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Nightwish - Imaginaerum



8 | 928 votes |
Release date: 30 November 2011
Style: Symphonic power metal, Symphonic metal

Owners:

755 have it
152 want it
1 trades it


Disc I
01. Taikatalvi
02. Storytime
03. Ghost River
04. Slow, Love, Slow
05. I Want My Tears Back
06. Scaretale
07. Arabesque
08. Turn Loose The Mermaids
09. Rest Calm
10. The Crow, The Owl And The Dove
11. Last Ride Of The Day
12. Song Of Myself
    1 - From A Dusty Bookshelf
    2 - All That Great Heart Lying Still
    3 - Piano Black
    4 - Love
13. Imaginaerum

Disc II [bonus] [2CD: instrumental version / tour edition: orchestral version]
01. Taikatalvi
02. Storytime
03. Ghost River
04. Slow, Love, Slow
05. I Want My Tears Back [instrumental version only]
06. Scaretale
07. Arabesque
08. Turn Loose The Mermaids
09. Rest Calm
10. The Crow, The Owl And The Dove
11. Last Ride Of The Day
12. Song Of Myself
    1 - From A Dusty Bookshelf
    2 - All That Great Heart Lying Still
    3 - Piano Black
    4 - Love
13. Imaginaerum

Disc III [DVD] [tour edition bonus]
+ Making Of Imaginaerum
+ Storytime [video]

Additional info
Tour edition released on April 11, 2012

Staff review by
Baz Anderson
Rating:
7.0
Seventh album Imaginaerum is the band's second with new singer Anette, and comes with the added twist of an accompanying feature-length film next year. Nightwish who have always been at the forefront of symphonic metal, provide this latest addition to the catalogue with good intentions. Although presented as a stand-alone album, it perhaps pushes the line between creative indulgence and focused musicianship too far.

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published 01.12.2011 | Comments (86)

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Comments: 191   Visited by: 2225 users
30.11.2011 - 21:58
Rating: 8
Pazu

Written by Guest on 30.11.2011 at 20:59

Only 8.7 rating on the release date? And this is even going to decrease significantly... Well, I knew right after the first listen to "Storytime" that the album will be pretty average.

If I don't like Storytime at all, will I miss anything if I won't try to listen to the whole album?


Storytime is actually not a good representation of the album as a whole. There are many different elements, ideas and even styles on this record, that are not present in Storytime. However, I personally think Storytime is still the second best song on it (after Ghost River). Your opinion might differ though. The fact that you don't like Storytime does not say anything about whether or not you'll enjoy the entire album in my opinion.
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30.11.2011 - 22:25
Rating: 9
Unhealer
Eclecticist
Written by farfaramir on 30.11.2011 at 21:39

Well, actually its got better after that, specially "Ghost River" and "Scaretale", which have a quite interesting atmosphere (Scaretale almost cross the line to some kind of Avant Garde metal...). However, I don't know, it's a long album and there are some really boring moments...


Absolutely, 'Scaretale' sounds almost like Diablo Swing Orchestra in that Avant-Gardish section.

I liked this thing a lot at first listen, Anette has really improved to a non-annoying point at least.
Let's see if the following listens don't get me bored... I'll rate it then.
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01.12.2011 - 00:37
Rating: 4
Slayer666

Written by Milena on 30.11.2011 at 15:15

That's what Nightwish has always been about, dude


Yeah, but Nightwish and some other bands always bring out my inner troll. I just can't help it.
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01.12.2011 - 00:42
Rating: 6
Metal Invader

Its an avrage album..improved in music but still imo with anettes voice sound childlish and annoying again
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01.12.2011 - 00:46
Rating: 6
Milena
gloom cookie
Written by Ernis on 30.11.2011 at 18:53

Written by aldamirgwh on 30.11.2011 at 04:06

4. 'Slow, Love, Slow': or should I say 'Die, Love, Die!' What the fuck is this'?! Worst song EVER!!! This song doesn't deserve to be neither a B-side.

Well if you don't like jazz or its influence on this track, then this is clearly not enough to make this one the worst song "ever". Try to think outside of your tiny box...

