Just listened to first single "Perfume of the Timeless" and tbh it sounds terrible, literally like MIDI. Awful mixing job too, where are the vocals??? Real shame, because there are a few melodic ideas a quite like here.

“Yesterwynde” gives me flashbacks of the music from Final Fantasy VI’s cavern/turtle cave. It’s an enchanting way to start the album. The album is surprisingly decent. Musical déjà vu is unavoidable with new Nightwish material, but this album is slightly more inspired and catchy than the previous three. It’s not a return to their former glory, but it is a somewhat enjoyable (albeit dim) reflection of that glory. If only the rest of the tracks here were on par with “Yesterwynde” and “The Antikythera Mechanism”.

The first listening was boring. dull. nothing stood out. will maybe give it a few more listens over the next few days.

this was my favorite band some 15 years ago my most listened to band for about 10 years. but nothing has impressed my much since Floor joined.

What's with the mix? You can barely hear Floor's vocals. Maybe Tuomas is planning to become completely instrumental-choir based band.

Oh wow, "The Day Of..." isn't even the worst song on this.

There are a few pretty good songs, and most of the others have decent parts in them. It really heavily falls off after "Perfume of the Timeless" (which has grown on me; despite being produced badly and having questionable choir aahhhs, it has a good chorus and midsection, and Troy's outro is great). "The Antikythera Mechanism" and "Hiraeth" would be the other highlights for me.

Overall sits around the same level as Human Nature for me. Doesn't even begin to approach the best parts of Endless Forms.

Written by Metren on 20.09.2024 at 01:53

Musical déjà vu is unavoidable with new Nightwish material

I usually don't have an issue with self-plagiarism, but with Nightwish it is so glaringly obvious.

At the end of a first listen, I think it's definitely an improvement on Human. :II: Nature., but it does sometimes feel like Nightwish made a monkey's paw deal where they get one of the best vocalists currently around, but it's offset by losing the ability to write interesting songs for her. There's definitely moments on the album on songs like An Ocean Of Strange Islands, The Antikythera Mechanism and The Weave, but I'm really struggling to see much on here that will stand out in the way of excitement or memorability even with repeat listens (would be happy for it to prove me wrong though!)

Tuomas Holopainen and his wife Johanna Kurkela can continue in Auri, rest of band should re start whit Wishnight new band and play metal. Better as prev one but way to long from their best and to damn long.
Short but bad friday for new albums.

Written by musclassia on 20.09.2024 at 12:00

but it does sometimes feel like Nightwish made a monkey's paw deal where they get one of the best vocalists currently around, but it's offset by losing the ability to write interesting songs for her

I think it's worse. They get one of the best vocalists and bury her under the rhythm section, just like on previous albums. She barely rises above the water even going flat out. Who does that in a mix? I wish someone tried pushing her voice louder in the mix as an experiment to see if it improves the vibe. Theoretically there's an instrumental version available...

I.

At this point it becomes more and more clear that Nightwish have become a shadow of its former self, it could easily have been a solo project with Tuomas. I get more "Nightwish vibes" with the newly Marko/Tarja combo. Overall, yes there are some clearly signatures of Nightwish, heavy symphonic, but the vocals are somewhat drowned.

Massive improvement over Human Nature. I'm also not thrilled with how Floor's vocals are kind of buried in the mix, but I did kind of get used to it as the album played. While it's far from my favorite Nightwish record, I can say I legitimately enjoyed it. Hopefully, this is the beginning of an upswing and the next one will be even better.

After listening to the album about two and a half times, I can’t shake the feeling of drowning in excess. When it comes to music, complexity doesn’t necessarily trump simplicity.

In fact, trying to cram in so many sounds often falls short of the impact that a simple, well-executed, and memorable hook can deliver. That's something Nightwish has lost.

It’s not a bad album, but in my opinion, it’s their weakest to date. And this marks the third Nightwish album in a row where I’ve felt the need to say the exact same thing.

Written by Ivor on 20.09.2024 at 14:49

Written by musclassia on 20.09.2024 at 12:00

but it does sometimes feel like Nightwish made a monkey's paw deal where they get one of the best vocalists currently around, but it's offset by losing the ability to write interesting songs for her

I wish someone tried pushing her voice louder in the mix as an experiment to see if it improves the vibe. Theoretically there's an instrumental version available...

