Dark Passion Play - Dark Publications

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Album Description
Although it is their sixth studio album,Dark Passion Play marks the beginning of a new era for Finnish symphonic metal masters Nightwish. With new vocalist Annette Olzon onboard, Nightwish returns with their most accessible material to date. Firmly rooted in their trademark symphonic sounds featuring elaborate keyboard and guitar parts blended seamlessly with intricate string and choir sections, Olzon's vocals have more pop sensibility as they are far less operatic than those of her predecessor. This is perfectly exemplified in the vocal melodies in Amaranth, Eva and the scorching duet with bassist Marco Hietala titled Bye Bye Beautiful. Nightwish mastermind Tuomas Holopainen (keyboards) not only wrote all the lyrics and all but two songs on the album, but also helmed the project as one of the producers along with T.C. Kinnunen and Mikko Karmila, who also mixed the album. Dark Passion Play has already made history as Finland's most expensive recording project to date with massive string sections and choirs and it is clearly evident in the impeccable production. Nightwish have taken the symphonic elements of their prior works and infused them with a new voice to create a sound representative of the album title: dark, playful and, most of all, passionate.

Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

A New Dawn for Nightwish October 14, 2007
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

So here we are at the first post-Tarja Nightwish album. My take on the Tarja vs. Annette debate is simply that Annette works. She's not as good a vocalist as Tarja...or even the likes of Sharon Den Adel or Floor Jansen for that matter, BUT she is good and doesn't sound at all out of place with this band. Also, Marcos sounds so much better on this album because his voice doesn't sound so drastically different to Annette's.

The best thing about this album is just how good it is musically. Since the Toumas and the rest of the band were now free from being labeled "Tarja's back-up band" the guys go all out with fantastic results. The work Toumas and crew prove to anyone who didn't already know he's the brainchild of this band.

Here's my track-by-track breakdown:

1.) The Poet And the Pendulum - Awesome. Utterly blew my mind. 5/5

2.) Bye Bye Beautiful - Bye bye Tarja, a hard hitting catchy song with Annette trading vocals with Marcos. The only fault the song has is that the lyrics are more somber and sad while the song sounds a lot more pissed off than it should, which is misleading. But it's irrelevant in the end because its such a damn good song 5/5

3.) Amaranth - OMG theez guyz wnt n totlee sold out!!!!111 DIz iz pop muzic! Shut up, you know you've had this song stuck in your head ever since you heard it and you love it. If you don't that's why there is a skip button on your CD player. And I thought "Nemo" was an addictive song! 5/5

4.) Cadence Of Her Last Breath - Musically this track is awesome but I just find the chorus kind of dull in comparison. I love the guitar solo though. - 4/5

5.) Master Passion Greed - Surgeon General's Warning: This song may cause involuntary moshing and headbanging which may result in neck injury or destruction of property. Eat it Marcelo Cabuli! 5/5

6.) Eva - It would be impossible for me to hate this song, it's just so damned beautiful and catchy. Nice work Annette. 5/5

7.) Sahara - One of the lesser tracks on the album. Catchy yes...but it just goes at this snail's pace and never really changes tempo or does anything interesting for that matter. 3/5

8.) Whoever Brings the Night - One of the few tracks I could hear Tarja singing. Damn good musically but the lyrics make me scratch my head. "You one-night butterfly"...? Something tells me some of the lyrics got lost in translation from Finnish to English. 4/5

9.) For the Heart I Once Had - The only thing that sticks out for me on this track is the poppy lighthearted melody in which Annette sings the verses. I dig that because it's unconventional. Other than that the song really doesn't gel for me. 2/5

10.) The Islander - The best Celtic sea shanty that Alice in Chains never did. One of the surprises of the album, the song that starts and makes you go "WTF is this?" and by the end of it you're singing along with it like nothing ever happened. A ballsy attempt at a folk song that pays off big time. 5/5

11.) Last Of the Wilds - Oh hell yes! I have been waiting for Nightwish to do an instrumental track since "Moondance" became one of my favorite tracks from this band. Easily one of the best and most unique tracks on the album - 5/5

12.) 7 Days To the Wolves - One of those songs that just doesn't work. Musically it sounds like an earlier Within Temptation song, and the chorus doesn't really work with the rest of the song. It's just a strange juxtaposition that never really takes off...even when the band tries to pick up the pace at the end of the song. 2/5

