Nightwish - Dark Passion Play

Nightwish has finally released their latest CD, Dark Passion Play. It came out on Tuesday. I've been anxiously awaiting this album for awhile now, but somehow with everything going on I forgot about it until I was leaving work today. Needing to fix this grievous error, I immediately went to the local Hastings and picked it up.

So, how does it measure up to previous releases. I've only listened to it all the way through once and I am half way through a second listen as I type. It's going to take a few times through to really get a feel for it, however, I have to say I really like it.

Of course the big change with this album is the new singer, Annette Olzon. She does not have a classically trained voice as Tarja did. She has a "poppier" sound. I do like it, though. She has good range and emotion. It will be interesting to see how she sounds singing their older material.

The heart of Nightwish has always been Tuomas Holopainen. His poetic lyrics and beautiful compositions are what makes Nightwish Nightwish and he doesn't disappoint here even as some other band members share song writing credits on two songs. With Dark Passion Play, Tuomas has gone over and above their last CD, Once, in epicness. A full orchestra is used and the liner notes credit some fifty people in two choirs for backing vocals. This is on full display on the album's first song, The Poet and the Pendulum, a fourteen minute show-stopper about death, hope, love, and the power of music. It is probably my favorite track at this point, very reminiscent of Ghost Love Score, another of my favorites.

Marco Hietala continues to be more prominent vocally, getting lead vocals on a couple of songs, and prominent as back-up in several others. His gruff voice sets up a great contrast with Annette and makes for some dynamic interplay.

Tuomas has always been very personal with his lyrics, but a few songs seem more so on this album. It is obvious that parting with Tarja was very hard in him. He doesn't talk about his personal life much, but it is clear that he really loved her. Unfortunately for him, it was unrequited. The song Bye, Bye Beautiful really captures the anger, torment, and loss he feels. The song Master Passion Greed is most definitely about Tarja's husband and the anger Tuomas (and the rest of the band) felt with the way he treated them and pushed Tarja to go after her solo career.

All in all, while the voice may be different, Dark Passion Play is still classic Nightwish. I'm not sure how I'd rank it in relation to the others right now, but it is damn good and highly recommended if you like epic, melodic heavy metal with female vocals.