I.

Think this gets more criticism because it’s Nightwish tbh. I don’t really like this style in general much but this is one of the better releases in Symphonic Metal of the last couple years. Mixing isn’t great but I kind of expected that from the singles. Still think Cathbodua beats it this year though.

Well, after a couple of spins this sounds a lot like an modern and orchestral copy of Angels Fall First.
If they call for Tarja for that one I would definitely score it higher.

p.s actually, I prefer listening to an orchestral version

This is a band I've never really got into personally, but I admire all that goes into their craft. The symphonic orchastations here are still quite remarkable, and her vocal performance is obviously top-tier, but despite this being one of the most well crafted albums the genre has offered this year, I'm still not completely blown away by it. As others have pointed out her vocals are somewhat drowned in the mix which is a shame because I find that the one element that should be allowed to shine above all.

If this came out after Endless Forms I might have enjoyed the approach. “Human” did too much damage for me to be open minded with this album. Ok, we get it , you have money to throw on the best production but you have absolutely nothing interesting to say. Tarja’s solo albums are way more enjoyable than what Tuomas has been doing for more than a decade now.

I find it quite absurd and hard to believe that some people here actually consider Tarja's solo projects to be better than this album. Even the Marco and Tarja collaboration is so lame and hollow. There is no magic at all for me.
On the other hand, I find the criticism of this album kind of hypocritical, yes, even more hypocritical than the 10 star ratings of us "fan boys". I'm not one of those dudes who put Nightwish above everything, I've even kind of outgrown them, but how innovative, atmospheric, emotional, well-balanced and epic is an album supposed to be to give it more than 5 points? Tuomas is an unbound genius who nevertheless writes catchy music and still possesses a songwriting quality that others in this genre don't even dare to dream of.

I absolutely love this album and somewhat it feels like guilty pleasure because of the tons of critisicm it gets. But it really shouldn‘t be. I love it even more than Time 2.

Even though I appricate Floor Jansen as an artist, I had a hard time to get into the new direction Nightwish took lyricaly and musicaly with the recruitment of Floor as a singer. After given this album it's first spin though, I must say that I'm pleasently suprised. The album has a more of an organic flow in it compared to the two previous albums along with some catchy tunes. For the first time in years I can say that I enjoyed a Nightwish album, even after the glasses of nostalgia have been removed.

Not the biggest Nightwish fan, my fav era of them is between Century Child and Dark Passion Play. Everything else falls flat to me. This album i must say it surprised me, most songs are pretty great and well crafted. A few like the Antikythera Mechanism is actually very heavy. My only couple of complaints are the production which again buries much of the guitar weight and the drums in the mix to the point where they're overwhelmed by the orchestral arrangements. And the tracklist arrangement too. The album starts fairly heavy and bombastic but the final 4 tracks, even if they're actually good, they make the later part of the album less impactful. With that said, this may be my fav Nightwish album after CC, Once and DPP.

It sounds about as impactful and bombastic as mud. Borderline unlistenable to me except for tracks 2, 5, 10. :-(

Written by Master_Key on 21.09.2024 at 14:48

Tuomas is an unbound genius who nevertheless writes catchy music and still possesses a songwriting quality that others in this genre don't even dare to dream of.

I think Tuomas is a fantastic composer, even in the later Nightwish days. I really like Endless Forms, and the 24-miute epic on that album is one of my favourite pieces of music ever.

That being said, he's not a very good metal composer these days. Whilst I'm adamantly not a fan of early Nightwish, those albums are where he expertly intertwined metal and orchestra, the most recent ones not so much. It seems Nightwish is more of a symphonic folk-rock band with heavier songs on the last few albums. Like I said, on Endless Forms I thought it worked quite well for at least 70% of the album. Here and on Human Nature, not so much.

That's my neutral stance on Tuomas. The community is pretty split on him nowadays, so you aren't alone.

The colour scheme on the ratings need to be changed. A 6-7 isn't a Terrible rating but it goes red on a 7 rating?