13.) Meadows of Heaven - Ugh....I really really wish they had omitted this track. This is how you do a ballad all wrong. First off, it's boring. Second, the chorus is just Annette saying "Meadows of heaven" over and over. If that wasn't bad enough they end the song with individuals in the chorus pulling that annoying Christina Aguilera style singing where you just vocalize all over the map and sound like a warbling cat. It's one of my biggest pet peeves in all music. Bad way to end this album 1/5

14.) Reach (Amaranth Demo Version) - Not a great track but it is an interesting view into the process in which they developed the songs on this album. Has a completely different chorus and feel to the song since Marcos is singing. And it is neat to hear this band sound raw and unpolished - 3/5

To sum up the album overall it has some duds but the majority of it is really impressive. I look forward to seeing how they advance with Annette, and hope they have as much luck with experimentation as they do on this album.

Dark Passion Play (Instrumental Version); 5 / 5. It's a major surprise to me and a great testament to the band how good this is. I'm also surprised at how much of a different dynamic tracks like Amaranth and Bye Bye Beautiful are without vocals. Even the track I hate "Meadows of Heaven" is a lot more beautiful without the boring vocals. Definitely made this Special Edition worth the money I paid for it.

4 out of 5 stars

If "Once" was big, this is absolutely seismic ... November 1, 2007
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

In my review of 2005's "Once", I focused on two musical strengths that Nightwish had developed; the album's variety of sound, ranging from celtic-inspired melodies to raw metal tracks; and the over-the-top symphonic bombast that made each song sound like a Tolkien battle scene. Songs like "Ghost Love Score" made any other symphonic metal creation sound dated and halfhearted.

But now we have that album's successor, "Dark Passion Play", which, like Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia"/"Deadwing" duo, attempts to both copy and one-up itself. It's almost as if the band structurally analyzed "Once" and then injected it with performance improvement meds. Though not without its flaws, the album has proven itself with the 7 - 10 spins I have given it.

Many fans will criticize the band's decision to adopt a more mainstream voice to their line-up. To such comments, I will say: though I was always a fan of Tarja's operatic pipes, I like the change for two reasons:

1.) Tarja's booming voice was very limiting. Though a good match for the epic metal the band was concocting, it would not have fit with more accessible, standard hard rock tracks.
2.) Her voice was already becoming less and less operatic album after album. The voice we heard in "Wishmaster" wasn't the same one coming across in "Nemo".

For these reasons (and of course, the ongoing personal drama that often spills into the music) I fully endorse Anette Olzon. She has the range, the power and the intensity to sing songs both old and new. For validation, look no further than the album's opener, the near 14-minute behemoth "The Poet and the Pendulum". I'm not a fan of epic tracks starting albums (see: Riverside's "Out of Myself", Draconian's "Where Lovers Mourn"), but after the first two minutes of this song's spiraling tempest of horns, strings and choirs, all is forgiven. Once again (pun intended), Emppu Vuorinen's guitars play second (more like fifty-second) fiddle to the orchestra, serving almost only as a metronome to the symphonic ensemble.

As a song, "Poet" puts previous symphonic epics ("Creek Mary's Blood", "Ghost Love Score") to shame. With spoken word passages and a story all of its own, it provides an intense dramatism that succesfully guides the song along its multi-part path. I would honestly recommend this album for purchase for this track alone. It's my favorite track of the album and will reign in the annals of epic metal songs for years to come.

The album overall follows the same format as "Once" or Kamelot's "The Black Halo" in that the first third of the album is spectacular, the second third is forgettable and the final third making up for the lackluster middle. We have many melodic heavy-hitters up front ("Amaranth", the electro-heavy "Bye Bye Beautiful" and "Cadence of Her Last Breath"). Afterwards, we have a hard-rock song that could easily have gone the way of the recycle bin ("Master Passion Greed"), a painfully slow ballad ("Eva") and two songs that I always skip ("Sahara", "Whoever Brings the Night"). Then the final third of the album rewards listeners for enduring the previous four cuts. "The Islander" is a beautiful acoustic number with various singers, centering around a primarily celtic melody. "Last of the Wilds" is an instrumental piece that is very reminiscent of Amorphis' "Relief" - folk, instrumental, fast, melodic. Finally, "7 Days to the Wolves" and "Meadows of Heaven" kick the orchestra into overkill, sending horns, flutes and strings into every single beat, accompanying Marco Hietala and Olzon in a competition for attention.