Agreed. Nice to see Nightwish went out of the Disney box (not using this as a derogatory term) even for that one song. And you were right a few weeks before this, about the folk elements, they really kicked it up a notch, I enjoyed them quite a bit. What are your thoughts on the album, have you listened to it in its entirety?

Written by Slayer666 on 01.12.2011 at 00:37

Yeah, but Nightwish and some other bands always bring out my inner troll. I just can't help it.

INNER?
----
7.0 means the album is good
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01.12.2011 - 00:49
Rating: 4
Slayer666

Written by Milena on 01.12.2011 at 00:46

INNER?


Oh, well played there, miss, very well played.
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01.12.2011 - 02:42
bananajerk2016

I've decided that Scaretale is to Nightwish as Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! is to The Beatles. Very awesome! Lol
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01.12.2011 - 03:47
Rating: 10
MetalVolnutt

And yet another masterpiece from the best Symphonic Metal band in history. No filler tracks, not a single misplaced note, just 13 masterpieces. Not for everyone's taste though: If you are not really a fan of bombastic epic soundtracks and prefer brutal death growls, this may not be for you. For everyone else, you'll LOVE this one! Def one of the best albums of the year. Hopefully it will shut up all Tarja fanboys at least.
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01.12.2011 - 04:10
Rating: 8
Hollberr

The Cd's production is flawless, the orchestrations are incredible and the choirs sound awesome.

But the guitarist sucks, and the drummer sucks even more.
That's what really bothers me about nightwish. I can deal with the cheese, the sound is so incredible and powerful I forget it. But I can't stand a drum beat a five year old could imitate with one hand.

Still, the album is better than Dark Passion Play
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01.12.2011 - 04:18
Rating: 10
Anibx

I'm glad to see Anette's voice blends with the music this time. In DPP it was always kinda forced. Now you can see what they are capable of without restrictions and without thinking to prove anything to no one.
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01.12.2011 - 05:59
Stabby
Account deleted
Overall I'm happy with it, and enjoyed it, but then again I have an infatuation with Tuomas and it has been many years of deprivation, so I was willing to settle for what I could get. I didn't really have to settle, there is a lot of passion and brilliance in this album; it's not perfect by a long-shot and it meanders at times, but some of these parts are undeniably good. I'm even enjoying Anette in some of them, although only just tolerating here in others. What few people pointed out when Anette was being crucified and Tarja was being lauded was that Anette can do parts that Tarja couldn't, like Scaretale, for example.

The first half was better than the second. All right the second is very artsy and passionate, but the songs just aren't as interesting to me, some of them drag on and meander a bit. I'm still working out how I feel about this album, but a good career move would be to find a compromise between old Nightwish and this more theatrical and fantastical side, but emphasize the metal. If this is just a sojourn in the slightly-crazy-fantasy-land-of-wonder then I'll look at it as a unique gem in their catalogue, but if this becomes the norm then I'll see it as the time that Nightwish jumped the shark.

The orchestra is a bit over-used, if this continues then it will be a shame because too much use of the orchestra will make a metal band's songs start to sound genric. It is used very well and it's interesting, but if I compare it to what it replaces then it's not as welcome. How many more times are we going to hear that same choir theme?

But that's just nit-picking, really. Good stuff.
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01.12.2011 - 07:37
Rating: 8
PocketMetal

Good album , I need a few more listens to rate it , probably an 8 for me . ( I love avant garde music so some tracks are kinda kewl )

Anette's voice is "weird" for a metal band but still I think she gave it her best , and no ... I'm not a Tarja fan boy .
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01.12.2011 - 12:14
immortal78

For those who were expecting the Imaginarium will be familiar musicaly to previous records, is a bit disappointing, to me as well. We have only one "catchy hadbanger" and that's all. Honestly ? Sadly, nothing else on that album could catch my heart ((((
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01.12.2011 - 12:19
Yavanna

By the ratings, I see mostly of you liked this album... I listened to it last night, and even if it has some good points, the whole thing sounds like a "children-oriented-Disney's animation movie" and Anette voices really pisses me off. Scaretale and Storytime are the worst songs
----
Carry me to the shoreline
Bury me in the sand
Walk me across the water
And maybe you'll understand
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01.12.2011 - 15:04
ErnilEnNaur
Account deleted
Written by MetalVolnutt on 01.12.2011 at 03:47

And yet another masterpiece from the best Symphonic Metal band in history. No filler tracks, not a single misplaced note, just 13 masterpieces.


