Nightwish - Human. :II: Nature. review
| Band: | Nightwish |
| Album: | Human. :II: Nature. |
| Style: | Symphonic power metal, Symphonic metal |
| Release date: | April 10, 2020 |
| A review by: | musclassia |
Disc I
01. Music
02. Noise
03. Shoemaker
04. Harvest
05. Pan
06. How's The Heart?
07. Procession
08. Tribal
09. Endlessness
Disc II
01. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World - Vista
02. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World - The Blue
03. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World - The Green
04. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World - Moors
05. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World - Aurorae
06. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World - Quiet As The Snow
07. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World - Anthropocene (incl. "Hurrian Hymn To Nikkal")
08. All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World - Ad Astra
With Human. :II: Nature., Nightwish aim to explore life, the universe and everything, but spend too much time staring at the bigger picture to notice the smaller necessities they've overlooked.
Nightwish have had a slightly bumpy couple of decades. Some might argue that signs of a decline were there before original singer Tarja Turunen departed, but it was this event, and her replacement with Anette Olzon, which really split the fanbase. After two divisive and (in my opinion) inconsistent releases with Olzon, singer number three arrived in the form of Floor Jansen, something of a coup given her outstanding versatility and power. Her first studio outing with the group, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, was possibly a stronger release than either of Olzon's records, but after the adventurous nature of Imaginaerum, it felt like quite a safe record, returning heavily to the sound of Once in particular. But hey, they had a stellar singer that they wanted to give some of her own songs to sing live, and it made sense to stick to what they knew worked. Five years later, and Human. :II: Nature. is the opportunity to truly see what Nightwish can do with Floor on board. Sadly, what they can do simply isn't up to snuff.
Human. :II: Nature. is more "experimental" than Endless Forms Most Beautiful, and none of these experiments are egregious backfires (except perhaps the chanting towards the end of "Tribal"), but nor are they particularly rewarding. According to Jansen, the song "Shoemaker" lacks a typical structure. I would argue that Nightwish aren't the kind of band that can really pull off such a venture, as the flow of this track is rather lacking. Additionally, the convoluted ascending vocal lines earlier on in the song aren't really delivered with the power one would expect from Floor. After "Shoemaker" comes "Harvest", another notable departure for the group. "Disney music" has long been a label used in certain circles to describe more modern Nightwish, and it's not been one I really saw as valid before "Harvest" dropped as a single. A vehicle for Troy Donockley to shine as a lead vocalist, it really does feel taken from a musical animated movie, particularly with its acapella harmonies; however, I doubt it would be the highlight of whatever soundtrack it was featured in, and is only partially rescued by the instrumental midsection, a pleasant throwback to the folk of "I Want My Tears Back" from Imaginaerum.
Some have maligned Donockley's permanent membership and subsequent increased role in the group as a major contributing factor to the issues Human. :II: Nature. has. In and of itself, I don't find it to be a problem; I've enjoyed folky elements in Nightwish songs, especially "I Want My Tears Back" (probably my favourite post-Tarja Nightwish song), and whilst I don't like "Harvest" (nor am I particularly enthused by "How's The Heart?"), I haven't got any major issue with him as a vocalist in principle. However, the fact that he gets a whole song to take centre stage on only makes the minimal presence of Marco Hietala's vocals more glaring. He is the lead singer with an uncharacteristically docile performance on "Endlessness" and gets a small backing bit in "Tribal", but otherwise is largely absent on the vocal front, despite having a far more captivating voice than Donockley, which is frankly bewildering to me. On the topic of vocals, much has been said regarding Floor Jansen on this record. Personally, I've found the songs in general to have been a bigger issue than anything she's done specifically, but as someone who's seen her smash the likes of "Ghost Love Score", "The Poet And The Pendulum" and more live, I really can't say anything on Human. :II: Nature. impressed me to a remotely similar degree.
I don't completely dislike this album, not by any means. I enjoyed "Noise" when it dropped as the first single, and I continue to enjoy it within the context of the record. It's very much in the vein of their post-2000 material, relatively simplistic but with a memorable chorus hook and a suitably exciting dramatic bridge during which Floor moves into more operatic territory. "Pan", another heavier cut, brings the bombast in its electric chorus and allows Jansen a chance to dig into some more twisted vocal melodies during the verses. Nevertheless, even these tracks stand out within the context of the rest of Human. :II: Nature., rather than the Nightwish discography as a whole.
