Nightwish - Weak Fantasy

Last week, Finnish symphonic rockers Nightwish released their new album, and first with vocalist Floor Jansen. As usual with Nightwish albums, it takes some time to fully ingratiate with the dense, often long songs. Honestly, the twenty-four minute track that closes the album probably won't even find its way onto my ipod. I'm not a hardcore enough fan to have time for that. Upon listening to the album, there was one song that stuck out immediately as being incredibly awesome and exactly what I love about the band. Weak Fantasy is the second track, and it's classic, bombastic Nightwish. Both the hard rock and symphonic elements are operating at full tilt, and the song as a whole has a theatrical, aggressively insistent feel to it. It kind of sounds like it could have come from a heavier version of The Phantom of the Opera or something! The hook is especially indelible, with its snarling delivery and crushing production. Though I'm not sure how often I'll be revisiting the album as a whole, I can't stop listening to this song.


Nightwish 2015 - Weak Fantasy by MusicHits1

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Tuomas Holopainen - A Lifetime Of Adventure

"Try the freedom of an open road"

This is a little different than the usual stuff that I post, but I think it's just perfect for Winter. I'm a huge fan of the symphonic bombast of Finnish band Nightwish. I rated their latest album as my second favorite of 2011 and still play it a lot today. Now, the brains behind the band, Tuomas Holopainen, is about to release his first solo project. It's a concept album based on the graphic novel... wait for it... "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck." No clue. I'm just going to ignore that fact, though, and concentrate on the beautiful music. This track forgoes his usual bombast and ups the symphonic quotient, with a gorgeous guest vocal by Johanna Kurkela. It's the kind of song that draws you in with its lush tranquility, but keeps you with its lasting melody and sheer musicianship.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. Preorder the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Halloween Hit: Nightwish - Scaretale

"Restless souls will put on their dancing shoes"

For the next few Fridays, I'm going to share some songs that I think would be perfect for Halloween. After all, it's an Alienhits tradition. To be honest, I feel like Halloween is really sneaking up on me this year. I still haven't carved a pumpkin, I've only had a couple pieces of candy corn, and there hasn't been a corn maze or harvest festival in sight. What am I doing?? At least this song, from Nightwish's most recent (awesome) album, puts me in the creepy Halloween mood. Scaretale is seven plus minutes of perfectly atmospheric, Tim Burton-esque magic. I can't think of a better song to soundtrack a visit to the haunted house of your choice.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Top 20 Albums of 2011: 2-1

2. Nightwish - Imaginaerum



Sure, it's not 100% perfect, but no other album displayed this much ambition in 2011. The highs on this are amongst the best things recorded this year. Mixing symphonic rock, film soundtracks, goth-rock-pop vocals and more bombast than you can fathom, Nightwish made their strongest album more than a decade into their career.

1. The Sound Of Arrows - Voyage



Like the title states, this is more of an odyssey than an album. In 2011, it was rare to find a collection of songs that played well one after another without any skipping, re-ordering or replacing. In a year of singles and EPs over albums, The Sound of Arrows made a real, classic album--cohesive in sound and message and vision. From the anthemic opener to the triumphant, epic dream of a closer, this is a singular work that sounds like nothing else out there. Bravo, guys.

Top 50 Singles of 2011: 5-1

5. Rihanna - We Found Love



Sometimes the most amazing songs are also the simplest. Rihanna's got a lot to thank Calvin Harris for. His production on this is just stunning, but it's the gutsy, battle-cry vocals that put this over the top. Her best single yet? Maybe.

4. Example - Changed The Way You Kissed Me



An example (haha) of how to mash genres successfully and create something that's better than the sum of its parts. Electro, rap, pop... everything gets its fair share in this track, all tied together by some of the best production of the year.

3. Lady Gaga - The Edge Of Glory



Gaga goes full-out rock goddess. So good that listeners demanded it as a single. This is what happens when a mainstream pop star refuses to settle, going for something bigger and more majestic than anybody else.

2. Nightwish - Storytime



A symphonic goth-rocker from a Finnish band. I didn't see this coming, but I love surprises. This track meshes so many of my favorite things into just over five minutes. Catchy, Abba-esque vocals, symphonic bombast and a choir of rock angels.

1. Pnau - The Truth



Released at the very beginning of the year, this track takes the top spot because no other song represented everything I loved about 2011 music better than this. It wraps it all together. Drama, dance, rock, bombast, melody. It's all here, and it sounds new each time I listen to it.

Track-by-Track: Nightwish - Imaginaerum

It's hard to judge a Nightwish album. In many ways, they're operating so far above other acts that it seems unfair to use the same scale to rate them. Like their last album, there's nothing here that hasn't been exquisitely crafted. The band continue to experiment with genres, and it's natural that every experiment won't fully click with every listener. So, where the band gets docked points is only where their experiments didn't click with me. But make no mistake, this is one of the albums of the year. No doubt about that.