Well, now I know it cannot live up to the hype. Well, at least we'll always have Oceanborn, the one album that can still justify calling Nightwish the best symphonic power metal band.
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01.12.2011 - 16:29
ErnilEnNaur
Account deleted
So yeah, like I expected. The symphonic elements are uninspired and create an immediate deja vu feeling, as do some songs in their entirety (Rest Calm = 7 days to the wolves). The riffs... what riffs? I feel dirty even saying that there are any riffs on this album, it's so repetitive. I guess I'll give them a 7 for some nice (but still mostly uninspired) melodies and the great production. This is the second album this year that disappoints me not because it is bad, but because it is just good enough, but nothing more, the other was the mind-numbingly boring Iconoclast. In fact, these two albums are almost identical in the sense that both are just soooooooo uninspired and have the feeling of the band saying: "We know we're good at what we do, so we'll just do something."

I know it is unfair, I know effort went into this album and also into the movie. Maybe that is the problem, this is a soundtrack first and an album second. Maybe I would have adored this album more if it had been released after the film like a real soundtrack (an excuse that doesn't apply to Iconoclast). But still... meh. I didn't think I would see the day when the band that got me into metal and the man that best describes my feelings about life, love and the loss of innocence perfectly in his songs would leave me with nothing more to say than "meh". What happened to the man who used to be one with ocean? Has he been replaced by David Hasselhoff in speedos?*

I think I'll go listen to After Forever or Dead Boy's Poem now.

EDIT: I also have to mention that "Song Of Myself" is truly a crap song. Songs Tuomas writes about himself have always been my favorites: "Dead Boy's Poem", "Ghost Love Score" and the unbeatable "The Poet And The Pendulum" to name a few. "Song Of Myself", besides being completely predictable and cliche lyrically, also suffers from being the least musically inspired song on the entire album, I actually like it less than "Storytime." You could literally cut the song to pieces and show exactly which earlier Nightwish songs each part blatantly rips off. That's not even mentioning the spoken rubbish that sounds like Timo Tolkki wrote it. Tolkki is no Tolkien, Tuomas. He's NOT worth copying.

Darn it, I feel like I've written a full review here.


* My fellow Nightwish fans have my permission to kick me in the everything for that comment.
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01.12.2011 - 19:35
Rating: 5
meadow

Garbage! Why is nightwish so overrated ?
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01.12.2011 - 19:41
Rating: 9
Unhealer
Eclecticist
When "Song Of Myself" reads "the grass under my bare feet"... does anybody else instantly think "The Elvenpaaaath!"?

I actually screamed that the first listen
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01.12.2011 - 20:05
SimbelmynëAshes

Written by Unhealer on 01.12.2011 at 19:41

When "Song Of Myself" reads "the grass under my bare feet"... does anybody else instantly think "The Elvenpaaaath!"?



Every single time
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01.12.2011 - 21:32
Rating: 9
Ernis
狼獾
Written by Milena on 01.12.2011 at 00:46

Agreed. Nice to see Nightwish went out of the Disney box (not using this as a derogatory term) even for that one song. And you were right a few weeks before this, about the folk elements, they really kicked it up a notch, I enjoyed them quite a bit. What are your thoughts on the album, have you listened to it in its entirety?

I have listened to all of it and if I can find some time, and after having digested the songs more thoroughly, I will write a review.
The plus side of the album is that it is catchy (I admit, not that catchy as I expected, perhaps) and it has very powerful and well-composed moments. I might say that no previous album of theirs has ever had such a high concentration of "bombastic" elements. However, I do agree with Barry that all this great material gets unravelled in several places. I was expecting "Song of Myself" to beat the previous "big songs" but it didn't click it for me, unfortunately. It is moving but it isn't as diverse as, let's say, "Ghost Love Score" which for me is the best of all of the "long" tracks. This one we have here is just a quite good song plus a long and depressive (albeit moving) voiceover. All in all, it's an emotionally moving album but as a "soundtrack album", it feels wee incomplete if you haven't seen the film.