In relation to the lyrics explored on Human. :II: Nature., Nightwish have mentioned some pretty huge themes in the press building up to this release, including the history of music, planetary science, love and the meaning of life. The ambition is clearly there thematically and in terms of musical experimentation, but the songs just don't back it up. For a start, a song that allegedly describes the entire evolution of music should have a lot more going for it than "Music", a track that, like "Procession", came and went on each playthrough without leaving much of an impression of any kind, good or bad.
All the music discussed so far only covers disc 1 of Human. :II: Nature.; disc 2 of this release is the furthest exploration of the 'symphonic' aspect of Nightwish yet, a 30-minute purely orchestral venture. I think all of us on this website can agree it's harder to compare this music against the vast expanse of orchestral music that exists, even if we restrict ourselves to modern compositions, than it is to discuss the metal songs. I will say, fair play to Holopainen, this was a bold step for him and it wasn't a disaster; "All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World" doesn't massively drag at any point, with a decent ebb and flow, and well-paced introduction of unique elements, such as the focus on pipes in part 4, "Moors", which has a touch of Rohan's music from The Lord Of The Rings. At the same time, the most natural comparison for disc 2 is the music to films such as The Lord Of The Rings, and compared against the great scores, even of the 21st century, it is a somewhat rudimentary effort. Additionally, the rehash of "The Greatest Show On Earth" with a lengthy spoken word diatribe regarding the place of man within the world slightly tarnishes the final movement, "Ad Astra".
Nightwish reached for greatness on Human. :II: Nature., but in doing lost a lot of what made them great in the first place, at least for me. I've found every Nightwish release from Once onwards to have notable ups and downs, but I've always found at least something worth returning for. I may revisit "Noise" and "Pan" on occasion, but otherwise I cannot see Human. :II: Nature. offering any lasting appeal.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 5 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 7 |
Comments
Comments: 120
Visited by: 582 users
| musclassia Staff Posts: 7626  |
I'm sure there will be a number of posters that disagree with this review; whatever your opinion, it would be nice if people could maintain the civilized tone of the discussion on the album thread here please.
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9028  |
Written by musclassia on 13.04.2020 at 17:08 No no no, this is not how you do it. Eternal curses upon the bloodline of whomever disagrees with my opinion. I fart in your general direction.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| metalwolf Posts: 107  |
It's a pity that I can't disagree with this review...
---- ---------------------------------------------------------- Cthulhu for President! Why settle for the lesser evil?
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| JoHn Doe Posts: 5090  |
Written by RaduP on 13.04.2020 at 17:19 is it a noisy fart or a silent one? if it's noisy, I'll giggle, if it's silent, I'll walk away. 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9028 |
I would like to use all the attention that this review gets to direct all you folks to Marko Hietala's new record.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7626 |
Written by RaduP on 13.04.2020 at 17:53 I preferred that to this (if nothing else then for the fact he sings a lot more on it), but can't say I was paritcular fond of it either
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| mariano Posts: 372 |
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| tominator At best deranged Contributor Posts: 1063  |
Pretty much how I feel about this record. I don't see myself listening to a lot of these songs again in the future. Endless Forms wasn't exactly my favourite record but I liked tracks like Elan, My Walden and the title track. Just like with Elan, I like the simplcity of Noise. Pan is indeed quite possibly the second best track for me. And there are some good things sprankled throughout the rest of the record, but not enough to make this album exceed the feel of averageness. It doens't work for me, but I'm however glad that there are others who enjoy this record more than I do. Great review btw!
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| fenchik Posts: 123 |
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| Fred Posts: 30 |
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62012  |
Olzon albums was much better as this, same first whit Floor. This is chatastrific album, big Let down to me
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| JoHn Doe Posts: 5090 |
Written by Bad English on 13.04.2020 at 20:31 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| Nejde Posts: 1695  |
I agree with the review. The whole album just feels "meh...". To me it feels kinda schizophrenic with split personalities. It doesn't know what it wants to be and the songs are going in all different directions and it lacks coherence. Disc 2 is totally unnecessary because it sounds like a film score that got rejected. Sadly there is a lot of musical talent wasted on this album. For me Nightwish went into cardiac arrest when they fired Tarja. With Olzon they tried to resuscitate the band and now it just flatlined. I had the joy of seeing them live once and that was the very last concert they gave with Tarja and it was here in Umeå (home of Meshuggah and Cult of Luna). Two days later they released the statement that they had parted ways with Tarja and the Nightwish I loved was no more. R.I.P.