1. Taikatalvi - An intro, sung in Finnish and setting the tone for the album. Nice, but I won't rate an intro.

2. Storytime - The first single, and not only one of the best tracks on the album but also one of the best songs of the year. It's absolutely massive yet still instantly catchy. This represents the sound that Nightwish do best. 10/10

3. Ghost River - Continuing with an experimental theatrical sound, this is slightly less instant. The riffs that open the track are amazing and I love the use of the children's choir, but the melody isn't as strong as the last track. 9/10

4. Slow, Love, Slow - A jazz number (!). It's brilliant for what it is, but I'm afraid this kind of music just isn't my thing. Maybe it would fit better later in the album, but right here I just feel like it kills the energy. Anette sounds great, though. 8/10

5. I Want My Tears Back - Now we're back! Mixing elements of hair metal, folk, rock and pop into a ridiculously inventive gumbo, you've got to hear this to believe it. The melody is among the most instant on the album, and then the track goes totally off the rails with a blistering instrumental. 10/10

6. Scaretale - More experimental with its song structure, of all the songs this sounds the most like a Tim Burton film. It's more like a freaky carnival circus than an actual song, but that's okay because it's just demented enough to be fun. A little long, maybe, but otherwise awesome. 9/10

7. Arabesque - It's all about the drums in this instrumental. It's a refreshing palette cleanser between songs and a dramatic focal point in its own right. 10/10

8. Turn Loose The Mermaids - A classic folk ballad with a beautiful, if familiar, melody. Anette sings this and does so very well. Not my favorite ballad on the album, but a close second. 10/10

9. Rest Calm - Probably the darkest/heaviest track on the album and, because of that, not a favorite of mine. I like the verses better than the chorus, and I think I'd like it more if the track wasn't so long. It's totally fine, just not a standout. 8/10

10. The Crow, The Owl And The Dove - My favorite ballad and rumored to be the next single. It's one of the poppier tracks on the album, while still maintaining a folk sensibility. It's a beautiful duet with a melody that I can't get out of my head. 10/10

11. Last Ride Of The Day - Now this is epic. It's similar in sound to Storytime, but might be even better. The choir is used brilliantly, and that moment we get the key change with the layered vocals? Epic! 10/10

12. Song Of Myself - Another ridiculously epic track, and the longest song on the album at nearly fourteen minutes. The latter half is a spoken poem, but the first half is pure bombast. One of the best things you'll hear this year. 10/10

13. Imaginaerum - An instrumental recap of several of the songs from the album. It's the closing credits for their upcoming movie. Here, it's a perfect capper to one of the year's best albums. 10/10

Album Grade: 9.5/10

* Wanna make this album even better? Combine tracks from this and 2007's Dark Passion Play and you have, literally, the best Nightwish album ever concocted. This is meaning-of-life good, folks. So here's Imaginaerum (Alienhits version):
1. Poet and the Pendulum (edited to the 10:05 mark -- the last few minutes ruin the flow -- Nightwish purists will kill me but I'm all about the sequencing)
2. Storytime
3. Last Ride of the Day
4. Amaranth
5. The Crow, the Owl and the Dove
6. Bye Bye Beautiful
7. I Want My Tears Back
8. Cadence of Her Last Breath
9. Eva
10. Scaretale
11. Arabesque
12. For the Heart I Once Had
13. The Islander
14. Escapist (DPP b-side)
15. Turn Loose the Mermaids
16. Song of Myself
17. Imaginaerum

(If you've gotta cut it down to fit on a cd, take out Scaretale and either the Islander or Imaginaerum)

Nightwish - Song Of Myself

"A song of need of a courageous symphony"

This new Nightwish album is something else. It's like they took their last one and blew it up to twice the size. If you're a fan of huge orchestral rock, Tim Burton/Danny Elfman, rock musicals or massive choral vocals, you've got to give this a listen. Song Of Myself is the climax of the album, coming at the very end and lasting over thirteen minutes. Of course, the last half of the song is more spoken word poetry than melody, so it does cut itself in two very neatly. And while the last 6-7 minutes makes more sense in the context of the album, the "song" portion is immediately accessible to anyone. I'm a sucker for drama, and this delivers like crazy. In a word, it is epic like nothing else has been epic this year. And I thought Storytime was big! Of course, me being the obsessive music resequencer/cut-and-paster that I am, I've found a way to make this album even better. Basically, combining the best elements from Imaginaerium and their last album, Dark Passion Play, makes something that's pretty much perfect. Maybe I'll post my tracklist later.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Nightwish - Storytime

"I am the voice of Never-Never Land"

After months of long lulls in interesting music releases, the floodgates have opened this November. My latest obsession is this incredible, huge, ridiculously overblown track by Finnish symphonic rock band Nightwish. Some of you might already be familiar with Nightwish. They're big in Scandinavia and have quite a huge cult following around the world. They've been around for awhile but it's been a few years since their last release. This is the first single from the new album, Imaginaerium, which is due out in a couple of weeks. The album's going to have an accompanying movie, which I am so excited about. Nightwish is the perfect kind of band to have their own rock opera. But enough about the album. This song... oh my god this SONG. I have no words, really. Instead, let me highlight some of the things I'm obsessing over:

1. The fact that this essentially sounds like Abba fronting a classical/metal/goth band.
2. The children's choir/MASSIVE symphonic breakdown two thirds of the way through.
3. The references to "Peter Pan" and storytelling, which I gather is the subject matter of the concept album.
4. That. Chorus.

Bottom line, this is one of the best singles I've heard all year. I CAN'T WAIT for the album!

Nightwish - Storytime by alienhits

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Preorder the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.