"Dark Passion Play" is, at its simplest, an inflation of "Once". They make better what worked in the previous album, and for some reason, make worse what didn't. Despite these imperfections, Holopainen and company have crafted an intense album that will ultimately survive the public scrutiny that surrounded its production. I give it two thumbs up ... as long as I can fast-forward to the end.

See also: Nightwish - "Once", Therion - "Sirius B"

5 out of 5 stars

It's the music, not Tarja October 24, 2007
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

As everyone knows by now Nightwish kicked out their iconic and much adored vocalist at the height of their fame, plummeting them into mire of cynicism, childish dismissal from Tarja fans and abandonment from the press who had clamoured to interview and promote them in the Once days. Rather than disband to rest on their past laurels or try to resurrect their old glory by imitating it, they have resurfaced with an album so very different yet full of the melody, passion, creativity and emotion that has long made Nightwish so adored. The new singer Annette Olzon is certainly not Tarja Mark 2. Whilst Tarja's voice was heartbreakingly sad, coldly distant and overwhelmingly majestic, Annette's is warm, open and full of happiness and enthusiasm; even the ballads are never sad, instead full of hope and love. Of course not everyone will like this change, but Annette's talent in undeniable and her range and power is unquestionable.

The most striking thing about this new album is the level of creativity and difference between the songs, in many ways it is reminiscent of the melodic side of avant-garde metal such as Arcturus and Diablo Swing Orchestra. The vast majority of metal bands with outside influences either use them so little that they're insignificant or milk them as their only gimmick. This album does neither, taking vast amounts of very diverse influence, making excellent use of each but relying on none.

Power metal - though Nightwish's power metal side has been in decline since Wishmaster there's somewhat of a return to form with DPP. First of all the vocals are enthusiastic, bright, high pitched and expressive. It sounds nothing like Tarja, but a lot like a female equivalent to most male power metal singers. As well as Emppu's perfectly composed and passionately played solos there are some wonderful power metal riffs in here, more so than any other `femme metal' band around. For one example listen to 7:37 in the massive Poet and the Pendulum; I almost cried with joy. And that's only one part of Nightwish's longest and most sophisticated song.

Thrash metal - Marco's impassioned old-style thrash yelps and screeches make the `beauty and the beast' pseudo-death metal growlers of most bands sound pathetic. Master Passion Greed is an excellent thrash power song reminiscent of a more complex Morgana Lefay, entirely sung by Marco. The thrash influence is also evident in some excellent riffs throughout the album.

Symphony - There's no classical and no opera: the `symphonic' side of Nightwish clearly draws almost entirely on film scores, which is no bad thing, the more immediately dramatic and overwhelming sound fits with the bombast and speed of power metal perfectly. No other band blends metal with symphony so clearly, neither side ever compete with the other for space as is the case with most similar bands, the guitars and drums know when to silence to allow the orchestra to shine and there's more than enough room for awesome riffs and solos. The utterly flawless orchestration and production is a large part of this as well as the composition. This is present throughout the album but best displayed in the vast epics Poet and the Pendulum and Seven Days to Wolves.

Folk Music - The Islander is based around a Native American sounding melody with acoustic guitar and Marco's newly found beautiful clean voice. It creates a unique feel that I can only describe as being somewhere between serene and `piratey'. The instrumental Last of the Wilds is a straight up cheery Celtic piece, thankfully given a decent length unlike the paltry instrumental intros to most metal albums.

Eastern Music -Every metal album seems to have an obligatory `eastern sounding song' and Sahara so obviously fitted this bracket I almost laughed when I heard it. Though the instrumental influence is present but not massive, just listen to the crazy Arabic sounding singing towards the end and tell me you don't love Annette.

Pop music - Yep, Annette used to be in an ABBA tribute band and it's blatantly obvious in the infectiously catchy very straightforward Amaranth. The album is full of the wonderful vocal melodies that have always been a Nightwish signature.