---- Liebe ist für alle da.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7626 |
Written by Nejde on 13.04.2020 at 20:48 That's pretty wild, good that you got to go to that gig! I've seen Nightwish with Floor several times and, first time in particular, I was massively impressed, so much so that I was enjoying the material from Endless Forms... that I hadn't appreciated on the (at the time) recently released album. The issue isn't the musical abilities of the members (particularly with Floor replacing Anette), but the writing, which is unlikely to return to a direction that consistently grabs my interest any time soon if this is a sign of things to come
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| BlankFile Posts: 705 |
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| Nejde Posts: 1695 |
Written by musclassia on 13.04.2020 at 21:15 It was a great gig. I still remember it well  For me the problem with the post-Tarja albums is that they got less symphonical and more a mix of different musical ideas with the symphonical parts buried somewhere underneath the soundscapes. When it comes to Floor I don't have much of an opinion because I've never listened to any of the bands she was in prior to Nightwish. Although I admit she is an excellent singer. Not being an opera fan at all I still miss Tarja's opera vocals. The last song I really enjoyed was Storytime from Imaginaerum because of the extremely catchy chorus and the instrumental middle part with the choir that really oozes of old honest Nightwish
---- Liebe ist für alle da.
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| hellsmiles Posts: 207  |
Man, I thought it was nostalgia that kept me from liking Endless Forms, but it sounds like I'm not the only one who felt like they lost their touch. I honestly forgot about the release of this one, not sure if I wanna waste my time. Fantastic review!
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| beatlotus Posts: 2 |
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7626 |
Written by beatlotus on 14.04.2020 at 00:10 I mean, for quite a few people that will always be the case, but I feel like claims such as this are sometimes used to deflect criticism of their subsequent releases, and I feel like the imperfections in their music from the past 15 years stand independent of Tarja and the albums released with her. Realistically, if Oceanborn->Once were never released and Nightwish's discography comprised DPP->H/N, they would barely be a blip on my register (I would maybe have maximum 10 Nightwish songs in my mp3 library?), so if anything, those albums can thank the amount of airplay I've given them to their association with the Tarja material. Personally, out of an 8-paragraph review, I mentioned Tarja in one sentence, so I don't think it's fair to start off a comment on this review with the above quoted statement. Written by beatlotus on 14.04.2020 at 00:10 I respect your opinion on this, but personally I don't think there's necessarily much evolution here. It takes elements that have been introduced in past albums (use of folk like on I want My Tears Back, more complex symphonic arrangements such as on Ghost Love Score), but I don't think it synthesizes them in a novel and exciting way, or applies them more maturely (despite dabbling with more structured arrangements plenty more times since, nothing Holopainen has written on the symphonic side has come close to the emotional power of that instrumental break before "Bring me home..." in GLS). I also don't this works especially well as a collective package - disc 1, even disregarding the issues I have with individual songs, doesn't come across as particularly cohesive, nor do disc 1 and disc 2 feel like natural companions, but rather as a standard record with an orchestral suite tagged onto the end. I have a number of problems with Imaginaerum, but considering it was similarly varied and ambitious, I feel it works far better as a single entity than Human/Nature, as well as having several songs that eclipse anything here for me (Storytime, Tears, Last Ride, Rest Calm, plus that nice symphonic summary of the album at the end with the title track). Written by beatlotus on 14.04.2020 at 00:10 That may be the case. However, for an album with the intention to showcase every member of the band, Emppu didn't really have much to shine with. Additionally, Marko has one song where he does lead vocals, but he's barely even a backing singer elsewhere; across the record, he has far less to do here vocally than on most previous albums, and the one showcase he gets isn't much of a showcase. He covers new ground, but not particularly well - Endlessness doesn't play much to his strengths. The "they're trying something new" response is often said to people who dislike something new a band does, but involves forgetting the times that a band tries something new and people like it (Ghost Love Score stands out compared with the music they'd written prior to Once, with its lengthy orchestral break, but people love it). It's possible for an artist to do something new and not do it as well as what they did before, or as well as the people who already do the new thing they're trying, and when both of those things are the case, it's not unfair to acknowledge that. Last year, the main guy from Toxic Holocaust (thrash band) did a synthwave album. I quite liked it, but compared to other synthwave I've heard, it was somewhat limited; I'm not going to give him extra praise that I wouldn't give to someone more established in that scene just because it's outside of what he normally plays. Written by beatlotus on 14.04.2020 at 00:10 I mean, opinions on every album ever released by an artist of any reputation will be influenced by their past work. However, if this album was released by a no-name newcomer, apart from the fact that I would be extremely impressed by their production budget and the talent of their singer, I would still find it a relatively unengaging record compared with other artists within the genre. Maybe I would rate it a point higher to be kind to a new act finding its feet, but I don't imagine the score would reach or exceed 7.
