Album Preview: Nightwish - 'Imaginaerum'
News - Features
Written by Victoria Walker
Thursday, 24 November 2011 23:10
It's been a long and winding road for legendary symphonic metal band Nightwish. Having replaced Tarja Turunen, described as "the finest operatically trained singer on the planet", Tuomas Halopainen and crew had their work cut out to fill her shoes.
Of course, they discovered Anette Olzon and from that point, the band have fought hard to get from rock bottom (the bottom being death threats...) back to the top of metal's golden pedestal where they belong.
As you listen through the CD, each track makes the whole effect of the album more intense. If you think 'Dark Passion Play' was the best Nightwish had to offer, then we think that you will have to seriously reconsider. It's just that good. So yeah, if you like a combination of outstanding metal, spectacular orchestral arrangements and flawless soprano vocals (which you should, because you're reading this...) then this album will be for you.
What's it all about then? Well, this is a concept album comprised of songs that tell the tale of an old composer who revisits his childhood while on his deathbed. Fortunately, no two tracks on this album sound the same but to hear them in sequence as a combination is a more epic experience than you can imagine.
There will be a digi-pack release of two CDs, the second disc has each track in its instrumental form so you can appreciate the record from a different perspective. The album is meant to make its listeners think and question things around them and it certainly does that for us.
The album opens with a lullaby, beginning with subtle notes from Marco Hietela (vocals and bass). It is sung in Finnish and has a totally hypnotic effect on the listener. Not in any negative way though, you're not going to be compelled to walk off a cliff or anything, but as expected it truly does bring you out in goosebumps. There's a definite theme of self-realisation under-cutting it as well.
The first single release is titled 'Storytime' and it fires off with the type of punchy riff and melodic chorus that we have always come to expect from Nightwish and Tuomas hopes it "will blow the roof off your mouth". The track with the most promise is the title track and final offering on the disk, 'Imaginaerum', packed full of Celtic sound and atmospheric melody; it'll take you to the shores of Scotland.
The album has a well thought-out mix of soft melodic tones that'll soothe, evoke and inspire as well as the heavier sound that long-time fans will no doubt associate with 'Dark Passion Play', meanwhile, 'Arabesque' sees Nightwish explore a range of multicultural influences to great effect.
Working alongside orchestral legend Pip Williams, the band have once again smashed any preconceptions by creating an album so varied and emotional that it will doubtless defy genre classification and pigeonholing.
The tracklisting for 'Imaginaerum' is below:
1 - ‘Taikatalvi'
2 - ‘Storytime'
3 - ‘Ghost River'
4 - ‘Slow Love Slow'
5 - 'I Want My Tears Back'
6 - ‘Scaretale'
7 - ‘Arabesque'
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'
'Imaginaerum' will be released in the UK on Friday December 2, 2011
For more information visit the official Nightwish website.
Words: Victoria Walker
Within Temptation - 'The Unforgiving'
Reviews - CD
Written by Victoria Walker
Sunday, 27 March 2011 19:34
With 14 years' experience dabbling in the world of symphonic metal, Within Temptation rock our world with the release of their long-awaited fifth album ‘The Unforgiving'. Following the anticipation for video release ‘Faster', vocalist Sharon has replaced the eyeliner and corsets with less make-up and loose fitting tops to prepare for the joys of motherhood, but WT have thankfully stuck to what they know - decadent and deep metal music. Based on a comic book series written by Steven O'Connell, each track from this long-awaited album is based around a character from the comic, with the characters and scenery drawn by comic artist Romano Molenaar.
The album begins with a haunting voiceover from Mother Maiden, the main character in this release, and sums up in a short track her purpose and why she does what she does. Meanwhile, ‘Faster', being their first release to CD is a soulful tune that is guaranteed to get you in the mood to rock out in your bedroom, bathroom or at the bar. Using repetition of the track's title to great effect, it is the track most likely to stick in the mind - an incredibly strong and powerful beast of a tune.
The album continues the band's legacy and does not disappoint fans at any point. Catchy melodies, rockin' guitar riffs and Den Adel's flawless vocals continue on to make this a welcome addition to their musical journey. ‘Fire And Ice' particularly, contains anthemic piano backing notes and comes across as one of the most beautiful ballads that WT has ever recorded. ‘Stairway To The Skies' meanwhile, sees Sharon showing her vocal abilities off through a range of pitches and with the added impact of seriously intelligent guitar workings, this song becomes hauntingly beautiful.