Musicals - The very soft ballad Eva which made a rather uninspiring single works so much better between the bombast and drama of the other songs around it. It is a song about love and devotion, not tragedy, hence makes a very different sort of song to most metal ballads. The line `the good in her will be my sunflower field' is one of the most touching lines I have ever heard.

Gospel - The very end of the album, towards the close of the lengthy ballad `Meadows of Heaven' explodes with a Gospel Choir in duet with Annette. Yes. It sounds like those Ladies and Gentlemen in churches wailing their hearts out with their love for Jesus. Sounds stupid doesn't it? Surprisingly not, it's the most original and inspiring way to end a metal album I have ever heard.

Influences that are thankfully definitely NOT present in Dark Passion Play:

Gothic music - I doubt I was alone in fearing Nightwish would jump on a faggoth bandwagon of some sort in their future direction. This album is almost never depressive or tragic and not a moment of goth rock or even gothic metal sound is to be heard.

Industrial - This album has no `Wish I Had an Angel' sound-alikes, everything is very flowing and natural with no electronic beats whatsoever.

Nu Metal - Nightwish's huge popularity with many alt-rockers has led to accusations of being `mallcore', but these are as entirely unfounded as ever, there's not a trace of it here. Yes there are power chords, but there are power chords in every metal band. There are more 'metal' riffs here than on a ManOwaR album for example.

The lyrics sadly are not as poetic or emotional as before. Usualy they're uninteresting, occasionaly too much more of Tuomas's self-pitying silliness and two songs dedicated to slating Tarja and her husband Marcelo. The artwork is simple but perfect, with the sense of wonder and excitement that fills the music. The digipack comes with the whole album as orchestral intrumentals. Enjoyable and worth having but not as engaging as the real thing as the gaps where the vocals are meant to fill are too obvious.

Many Tarja fans will not be won over because Annette is so different and of course people who hate bombastic, melodic, sensitive or feminine metal will still hate Nightwish. For most fans of female fronted symphonic metal, the importance of any Nightwish album is given but the absence of semi-operatic warbling, which was the ultimate in love-hate vocals, will open Nightwish up for people who didn't enjoy Tarja's style. The new areas this album covers; its immense diversity and increased complexity will hold a lot of appeal to people who find most symphonic and power metal too repetitive, predictable and straight forward.

3 out of 5 stars

Missed opportunity November 2, 2007
7 out of 11 found this review helpful

I want to start by saying that I'm not a huge Tarja fan. She's talented enough, but for my money there are plenty of other female vocalists out there who are as good if not better than the ousted diva. It's a shame Nightwish couldn't have picked one of them to be their new vocalist after their much publicized split with Tarja. When you have what is arguably the biggest female fronted metal band in the world, you should have your pick of great singers. I'm stunned that Annette Olzon is the best they could come up with. I'm sure she's a perfectly lovely person, and I could care less that she doesn't do the whole operatic thing (which can get on my nerves after a while), but the sad fact is she's just not suited for this type of music and is way out of her league here. If Lullacry needs a new singer, I'm sure she'd be a great replacement, but this is Nightwish, people!

What makes this even more of a shame is that musically Dark Passion Play is probably the absolute best album the band has written. I was impressed with Once, but the songwriting and symphonic arrangements on this album are simply awe-inspiring. This is epic metal on par with Therion. With any other vocalist - Tarja, Floor from After Forever, Simone from Epica - this would have been Nightwish's greatest achievement. Even a male singer would have worked (seriously, imagine this album with Evergrey's Tom Englund at the mic). Instead, it just seems like a missed opportunity.

Musically, Dark Passion Play rates 5 stars easily. The vocals deserve 2 stars. I tried to give Annette a fair try, but her voice is just not right here. Fortunately the "collector's edition" comes with a bonus disc featuring an instrumental version of the album.

One last thing, the songs aimed at Tarja and her husband are just plain petty. I know the split wasn't amicable, but there are umpteen press releases and interviews that make that plain. Your dirty laundry has no business on the album though.

5 out of 5 stars

An Epic, Revolutionary Masterpiece October 3, 2007
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

This may be one of the most anticipated albums of the year. Nightwish has a reputation for perpetually increasing excellence, so they had a lot to live up to. Especially considering the departure of front-woman Tarja Turunen in 2005. As fans will testify, Tarja's amazing voice has been immortalized on all of Nightwish's incredible albums thus far, and her part in the band's history will always be loved and remembered. Even so, change is the natural evolution for anything progressive, giving us something different and fresh even if we feel that we want the same thing that we've always had. Enter Anette Olzon, the Swedish singer loaded with potential. Though she will never be universally accepted, I have very high hopes for her and the talent that she can bring to Nightwish.