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| BlankFile Posts: 705 |
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| ickoriss Posts: 345  |
Even though I still feel like a lackluster Nightwish album is still a decent album in general, I do agree with a lot of the points made in the review. They have a massive amount of talent in their lineup and a lot of it isn't utilized at all. Floor is a lot more capable than what she's given on the record and the lack of Marco just really blows my mind. Also, let Emppu off his leash and shred a bit here and there. I feel like he wasn't given a lot on this record either. I'll still probably revisit this record on occasion, but they're better than this. It's no Oceanborn or Dark Passion Play for me. Here's hoping the next one's a big improvement.
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| justsaying Posts: 24 |
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| The Melting Snow Posts: 674  |
Good review. the only thing missing is a grilling over the guitars. i remember showing off the Guitars in Oceanborn and Wishmaster to my friends back in the day... luckily I don't meet those guys anymore or they would've shoved it right in my face now :p the lack of guitars in the past 3 albums is what's gutted me most about them
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| The Melting Snow Posts: 674 |
Written by ickoriss on 14.04.2020 at 06:43 that's me since Dark Passion Play.
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| MariLee Posts: 3 |
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7626 |
Written by justsaying on 14.04.2020 at 09:16 I mean, most of your comment contains things that I would disagree with, but they would ultimately be things to 'agree to disagree' over. This point, on the other hand, sorry I don't see where you're coming from here. When you initially said 'this album is way heavier', I thought you would mean thematically, which would be one interpretation, but by then specifying that you mean in relation to Oceanborn and the 'typical' Tarja Nightwish sound, you're meaning it's more heavy metal, and I just don't see it. The only two songs that are really comparable in tone are Noise and Pan, and previous albums have had as many, if not more, songs along those lines (particularly Endless Forms...). I don't think the likes of Music, Shoemaker, Harvest, How's Your Heart, Procession, etc., can really be said to be 'way heavier' than the music on the previous record. And 'reminiscents from Oceanborn' - which songs here would you say are reminiscent of Oceanborn? I did not hear anything that made me think of Stargazers, Devil and the Deep Ocean, Sacrament of Wilderness, etc; even the heavier songs sound closer to Once/Dark Passion Play than Oceanborn/Wishmaster to my ears. Quite a few of the comments in relation to this album have been people saying it's less heavy, less metal, and I'm not saying that's a direct relation to the quality of the music, but as an objective summation of the music here I completely agree that it's less heavy, and even most people who like the album are saying that just because it's less heavy that doesn't mean it's bad (which is completely true as a statement), rather than denying that it's less heavy; you're the first person I've seen on this website who's made this argument, so I'm curious what you're specifically referring to.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7626 |
Written by MariLee on 14.04.2020 at 10:38 "Just try to forget about Tarja, Oceanborn and other 20-yeard-old stuff" - please highlight anywhere in my review that I mentioned Oceanborn, and where I fixated on Tarja
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| The Melting Snow Posts: 674 |
Written by MariLee on 14.04.2020 at 10:38 If I'm counting right, this is the 3rd profile made just to support this album 
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| MariLee Posts: 3 |
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7561  |
Written by The Melting Snow on 14.04.2020 at 10:55 Well spotted. MariLee, justsaying and beatlotus all looks familiar.
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