The new album expands well upon the established formula that the group has perfected over the years and successfully combines a comic book and metal music is a duet come true for both WT and the artists. Overall then, it is a well constructed collection of ballads, catchy melodic tunes and vocals so pitch-perfect they'll no doubt overwhelm you each and every time you listen back.
CD Review: 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'
Reviews - CD
Written by Victoria Walker
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 23:14
Following their previous success, 'The Twilight Saga' is due to release its latest instalment of musical diversity. Released on the June 7, 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' is set to be the most popular (and commercially driven) soundtrack yet featuring the musical stylings of Muse, Florence And The Machine and Metric.
Looking in depth at this album as a whole, the listener can begin to hear the usual cross-genre alt-indie-rock sounds springing up as in previous soundtracks. There are the expected beautiful melancholy tracks with heartfelt musical intonations and an equal spread of upbeat songs to keep most everyone happy.
It seemed inevitable that Muse would feature as they have on the previous two soundtracks, new track ‘Neutron Star Collision’ is a wonderful addition to the third film and will no doubt contribute to its success. The song itself is packed with thought-provoking melody to accompany the well thought-out musical score and catchy melody lines.
An up-and-coming artist to watch out for would have to be Metric and their contribution, ‘Eclipse (All Yours)’. From the beginning this song will stick in the subconscious. The vocals are so mesmerising and the tone so passionate making this a song our standout. The combination of musical accompaniment and Emily Haines' talented vocal stylings make for a truly hypnotic track.
Meanwhile, ‘Jacob’s Theme’ is an instrumental that will play to the hearts of the audience. As such a quintessential part of the film, being a character's theme song, it has a reputation to uphold, one wrong note and it's history. Howard Shore has created a beautiful piece that will captivate audiences worldwide and it makes a credible addition to a well thought-out soundtrack.
As a fan, if you are more into skyscraping alternative pop sounds then ‘The Line’ by Battles is the song for you. With a frankly weird but ultimately catchy melody from the first second, the quirky lyrics and tribal beats only add to the positive genius of it. With its variety, 'The Line' will lift you up no matter what mood you're in and that's a promise.
To accompany a movie with such a dedicated fanbase is a hard task and the music can make or break a film as we all know. The bigger names (Muse) will bring the fans in and the less known artists (Battles) make the compilation special. The previous soundtracks for the film were decent, but we think this latest instalment takes it up to a whole other level and will have followers from all over the world celebrating the success of a much admired franchise.
For more information visit the official movie website.
Words: Victoria Walker
Words: Victoria Walker
Dorp - The Vivaz, Scarborough [05/12/08]
Music - Live
Written by Dom Smith
Pictures: Victoria Walker
Pictures: Victoria Walker
Wednesday, 10 December 2008 20:32
Dorp love playing the North and it's clear to us that this band have been making waves within both the Alternative and mainstream markets over the last few months, and as they return to Scarborough the atmosphere is buzzing.
Just as well really, as when we have managed to catch the band on previous dates down south, their brand of electronic pop-rock failed to cause such a stir. Right from the off tonight the lads bring their very best to The Vivaz. Unfortunately and as usual when SPHERE have been around, the opening moments of 'I Got What You Need' are dogged by sound issues. Fortunately though, by the time they get round to the anthemic 'Pigs Do Fly' all is well once more and the eager foursome are loving every minute of it. The tone really picks up during the venemous and guitar-drenched 'NME' and similarly for their powerful standout 'Rollercoaster.' With this, Scarborough gets raucous as they bounce around the band, who are feeding from the energy of the 'piddled' attendees.
The group told us beforehand that this was the show that they had most been looking forward to since they began the Rock Sound sponsored tour. That's sweet we thought, because we warn you. The band will not be playing these intimate venues for much longer. Grab on for the ride whilst you still can.
7/10
For fans of: Placebo, Radiohead, Alec Empire
They play two more dates before the end of the tour this month. Worcester, The Marrs Bar (11) and Blackburn, The Cellar Bar (12)
For more information please check out the band's Myspace, Website and Youtube links.
