Dark Passion Play – My preview
1. The Poet And The Pendulum
Even though I wasn’t really impressed by it in the beginning, it is steadily growing on me the more I listen to the song. However, the boy sopranos still stay irritating (I think the female baroque singers would do their job much better), but what this epic song accomplishes is creating an awkwardly scary, horror-like atmosphere. Bombastic attack of the orchestra, catchy and strong chorus, dramatic crescendo where Tuomas dies, the heartbeats can be heard, all these things really make your arm hair go up. But the most beautiful part is the calm ending of the song (Mother and Father) with incredibly emotive Anette’s singing, almost as if she were crying in the studio. I really like this song, but it is so depressive, hard for listening and emotionally disturbing that I’m sure I won’t listen to it very often, for the sake of my nerves.
2. Bye Bye, Beautiful
A rehash of Wish I had an angel, obviously, but much better than it, in my opinion. Anette simply shines in the verses, and Marko sounds very angry and raw in the chorus and the bridge. Veeeery catchy chorus, which I really like, and the lyrics make this song even more special (but, does he shout Die, die, beautiful, or am I wrong?!). I’m sure this is going to be a blast of the song for ending the concerts.
3. Amaranth
For people who don’t like this song – you suck. Or you’re deaf. You decide. Extremely catchy and likeable, but in the most positive way. The chorus does sound like Abba gone metal, but after all, Abba is still an axiom for pop musicians, isn’t it? Anette’s rock voice comes to its full strength, especially while squeaking some extremely high notes in the end.
4. Cadence Of Her Last Breath
Anette moaning. Sexy. Then some nu-metal riff. Booooo! But the rest of the song is great, trust me. The chorus is fantastic, Anette sings very emotionally, and there is a great Emppu’s solo in the middle of the song. But this is the song where orchestra and choir were completely unnecessary, and take some of its rawness away.
5. Master Passion Greed
You may call me deaf, but I really feel the old-Nightwish vibe in this song. I’m serious! Maybe not in the trash double-pedal beginning, but the rest of the song sound very Nightwishy to me. However, it is again a song where orchestrations only spoil the atmosphere. This is supposed to be a heavy, raw, furious song, what the hell has choir and horns to do with it? I just hope they will play it live, but without any help of the mini-disc. Marko sings great here! Mr Cabuli got a good song written about himself. He should be proud.
6. Eva
Symphonic ballad, Disney-like. Anette sings it so softly and tenderly that you can’t believe it’s actually her. Orchestra and gospel choir add a very melancholic feel to it. A touching guitar solo in the bridge, and pompous ending chorus. Surely one of the better NW ballads.
7. Sahara
It does remind me of Kashmir by Queen! I love oriental melodies, and I surely enjoyed this song, especially Anette’s vocals, which have its highlight in this piece. She simply plays with semitones in the verses, even enters a slightly classical field in one moment, and in the ending does some ethnic chanting. Amazing! I want more of these vocal exhibitions from her in the future. The male choir is excellent as well.
8. Whoever Brings The Night
I could survive without having this song on the album, honestly. There are some nice guitar moments, but overall, the song is nothing special, and again with loads of useless symphonic elements and processed vocals, that were supposed to create “spooky” atmosphere (but I think that the Scream film trilogy was spookier than this).
9. For The Heart I Once Had
And here we can clearly hear the good ol’ NW sound! Very happy, playful song, yet still with some lines of melancholy. Reminds me a bit of White Night Fantasy. And Olzon’s singing…..after hearing her in this song, I decided – she deserves to sing in Nightwish! Amazing performance, pretty high-pitched, happy singing, as if she were laughing in the studio.
10. The Islander
Blackmore’s Night tune on a Nightwish album? How better can it be than that?! But, who’s the guy singing this song? Seriously, Marko doesn’t sound like himself here at all, but still, the song is great, relaxing, very visualizing. Anette just helps Marko in the chorus to create the folky atmosphere, which leads us into the next piece……………..
11. Last Of The Wilds
Ireland and Finland organize a folk-metal event, that’s what this song’s about! A master-piece, supported by wistful Uillean pipes and dreamy notes of kantele. First Uillean pipes and violins fight with some heavy guitars, then the kantele joins in to calm the song down, and then they all burst into an amazingly danceable ending. They just HAVE TO play this song live. I don’t know how, but they just have to. Period. And Tuomas has to say goodbye to metal music and devotes himself to composing sympho-ethnic songs. No, I’m not joking. He’s obviously got a thing for it. Or at least do an album of folk stuff.
12. Seven Days To The Wolves
An OK song, has some very good music (I especially enjoyed the tribal drum part and the violin solo), but the vocals here are utter disappointment. Anette is more like yelling in this song than singing, and Marko isn’t convincing either. But I am looking forward to the instrumental version of it.
13. Meadows Of Heaven
One of the most beautiful songs ever composed, really. Gorgeous intro with violas and violins, melancholic, wistful, sweet singing of Anette’s, intermingled with Uillean pipes. And in the ending part the gospel choir kicks in, adding a truly heavenly atmosphere into the song. Anette sings over them, with voice full of emotions, and the gospel soloists simply shine. A bombastic, and above all, very passionate ending to the album full of passion.
14. While Your Lips Are Still Red
Not really an album song, but still it goes in more or less the same package with new songs. To put it short – one of the best NW ballads, if not the best. Marko sounds amazingly tender and gentle, he should use this style more often. Beautiful work of piano and violin, the music makes you either cry or kiss someone’s lips…..if you have an appropriate person beside you. Just beautiful.
Overal review
This album is certainly similar to Once music-wise, but is also taking great leaps forward from it. I can say that DPP is better than Once, at least to me. That means that it is my second favourite NW album, ‘cause it has yet to beat AFF in my preferences.
The only complaints I have about the music is the excessive, or better to say, way too over-hyper-escessive use of orchestra and choir (I feel they should change their name to “Nightwish and London Session Orchestra and Choir). It does fit well with its bombast and richness to most of the songs, but in some cases (Master passion greed, Cadence of her last breath) is simply watering down the songs, and making the whole album sound monotonous and repetitive, which it isn’t. In that field the album is not well balanced, but, if you like big orchestrations in metal, this won’t bother you at all in DPP.
Favourite songs – Meadows of Heaven, For the Heart I Once Had, Last Of The Wilds.
And of course, the new voice, Anette Olzon. First of all, I won’t even try to compare her with Tarja, it’s useless, as if you compared Bocelli and Bjork. Totally different style, technique, sound, whatever. Leave the great singing of Tarja’s in NW to rest in piece, and follow her classical-crossover career she’s pursuing at the moment. Old era is just an old era. But in this album, I really feel Anette’s vocals fit very well, she feels every song she sings, hits the right emotion in almost every note, her vocal highlights being in Sahara, Amaranth, Eva. Of course there are some passages which didn’t really touch me (verse of The Poet and the Pendulum, Seven Days To The Wolves), but I guess all singers have such not-so-glorious moments. The only real weakness of her voice is, that it doesn’t complement at all when singing along with choirs or soprano boys (The poet and the pendulum, Sahara, Meadows of heaven). Their timbres just don’t go together. Luckily, her voice is in perfect harmony with Marko’s, and that’s way more important for this band.
So, don’t try to compare this album to any previous NW album, especially not to their ancient “opera metal” works, because it’s no use. Just enjoy these new songs on their own, close your eyes, let them picture images in your mind, and I am sure everyone will find at least a bunch of the songs to their liking.
A great beginning to, hopefully, even greater new era!
4th August 2007
Nikola Baković