I'm gonna elaborate the things in a review...

Written by Guest on 01.12.2011 at 16:29

* My fellow Nightwish fans have my permission to kick me in the everything for that comment.

I won't... you're right in a way. As I already said, I expected more from the "big song"... it's depressive as an ending for the album but, as the film is supposed to be about a dying artist or sth, it most probably suits the film. It's the problem of film soundtracks. They may be awesome but they're "lost" without the visual content.

Written by Unhealer on 01.12.2011 at 19:41

does anybody else instantly think "The Elvenpaaaath!"?

Ditto!
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01.12.2011 - 21:48
Rating: 6
Milena
gloom cookie
Written by Ernis on 01.12.2011 at 21:32

I have listened to all of it and if I can find some time, and after having digested the songs more thoroughly, I will write a review.
The plus side of the album is that it is catchy (I admit, not that catchy as I expected, perhaps) and it has very powerful and well-composed moments. I might say that no previous album of theirs has ever had such a high concentration of "bombastic" elements. However, I do agree with Barry that all this great material gets unravelled in several places.

I'd love to read your review. You, me and Barry seem to agree on the basic points I always went to Nightwish when I wanted catchy. They're only a "deep" band when you get into them before a certain age, and since this wasn't the case for me, I'll enjoy stuff they put out as long as it's catchy and not too bombast and not too self-indulgent. This managed to somewhat cater to my tastes and I probably won't get bored of it any time soon.
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7.0 means the album is good
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01.12.2011 - 22:35
Stabby
Account deleted
Turn Loose The Meraids is probably my least favorite Nightwish song ever. EVER. It's dull, it doesn't go anywhere, and there is way too much up-close-and-personal time with Anette. Maybe the lyrics are very personal for Tuomas or something, but I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE FREAKING MERMAIDS AND YOUR MAN-CHILDNESS, TUOMAS. It is kind of like Eva, but Eva had some more memorable melodies. Eva is the lesser of two evils by far.

Could somebody who likes Turn Loose The Mermaids please explain why you personally like it? Maybe I'm missing something?
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01.12.2011 - 23:33
Josch

I am a Nightwish fan since Angels Fall First am I haven't been disappointed with any album so far (I loved DPP!), but Imaginaerum is, I can't believe I'm writing this, just bad, because I expected a new independent album and not a musical/soundtrack. There is only ONE song I really like and that's Ghost River, every other song is just generic stuff drowned by pompous orchestra. I'll go a bit into detail:

1. Taikatalvi - Just an opener, no comment here.
2. Storytime - Amaranth vol. 2, a catchy radio song and a pretty boring one, too. 5/10
3. Ghostriver - I love this song, it has variety and an awsome refrain ("He will go down he wil drown drown, deeper down"), Anette is also very good here. 10/10
4. Slow, Love, Slow - I really have problems not skipping this one, it's just "Kitsch" (cheesy, dunno how to translate it properly ) 1/10
5. I Want My Tears Back - My first thought was "Hm, last of the wilds, did I left DPP in the playlist?" but then Anette and Marco started to sing and It enough quoting Marco "where is the awe?" The song ist incoherent somehow, a problem of the entire album to be honest. I love the pipes, but as mentioned, they've been already there in almost the same way and the vocal part is pretty generic again. 5/10
6. Scareable - One of the Songs, where it's quite obvious, that Imaginaerum is a soundtrack, I neither expected something like that of a new Nightwish Album, nor do I like it very much. 4/10
7. Arabesque - An oriental instrumental, hardly a full song, again it gives you the feeling, as if its a filler to lead you to the next chapter of the movie/play. -/-
8. Turn Loose The Mermaids - When I first listend to Imaginaerum, I always thought "come on, now a little harder song please" but the 8th song was more like a faster Meadows of Heaven or something like that. 5/10
9. Rest Calm - One of the better songs, I assume I just like it, when Anette and Marco sing together, the refrain is a bit lame, though. 7/10
10. The Crow, The Owl And The Dove - Again more a story told by the singers instead of a real song, BORING! 2/10
11. Last Ride Of The Day - No direction, incoherent and again this musical touch. 2/10
12. Song Of Myself - This takes it to extremes, no music at all 0/10
13. Imaginaerum - Beautiful melody, the beginning sounds promising but the song never reaches it's peak, neither is there a direction or anything. All in all an average instrumental. 5/10

