CD Review: Dark Passion Play (Nightwish)

I will begin the cd reviews with the more controversial metal album of 2007: Dark Passion Play, by the well known finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. I say controversial because of, for those who are still living without knowing that, Tarja Turunen's firing from the band, due to differences with the rest of members.

So, the new singer, the swedish Anette Olzon was the chosen for replacing Tarja after a looooooooong and boooooooring casting... ¬¬ and now the fans are divided into Tarja fans and Anette I-will-give-you-a-chance persons; I must recognize that Anette isn't a bad singer, she really sings very well... but she is not Tarja, and she won't be never Tarja; everybody should understand this, and forget the superb soprano and her association with the metal band... A clear example is Eva song, composed by Holopainen thinking of Tarja as singer; Anette sings well, but doesn't connect with the orchestra like Tarja would connect.

Well, after this introduction, let's go with the cd review.

As Nightwish already did with their last album, Once (2004), the London Session Ochestra and a choir is performing with the band on every song. In addition, in Dark Passion Play is also performing an irish fiddler and piper, though only in a few songs, as special guests. With these entities within the production, and a total album cost of €500.000, this album is, at least in theory, a huge and enormous musical experience... but it's not true, not at least as a metal album.

This Nightwish's sixth album has the best and magical orchestrations of all of their discography: the orchestra and choir do an enormous job; congratulations for the performers!!! However, the convergence with the metal parts, in my opinion, is not well done. You only have to listen the 12th song, 7 Days to the Wolves, or better the 8th one, Whoever brings the night: it has one of the worst chorus melodies of Nightwish history, and the guitar riffs are typical and boring; but the interludium with the orchestra and choir, and the using of a double bass drums and the metal boards percussion often used in, for example, Matrix trilogy (score by Don Davis), is one of the greater interludiums of the entire cd.

In addition, Marco Hietala, bass player and male vocalist of the band, has done an excellent job with his distinct voice, overalls in Master Passion Greed, composed by himself, but also in Bye Bye Beautiful (really, the song if quite bad, but Marco saves it singing the chorus with his peculiar force and energy) and the movie-soundtrack-style The Poet and the Pendulum, the great and epic 14-minute-long track, in my opinion the best (and first XD) track of the album.

Really I think that Nightwish has evolutioned in an Epica mood, because Anette parts are more melodic and calmed (but also more simple than in previous albums...) than the Marco ones (listen to Poet and the Pendulum or Bye Bye Beautiful sections where is Marco who sings for advertise that), more darker and heavy.

So, the previously cited The Poet and the Pendulum is the masterpiece of Tuomas Holopainen, the keyboard player and the main composer of the band. Joining the previous orchestrations that appeared on Once's songs Creek Mary's Blood, Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijian (special mention of the cello as the soloist), and Ghost Love Score, and doing variations of them, Tuomas has composed the more complex song of all the Nightwish albums: strings, cello, french horns, timpani, trumpets, flute, adult and children choir, one of the irish fiddle appearances... even a neoclassical guitar solo!! (yes, Emppu plays the second good solo in Nightwish history!! XD) The symphonic convergence with the band is almost perfect, and Anette and Marco do a good job in their vocal parts... a great symphonic metal piece!!

Amaranth, Sahara, The Islander, the previously mentioned 7 Days to the Wolves, the instrumental Last of the Wilds and Meadows of Heaven (this last one including the best Anette performance, far away of Tarja's register and supreme singing capabilities) are also a great symphonic metal pieces (ok, Meadows of Heaven is not metal :P); however, the rest of the songs (like Cadence of her Last Breath, For the Heart I Once Had, or the already cited Bye Bye Beautiful and Whoever Brings the Night) are tracks with a commercial atmosphere, with typical arrangements, typical guitar rythms, typical melodic line... only the interludiums are a little more enjoying.

Resuming... a good symphonic metal album, but only good because of orchestrations; only a few songs are good metal tracks. Yes, it's true that the cd total time is about 75 minutes, but there are more music minutes than enough; less minutes and better compositions, like The Poet and the Pendulum, Master Passion Greed or Sahara, please!!! There are too much songs in the cd having bad parts and good parts at the same ponderation, like Bye Bye Beautiful, Whoever Brings the Night, or 7 Days to the Wolves...

Tracklist (1:15:39):

1. The Poet And The Pendulum (13:53)
   
2. Bye Bye Beautiful (4:14)
   
3. Amaranth (3:57)
   
4. Cadence Of Her Last Breath (4:14)
   
5. Master Passion Greed (6:02)
   
6. Eva (4:24)
   
7. Sahara (5:46)
   
8. Whoever Brings The Night (4:17)
   
9. For The Heart I Once Had (3:55)
   
10. The Islander (5:05)
    
11. Last Of The Wilds (5:40)
    
12. 7 Days To The Wolves (7:03)
    
13. Meadows Of Heaven (7:09)

Pros: the orchestra and choir, and Marco.
Cons: the absence of symbiosis between the band and orchestra in most of the tracks, and the simplicity of some non-orchestra parts.
Best Track: The Poet and the Pendulum.


ps1: recently, Nightwish has performed live in Tallinn (Estonia), and the setlist has been awesome, for bad feelings about it... because of bad regards from Tuomas, Nightwish seems to refuse performing classics like Bless the Child, Elvenpath, or even The Kinslayer!! A very bad news... :( here I show the setlist of the concert:

1. Intro + Bye Bye Beautiful
2. Cadence Of Her Last Breath
3. Dark Chest Of Wonders
4. Ever Dream
5. Come Cover Me
6. Amaranth
7. Sacrament Of Wilderness
8. The Islander
9. The Poet And The Pendulum
10. She Is My Sin
11. Sahara
12. Sleeping Sun
13. Slaying the Dreamer
14. Nemo
    

    ---

15. Eva
16. Wishmaster
17. Wish I Had An Angel
18. Outro: Blood Diamond

ps2: dates confirmed for show in Barcelona: April 14th of 2008 (monday!!)... ¬¬ tour info can be seen here.