Written by Master_Key on 21.09.2024 at 14:48

I find it quite absurd and hard to believe that some people here actually consider Tarja's solo projects to be better than this album. Even the Marco and Tarja collaboration is so lame and hollow. There is no magic at all for me.
On the other hand, I find the criticism of this album kind of hypocritical, yes, even more hypocritical than the 10 star ratings of us "fan boys". I'm not one of those dudes who put Nightwish above everything, I've even kind of outgrown them, but how innovative, atmospheric, emotional, well-balanced and epic is an album supposed to be to give it more than 5 points? Tuomas is an unbound genius who nevertheless writes catchy music and still possesses a songwriting quality that others in this genre don't even dare to dream of.

I absolutely love this album and somewhat it feels like guilty pleasure because of the tons of critisicm it gets. But it really shouldn‘t be. I love it even more than Time 2.

As a guy who never gave Nightwish a fair chance I very much agree with a lot of this. I'm not sure it's a 10 but it should be at least in the 8s. I think people might look back on this in 10 years and completely change their mind

Written by Oldy86 on 22.09.2024 at 11:58

A 6-7 isn't a Terrible rating but it goes red on a 7 rating?

7 is yellow, but it's actually 6.99 and 6 is red.

I gave it a listen today, a bit of a chore to go through for me, not bad but not that interesting or entertaining either.

Album is a bit of a slough at times. Toumas should just stick to Auri and his solo material.

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 22.09.2024 at 16:28

Written by Oldy86 on 22.09.2024 at 11:58

A 6-7 isn't a Terrible rating but it goes red on a 7 rating?

7 is yellow, but it's actually 6.99 and 6 is red.

It was literally a red 7 when I posted this. I've seen it multiple times. I've seen some 7s red, and some orange. Similar to how sometimes 8.5 is green, and sometimes it's orange. Either way, a 6 being red indicates bad IMO. I really think it should be orange. Just my thoughts.

Written by Oldy86 on 23.09.2024 at 08:37

It was literally a red 7 when I posted this. I've seen it multiple times. I've seen some 7s red, and some orange. Similar to how sometimes 8.5 is green, and sometimes it's orange. Either way, a 6 being red indicates bad IMO. I really think it should be orange. Just my thoughts.

Pretty sure I'm not colourblind, but 7.00 to 8.49 is yellow, not orange. The current 7 similarly is not red, it is orange. Red starts at below 5. Might be pedantic, but I think the colours work well for the numbers.

If I could post screenshots in here I would show you it's currently red. It's just went from 6.9 to 7 again and it's literally red. I've seen an orange 7 too. Maybe it depends on the votes if it's red or orange. Same with the 8.5 being green and orange. Why would I make this up? That would be a super strange thing to lie about haha. Reds do not start at 5. They should, but they don't. I've never seen any 6s anything but red.

Also, I just zoomed into the numbers you say are yellow. It's clearly orange to me. It's a light fiery burnt orange. If it was the colour of runny egg yolk it would be yellow. This is close to Americans version of Fanta. I have seen people argue that this is yellow but they're just wrong. 🟡 = yellow 🟠 = orange. Those numbers are somewhere in the middle. Maybe it's because we're using different devices? Who knows lol. If the numbers that were red start from 5 then I'd agree it works well. But that's just like my opinion, man.

Written by Oldy86 on 23.09.2024 at 09:24

If I could post screenshots in here I would show you it's currently red. It's just went from 6.9 to 7 again and it's literally red. I've seen an orange 7 too. Maybe it depends on the votes if it's red or orange. Same with the 8.5 being green and orange. Why would I make this up? That would be a super strange thing to lie about haha. Reds do not start at 5. They should, but they don't. I've never seen any 6s anything but red.

It's definitely currently orange, not red; it shows an orange 7 on the album main page, but that's because it's rounded up from 6.95, the actual current average at 2 dp. I think orange goes from 6.99 down to 5. As for whether it should be, there's definitely a thread somewhere in which it's been discussed before, but I can't find it at present - I personally would be in favour of adjusting the colour grading, as presently red covers the entire 1-5 range, so making e.g orange for 4-6 and yellow for 6-8 would maybe add a bit of nuance and dissuade people from giving anything half-decent a 7+ score (I've also mentioned in my recent Dark Tranquillity review and elsewhere that the grading names currently offer a bit too little range to distinguish shades of 'goodness'), but I don't think there's ever been enough of a consensus to alter it