My final rating: 4/10
As I mentioned in the beginning, my expectations were not just high, after so many years I wanted another elaborated album, not a Rock/Pop-Musical
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01.12.2011 - 23:42
Rating: 9
Ernis
狼獾
Written by Guest on 01.12.2011 at 22:35

Could somebody who likes Turn Loose The Mermaids please explain why you personally like it? Maybe I'm missing something?

I like the triad "Turn Loose The Mermaids", "Rest Calm" and "The Crow The Owl And The Dove". All of these songs have the folk element in them, the first being merrier, the second heavier and more pompous and the third calm again. I like the first song because it resembles to me a western/country song.

I agree that it's a musical theatre piece. But, hey... musical theatre is good... It's a matter of taste tho. I understand that some people might find it boring.
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02.12.2011 - 02:00
Rating: 8
aldamirgwh

Written by Milena on 01.12.2011 at 00:46

Written by Ernis on 30.11.2011 at 18:53

Written by aldamirgwh on 30.11.2011 at 04:06

4. 'Slow, Love, Slow': or should I say 'Die, Love, Die!' What the fuck is this'?! Worst song EVER!!! This song doesn't deserve to be neither a B-side.

Well if you don't like jazz or its influence on this track, then this is clearly not enough to make this one the worst song "ever". Try to think outside of your tiny box...

Agreed. Nice to see Nightwish went out of the Disney box (not using this as a derogatory term) even for that one song. And you were right a few weeks before this, about the folk elements, they really kicked it up a notch, I enjoyed them quite a bit. What are your thoughts on the album, have you listened to it in its entirety?

Written by Slayer666 on 01.12.2011 at 00:37

Yeah, but Nightwish and some other bands always bring out my inner troll. I just can't help it.

INNER?



Well, first, I don't have a tiny box, I have a METAL box. If I liked jazz I'd listen to it, not bands listed on METALstorm. I DO really appreciate all kinds of influences on metal, but this song is WAY apart from the rest of the album. It just breaks the flow. At first I thought that this song a deffect, that it was misplaced in Nightwish album, but then I recognize Annette's voice. I just expressed my mind, though maybe I overreacted a little. I have nothing about whom likes Jazz. As I said, that was, in MY opinion, the worst Nightwish song ever.

But enough talking about one particular song, the other 12 tracks of the album are really good. And that's what matters.
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02.12.2011 - 09:40
Rating: 8
ADarkerSoul

Just downloaded this album, am kinda looking forward to listening to it on the way to work
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02.12.2011 - 13:05
Epidemic'67

Written by Metal_4Ever on 30.11.2011 at 18:25

Listening, i'm so exciting.. XD

Listened, Im so disapionted...
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02.12.2011 - 13:07
Rating: 9
Metal_4Ever

Written by Epidemic'67 on 02.12.2011 at 13:05

Written by Metal_4Ever on 30.11.2011 at 18:25

Listening, i'm so exciting.. XD

Listened, Im so disapionted...

Me too..
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02.12.2011 - 13:10
Rating: 10
AljanahLyra

I love this album. I've been waiting for this for so long and I didn't want to be influenced by any other opinion and now I can say: I just love it. Can't say anything else than that.
----
"I'm not going to fuck you Carmilla, I'm too pissed off."
~Godbrand, Castlevania~
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02.12.2011 - 14:30
Carl Berg
Carl Berg
Quote:
02. Storytime - Still one of the best of NW singles.


No. Just as simply as that.
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