folkish pace. Was there any orchestra at all?

Rest Calm opens with a very Nightwish'y guitar riff. I'd even liked to call it bland: ratatat, ratatat. The verse roars like helluvaplanet but the chorus makes an interesting break-out from the usual pop-stencil. It's not risen higher but instead the chorus is sung more silent and calm, slower. Moderato. The third chorus round Anette shares with the children choir and the song erupts towards the end like making room for something megalomaniac coming next, but...

The Crow, The Owl And The Dove is completely different Nightwish than anything before. The band named this "the fowl song". It's delicate duet; pure pop without a hint about metal or cinema. Not even orchestra. If this will ever go on a single, it will rather be played on the mainstream radio than on metal broadcasts. Troy Donocley singing in old style English proves himsef to be a decent voclist. The man has a cool sound which makes a great match to Anette's.

Last Ride Of The Day. The park will be closed, the Ferris Wheel will spin one more time, it's time to end the games of the day and for the Deadboy to lay down. The arrangement of this goliath is in the class of a 50-storey building. My diminutive and evil mind flashed a thought that with this track all the sound nerds watching the soundwave graphics on their computer screens will have a reason to whine about how the dynamic range is flattened, limiters beeping alert, how the sound has been squashed, loudness war and quackquackquack. This track is surrealistic Nightwish-orchestra-heavy-metal as one may expect from them, if there ever will be anything "typical" to expect from Nightwish. By the way, this track contains the only high-flying guitar solo on the album.


Song Of Myself
song 1: From A Dusty Bookshelf
song 2: All That Great Heart Lying Still
song 3: Piano Black
song 4: Love

The border of the parts in this gigantic epos won't clearly shape up with one listen. The track is based on Walt Whitman's transcendential poem (of which the rhymes between this article's section's have been brutally ripped) The melodic spine of this mammouth of a track is ”All That Great Heart Lying Still”, which could be separated and made into another track.
”Piano Black” passed my ears without leaving traces, curse of these damned pre-listening sessions. Even if one had the mental abilty to form a shape from pieces, combined with a perfect auditory memory, it would be impossible to digest all of such an epic track like this.
"Love" ponders in Troy's beautifully higlighting voice about things wich most time remain unseen. Misery and beauty, bad luck and pity, like sneakily, by the corner of the eye and in filthy alleys. Observed but then ignored in the furious pace of being. The curse of the world and it's humans, roughness and charm, all between the same bookends.
”Love” speaks with the voices of Nightwish's dearest, impossible to identify, but Imaginaerum will make them all immortal. Forever. Symbolism, metaphors, multiple meanings. There are definitely more, much more layers in this track than ears can recognize. The full scale of emotions in this track will most likely remain uncomprehended for everyone except for Tuomas himself.




At length let up again to feel the puzzle of puzzles,
And that we call Being.




Imaginaerum. Once again, everything repeated, a second round without the bands's instruments. A packed combination of pieces taken from all tracks but never repeating any. An interesting outcome, almost shapeless yet coherent ending for the album which will leave one's head sizzling with thoughts.

None of the media people says a word. An hour and a quarter has passed, yet nobody realized nor expected the album to have ended. Marco has to tell it aloud to us.





Some people have claimed the new album as the heaviest and most pompous form Nightwish yet. I do not agree at all. The sound environment on the CD is just as massive and crowded as before, but when comparing the sound wall [to previous CDs] the claim is untrue. The symphony orchestra does not roar on every track, neither does Emppu's Mesa-Boogie Dual Rectifier crank up it's crushing wall of sound. By the athmosphere Imaginaerum is partially heavy, but as a whole it lacks the gloominess of Dark Passion Play, it lacks the coal-black internality of ”The Poet And The Pendulumin” and it does not have any ”Master Passion Greed” and ”Bye Bye Beautiful” -type mental vomiting expressions. Sure Imaginaerum is partially heavy like a 50-storey building and crazy as an outhouse rat, but it was not forced to become as such. It is a lot more liberated album than it's predecessor.

Imaginaerum definitely is the most challenging and maybe the most difficult album of Nightwish. When the repertoire will be stretched from the mix of a typical Finnish walz and musical box-lullaby through irish-folk-metal to a children choir and louge jazz during the first four tracks already, the listener can be assured that the album contents is exactly what the cover promises: roller-coasters and merry-go-rounds, amusement parks and ghost trains.

Will Imaginaerum be the best Nightwish album? I can not tell. At many parts it is like continuation for Dark Passion Play, but with the exception that Nightwish expanded the scale of their expression and thir set of musical tools. The body of Nightwish's metal existence seems stalled: Of the heaviest riffs on Imaginaerum only the one in ”Ghost Riverin” can be called creative, others sound a bit boring. Looks like the metal side of the band has been left a support role on purpose, when more fantastastic symphonies and now also even more experimental music styles are gaining space.

”Taikatalvi”, ”Slow, Love Slow” and ”Arabesque” are difficult by the shape of their musical language for "Joe the Metalhead" to comprehend already, neither will the wildly bouncing ”Scaretale” ease the listener's burden. "Storytime", "I Want My Tears Back" and "Last Ride Of The Day" found at the less demanding end of the lengthy artistic scale of this album are just typical instant-hits, the kind we luckily are able to spot on every Nightwish album and which can't be avoided on radio channels for the next few years. But as a whole, after a couple of listens, Imaginaerum is a surrealsitic experience which does not feel like 75 minutes long at all.

One has to sit in this Ferris Wheel for several rounds to believe that it even exist in the first place, and for the next, to figure out how far one can see from the top of it.



Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you,
You must travel it for yourself.

You are also asking me questions and I hear you,
I answer that I cannot answer, you must find out for yourself.



We will now stay and wait for the movie. The music creates enormous expectations for the film. It opens a silver screen for the listeners, for everybody to create their own story on it.

March - April 2012 will become 'Storytime'. Towards it we will be guided by the twiggy arm of the Snowman.


© Imperiumi MMVII. Mape Ollila




Translated by The Enigma

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[C.]

I can't wait to hear this album! I only hope that everything about it is just as awesome as the reviews have made it.

Kiitos, Enigma!