Band:	Nightwish
Album:	Yesterwynde
Style:	Symphonic power metal, Symphonic metal
Release date:	September 20, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

Disc I
01. Yesterwynde
02. An Ocean Of Strange Islands
03. The Antikythera Mechanism
04. The Day Of...
05. Perfume Of The Timeless
06. Sway
07. The Children Of 'Ata
08. Something Whispered Follow Me
09. Spider Silk
10. Hiraeth
11. The Weave
12. Lanternlight

Disc II [Instrumental Version - Earbook Limited Edition]
01. Yesterwynde [instrumental version]
02. An Ocean Of Strange Islands [instrumental version]
03. The Antikythera Mechanism [instrumental version]
04. The Day Of... [instrumental version]
05. Perfume Of The Timeless [instrumental version]
06. Sway [instrumental version]
07. The Children Of 'Ata [instrumental version]
08. Something Whispered Follow Me [instrumental version]
09. Spider Silk [instrumental version]
10. Hiraeth [instrumental version]
11. The Weave [instrumental version]
12. Lanternlight [instrumental version]

Disc III [Orchestral Version - Earbook Limited Edition]
01. Yesterwynde [orchestral version]
02. An Ocean Of Strange Islands [orchestral version]
03. The Antikythera Mechanism [orchestral version]
04. The Day Of... [orchestral version]
05. Perfume Of The Timeless [orchestral version]
06. Sway [orchestral version]
07. The Children Of 'Ata [orchestral version]
08. Something Whispered Follow Me [orchestral version]
09. Spider Silk [orchestral version]
10. The Weave [orchestral version]
11. Lanternlight [orchestral version]

Me reviewing a Nightwish album worked out really well last time, so let’s get stuck into Yesterwynde.

Even though I knew that Human. :II: Nature. was shaping up to be a divisive album, I was still surprised at the sheer volume and intensity of ‘passionate discourse’ in the aforementioned review’s comments section, not least because I just didn’t think it was an exciting enough album to get worked up over in any direction. That was something I found to be a major disappointment, considering the release was primed to be Nightwish’s breakout effort with superstar new singer Floor Jansen after a solid but relatively safe first outing on Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Human. :II: Nature. also turned out to be long-time bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala’s swansong with the group, so there were suitably lowered expectations this time around for Yesterwynde, expectations that it gets relatively close to meeting, but doesn't threaten to exceed.

Nightwish have had a remarkable propensity for long records ever since Tarja Turunen left the group; Yesterwynde is actually the band’s shortest studio album since Once, but at 71 minutes, it’s still a hefty assembly of songs. Unlike its predecessor, however, this is not a double album, and there’s no massive undertaking of orchestral-only music; Yesterwynde is a fairly classic post-Once release, and one that further cements their complete separation from their power metal past, with no songs that strive beyond a measured mid-tempo pace. Additionally, while it is not as explorative as Human. :II: Nature., there are a couple of new experiments here, albeit with very mixed results.

One such experiment, after the understated, fantastical introductory title track, is the decision to lead with the album’s longest song, the 9-minute “An Ocean Of Strange Islands”. On this front, I would say it’s a successful move, as while the track is not a rival of any of the classic Nightwish epics, it does get the album off to a much stronger start than its predecessor managed. There’s a gravitas to the orchestrations on this song, and the album as a whole, that sets Nightwish apart from many of their competitors, and the grandeur on this track in particular impresses, but it is the quality and excitement of the vocal parts, the riffs and the guitar leads here that was lacking on Human. :II: Nature., and the strength of the song’s evolution across its runtime raises it above the rest of the tracklist of Yesterwynde. Having said that, as great as Floor Jansen’s vocals are here (with some particularly exuberant utterances in the midsection), their relatively low positioning in the mix, which continues across the record as a whole, is a bit puzzling.

Yesterwynde generally manages to sustain the momentum from this song for at least the next couple of tracks. “The Antikythera Mechanism” comes right afterwards, and it stomps along at a relatively sedate pace, but there’s an intensity and bombast to the chorus that nicely contrasts the verses, and the surge in tempo during the instrumental bridge is accompanied by a fairly typical, but still moderately likeable, Nightwish arrangement. “Perfume Of The Timeless” is another long song, and the journey from folksy introduction to a brooding, slithering metallic core is a satisfying one. Still, one can question whether the decision to finish this song, and also “An Ocean Of Strange Islands”, with extended outros that serve as Troy Donockley vehicles (instrumentally on the latter, vocally on the former) is really necessary or beneficial; truth be told, a number of the songs have a habit of running on longer than they really need to.

More questionable, however, is the inclusion of a children’s choir in “The Day Of...”; of all the experiments on the album, this is by far the least successful. The track is not inherently a terrible one, and the climax of the song is one of the rare instances where a final chorus modulation actually makes a positive impact, but the children’s choir is genuinely nails-on-chalkboard, and the fact that it drowns out Jansen during most of the song’s choruses is inexcusable. Other songs that may be divisive for listeners are the two softest efforts, “Sway” and closer “Lanternlight”. “Sway” is an orchestra-accompanied Jansen-Donockley duet, and while I find its midsection to be a bit empty, I don’t mind the Medieval fayre vibe to the vocal harmonies in the first half, and the closing stages are actually quite enchanting. “Lanternlight” is more of a piano ballad, and one that’s slightly impactless.

As for the rest of the album’s second half, after a few listens, I’ve come the point where I find it all fairly pleasant to listen to, and some of the choruses (particularly those in “Spider Silk” and “Something Whispered Follow Me”) are reasonably memorable; in fact, “Something Whispered Follow Me” in general has a satisfying and alluring melodicism to it throughout. Having said that, aside from perhaps that one track, I don’t feel particularly incentivized to revisit any of these songs at the end of an album playthrough. The record has a bit of a similar problem to Dark Tranquillity’s Endtime Signals, in that despite its general pleasantness, the overall emotional response to listening to it is a tad too close to neutral to praise it as much as I might otherwise be inclined to; certainly, when compared to the memorability and replayability of the new album from Nocturna, a band that is clearly heavily influenced by Nightwish, the difference is noticeable.

When reflecting on the band’s latest few albums, I would say that Yesterwynde is clearly superior to Human. :II: Nature.; it’s also arguably more consistent than Imaginaerum, but lacks that record’s peaks. However, for all its competence, it slides a bit too much into ‘background listening’ territory for my liking, and increases my concern that Endless Forms Most Beautiful, an album that should have been a solid foundation for a return to greatness, will ultimately come to be recognized as the peak of this era in the history of Nightwish.