Nuclear Blast
2011
1. Taikatalvi
2. Storytime
3. Ghost River
4. Slow, Love, Slow
5. I Want My Tears Back
6. Scaretale
7. Arabesque (instrumental)
8. Turn Loose The Mermaids
9. Rest Calm
10. The Crow, The Owl, And The Dove
11. Last Ride Of The Day
12. Song Of Myself
13. Imaginaerum (instrumental)
To say I have little interest in Nightwish these days would be something of an understatement. This band started to lose me back in 2002 with Century Child and hasn't really gotten me back since. Why then do I listen to this? Well, for some reason Nightwish is still sort of a 'big name' and I do tend to check out albums from bands I once liked. In most cases it's because I hold that slight hope the band could come back into form. In Nightwish's case... it's more curiosity and wanting to get a review up for em. I don't think this band is capable of coming back with the current singer to be blunt.
That being said, when I heard the new single Storytime I held a little hope for a good, but different album. Obviously, Nightwish is never going to be what it once was and the operatics are pretty well gone, but I thought maybe this could be a good, if more typical, female fronted release potentially. Unfortunately, even being generous and trying to go in with an open mind I came up empty. It's no real wonder why Storytime is the single as it is by far the most catchy and energetic tune here. Beyond that Imaginaerum sounds like a mish mash of rejected Tim Burton soundtrack ideas for the most part.
Now let me just say I get what they were going for here. Kind of a carnival-esque dark vibe. I can see the aim, but frankly Imaginaerum tries way too hard and is not firmly grounded enough in the band's previous sound(s) or at times metal. A big for instance rears it's ugly head in the dark jazzy sounding tune Slow, Love, Slow which is the low point of the album and maybe the band's catalogue. This is the Perfect example of a concept gone too far. Does it sound kinda brooding and like a decent soundtrack piece? Maybe, but I didn't really pop this one in looking for something with jazz bass and a brooding female vocalist. I put this on for some fucking metal ok? This just seems like a band stretching itself too far out of it's comfort zone more than anything else. More problems also show themselves in the form of Ghost River which once again latches onto that dark carnival sorta vibe to it's detriment. When Marco tries to sound dark and intense here it's so over the top it honestly ends up sounding just noisy and discordant along with the music.
Ok not Everything is as bad as Slow, Love Slow. The album does have it's moments on songs like the above mentioned Storytime with it's sing songy chorus and the nice celtic elements in I Want My Tears Back. Then there are songs which fall somewhere in the middle like Scaretale which is decently heavy, but is also over the top at times trying to sound dark and burton-esque. Not to mention the song is just too damn bouncy for my tastes. Then of course there are the ballads like Turn Loose The Mermaids and The Crow, The Own, And The Dove which aren't bad, but really aren't all that inspired or gripping either. Worth mentioning also is the tragically flawed and bloated Song Of Myself which really isn't bad to start and actually sounds pretty epic. By the time you're deep into this 13 minute+ song though you kind of want out. Did we really need the long passages of basically talking? That is my question.
Well, in listing off a good portion of the songs I think I could come up with a genuinely positive impression of two. All in all, this album just drowns in it's concept and is actually fairly intolerably over the top and cheeseball at times. Trying waaaaay too hard is really the only way to sum up this album. Between the goofiness and the fact that Anette still isn't much of a vocalist I can't really find much enjoyment in Imaginaerum. Maybe if the band didn't try so hard to reach outside the box they could come up with a decent female atmospheric album, but this is overly ambitious and not all that good. I'm not sure I can even recommend this to hardcore Nightwish fans as it's just a strange experience. It's like there is some good music at times, but those moments tend to be buried under the weight of the blunt way this album forces it's concept down your throat. If you listened to this and a Nightwish classic like Wishmaster there is no way in hell you'd know it was the same band.
Highlights: Storytime, I Want My Tears Back
Rating - 2.0/5
2. Storytime
3. Ghost River
4. Slow, Love, Slow
5. I Want My Tears Back
6. Scaretale
7. Arabesque (instrumental)
8. Turn Loose The Mermaids
9. Rest Calm
10. The Crow, The Owl, And The Dove
11. Last Ride Of The Day
12. Song Of Myself
13. Imaginaerum (instrumental)
To say I have little interest in Nightwish these days would be something of an understatement. This band started to lose me back in 2002 with Century Child and hasn't really gotten me back since. Why then do I listen to this? Well, for some reason Nightwish is still sort of a 'big name' and I do tend to check out albums from bands I once liked. In most cases it's because I hold that slight hope the band could come back into form. In Nightwish's case... it's more curiosity and wanting to get a review up for em. I don't think this band is capable of coming back with the current singer to be blunt.
That being said, when I heard the new single Storytime I held a little hope for a good, but different album. Obviously, Nightwish is never going to be what it once was and the operatics are pretty well gone, but I thought maybe this could be a good, if more typical, female fronted release potentially. Unfortunately, even being generous and trying to go in with an open mind I came up empty. It's no real wonder why Storytime is the single as it is by far the most catchy and energetic tune here. Beyond that Imaginaerum sounds like a mish mash of rejected Tim Burton soundtrack ideas for the most part.
Now let me just say I get what they were going for here. Kind of a carnival-esque dark vibe. I can see the aim, but frankly Imaginaerum tries way too hard and is not firmly grounded enough in the band's previous sound(s) or at times metal. A big for instance rears it's ugly head in the dark jazzy sounding tune Slow, Love, Slow which is the low point of the album and maybe the band's catalogue. This is the Perfect example of a concept gone too far. Does it sound kinda brooding and like a decent soundtrack piece? Maybe, but I didn't really pop this one in looking for something with jazz bass and a brooding female vocalist. I put this on for some fucking metal ok? This just seems like a band stretching itself too far out of it's comfort zone more than anything else. More problems also show themselves in the form of Ghost River which once again latches onto that dark carnival sorta vibe to it's detriment. When Marco tries to sound dark and intense here it's so over the top it honestly ends up sounding just noisy and discordant along with the music.
Ok not Everything is as bad as Slow, Love Slow. The album does have it's moments on songs like the above mentioned Storytime with it's sing songy chorus and the nice celtic elements in I Want My Tears Back. Then there are songs which fall somewhere in the middle like Scaretale which is decently heavy, but is also over the top at times trying to sound dark and burton-esque. Not to mention the song is just too damn bouncy for my tastes. Then of course there are the ballads like Turn Loose The Mermaids and The Crow, The Own, And The Dove which aren't bad, but really aren't all that inspired or gripping either. Worth mentioning also is the tragically flawed and bloated Song Of Myself which really isn't bad to start and actually sounds pretty epic. By the time you're deep into this 13 minute+ song though you kind of want out. Did we really need the long passages of basically talking? That is my question.
Well, in listing off a good portion of the songs I think I could come up with a genuinely positive impression of two. All in all, this album just drowns in it's concept and is actually fairly intolerably over the top and cheeseball at times. Trying waaaaay too hard is really the only way to sum up this album. Between the goofiness and the fact that Anette still isn't much of a vocalist I can't really find much enjoyment in Imaginaerum. Maybe if the band didn't try so hard to reach outside the box they could come up with a decent female atmospheric album, but this is overly ambitious and not all that good. I'm not sure I can even recommend this to hardcore Nightwish fans as it's just a strange experience. It's like there is some good music at times, but those moments tend to be buried under the weight of the blunt way this album forces it's concept down your throat. If you listened to this and a Nightwish classic like Wishmaster there is no way in hell you'd know it was the same band.
Highlights: Storytime, I Want My Tears Back
Rating - 2.0/5
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