Back to Dark Passion Play--composer Tuomas Holopainen is a musical genius, once again proving here that he is capable of anything. This album can be considered a revolution in music, due to the impeccable writing, production quality, and spectacular orchestral arrangements. Better yet, this special edition includes the show-stopping instrumentals used for each song. Here's a breakdown of each track:

1. The Poet and the Pendulum (25,000/10) This is the greatest piece of music ever written. It's a 14-minute long masterpiece of haunting orchestral perfection, combined with beautiful vocals and the most insane fiddle you will ever hear. My jaw drops every time I hear this epic tour de force, and I don't think I've ever rocked out so hard in my life. Nightwish had the right idea making this the opening track; it will probably become part of music legend, and I don't think it will ever be outdone.

2. Bye Bye Beautiful (9/10) The powerful farewell song to Tarja. It's a passionate, savage catharsis, sung in the style of "Wish I Had an Angel" (with Marco singing the chorus and Anette on the other verses).

3. Amaranth (10/10) The catchiest darn thing ever, and an excellent choice for the first single. Anette truly makes this energetic song her own, and it stands out as one of the album's highlights.

4. Cadence of Her Last Breath (9.5/10) A darkly beautiful song with an amazing chorus. This is another example of a song that seems to have been created for the sole purpose of having Anette sing it.

5. Master Passion Greed (9.5/10) This song is hardcore--there's no other word for it. It's just Marco singing, and the intensity is almost overwhelming. There is some profanity, but it really shouldn't bother you, because it's such an awesome song. And there's an insanely forceful outro of just the orchestra, with the angriest sounding strings you'll ever hear.

6. Eva (6/10) This is one of the only lackluster songs on the album. It's remarkably pretty, and Anette's voice is showcased very nicely, but nothing about it stands out as riveting or memorable.

7. Sahara (8.5/10) A very exotic, otherworldly song. Unusual instrumentation, a male choir, and catchy lyrics make it a decent listen, and Anette's vocalizing is pretty awesome.

8. Whoever Brings the Night (9/10) Even though I hated this one at first because of its oddities, I've grown to love it. (I think) it's a vampire-courtesan song, which is pretty cool. The opening guitar-work by Emppu is stunning and thrashing. The instumentation is exotic, sinister, and atmospheric, and Anette uses her voice in a startlingly evil way that exemplifies her versitility.

9. For the Heart I Once Had (7/10) A poppy song, easily conceivable to be on the radio. There's nothing wrong with this song; there's just nothing special about it either.

10. The Islander (10/10) In my opinion, the biggest surprise on the album. Heavily influenced by Celtic music, this song features Marco singing in the best, most Irish accent that a Finnish person could ever hope to pull off. Anette sings backup against a collection of ancient flutes and bagpipes, and the resulting effect is stunningly gorgeous. I love Celtic music, and while this song may be out of place on a symphonic metal album, I can't get enough off it.

11. Last of the Wilds (10/10) Another Celtic-styled piece, this time a beautiful instrumental flowing seamlessly from the previous track. It is rare for a voiceless song to keep my interest, but this music has me transfixed. Tuomas is truly the most versatile musician in the industry, because I see this instrumental as nothing short of miraculous.

12. 7 Days to the Wolves (9.5/10) A fun, rabidly dark song that is both spooky and energetic. Anette and Marco sure have fun singing it together, with the choir providing a haunting backdrop. Midway, look out for the amazing fiddle part.

13. Meadows of Heaven (10/10) The lyrics might be overly sweet and sentimental, but this song is exquisitely beautiful. Some slight Celtic influences are heard throughout, and the choir joins Anette in the middle for a larger-than-life climax. Near the end, the song features solos from individual choir members, so passionate and heartfelt that you will get chills. This is the perfect closer to the album.

Any diehard Nightwish fan needs this album, but it is also a good CD for getting accustomed to the band and its genre. Just keep an open mind, and appreciate it for what it is--a masterpiece.

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