Check out The Vivaz HERE. We had a great time, and they have some great rock nights!
Words: Dom Smith and Pics: Victoria Walker
Live Review: The Mighty Boosh [Grand Opera House, York] September 23, 2008
Reviews - Live
Written by The Vixen (Victoria Walker)
Sunday, 28 September 2008 21:46
We shall dive straight in to the opening of the Boosh live experience which brings with it the return of the popular ‘Future Sailors’ routine from series three; and as you would expect by now, the crowd are lapping it up.
The introduction to the cast follows the fantastic opening, with an introduction to Howard Moon and Vince Noir. As expected there are classic comedy lines; ‘That’s not a moustache, it’s a Bovril smudge’, and the witty banter that loyal Boosh fans have come to expect.
As Bob Fossil enters centre stage he delivers his part of the show with the usual sexually orientated comments and he begins to dance his way back into the audience’s hearts.
The entrance of Naboo and Bollo in the theme of a rap shows the Boosh’s classic style of incorporating every style of music onto their act, however Vince and Howard have to stop Naboo’s rap pretty quickly as they start spinning off crude lyrics. Of course, what Boosh show would be complete without the famous phrase, ‘I’m going to turn my back on you now, let that be a lesson to you’, combined of course with the accompanying music.
Let me tell you there was absolutely no chance that we could escape the high level of audience interaction and witty banter included in this comedy act, you were practically falling over it from laughing.
With the introduction of the moon there were technical difficulties, we could hear the moon but we could not see him, this did not discourage fans though, as they sat avidly waiting for the problem to be sorted and for the show to continue.
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| Pic: No copyright clearance |
Tony Harrison's entrance is set up in a chat show form, and provides as much humour as you could want, with the comedy guest talking gibberish into the microphone, the audience are left feeling fulfilled and anxious to see more.
As the crack fox is brought in to raise The Hitcher from the dead, a concert is then performed as the curtains fall to signify the interlude.
As the curtain rises once more to a crowd of screaming fans it marks the beginning of Howard’s devised piece ‘No future’. The general story is about based around one man being left alive when all else has been destroyed, there are however four mutants that are taught how to live by Howard himself. It is around this time that Vince begins rebelling against Howard’s script and stealing the limelight from Howard to himself.
He successfully does this by rewriting only his script, and introducing himself and Bob fossil as two robots from the future, and making the enture devised piece a mockery, in true Boosh style.
Throughout the show, Vince attempts to increase marketing strategies for his company by slipping the name into the general chatter. Vince does this because he is now the face of John Claude Jaquette. He turns
Howard’s carefully planned and scripted piece of theatre into one long advert for his company.
With sexual references dotted all over the place, the most important one being the enormous silver tin penis supported by Bob Fossil as a futuristic pleasurebot, make this Boosh tour a lot spicier for the fans, opening up new doors for the ever increasing talent. There are also new crimps, which only build the rapidly growing fan base.
As the curtains fall to signify the end of the show, Eleanor, the man eating widow who has a serious thing for Howard comes out with a bowl of bingo balls. As she reads some out, the balls get thrown into the audience. A twist appears when the ball with the number 666 appears, and the curtains open showing a change of set, to a band layout and Eleanor goes to join the cast all dressed as nana’s to perform the 'Nanageddon' number. The end with an encore and ask the crowd if they want more, and as they clearly did, they performed ‘I did a shit’ to a standing ovation and to end the night off with a bang, the band decided to finish off the night with the return of a well known character ‘Charlie’. Every member of the crowd was on their feet for this spectacular finale. I have to say this was the best performance I have ever been to, and The Mighty Boosh really excelled themselves.
The highlight of my night however, has to be when the Boosh beat the crap out of the honey monster for ripping off their crimps on the new advert. This for me, made all the Boosh fans happy and successfully got revenge on the honey monster, purely because his head was mounted on a spike, and then mercifully, made love to by Tony Harrison.
By the end, the Boosh have acquired a standing ovation and the comedy sketch has turned more into a rock concert. Change is sometimes good, and we think the fact that the mighty Boosh are emerging from a comedy act into a comedy act and a band is one that the audience will love! It shows that the Boosh can adapt to suit its audience, and the ability to do this, should take them a lot further, so far that they will eventually conquer the world.
Words: Victoria Walker
