Nightwish, Endless forms most beautiful

I listened to the album a few times now and I felt like I was playing “guess the song” for the most part! There are a ton of parts that remind me of previous Nightwish songs. I guess I should be happy it’s just Nightwish and not songs from other bands and if I hadn’t heard the “originals”, I would’ve liked the whole thing very much because they don’t sound bad, but to know how recycled they are is disappointing for me.

Now that I got this out of the way, I can say I’m really happy with the result. It has a few things that bother or bore me, but overall I really really like it. I’m still not sure, but I think I like it better than Imaginaerum and I was very happy with Imaginaerum. And it’s honestly not just because of Floor, I love how much Tuomas has experimented and in a way that is still representative to him and Nightwish. I guess that despite the obvious and bothering recycling, it’s more creative and unbound by any external constraints.

Floor is absolutely great and Tuomas has used her perfectly. I was a bit worried he wouldn’t make full use of her potential, but she sung in ways she never sung before, at some point I almost didn’t recognise her. And we had that sweet soft singing that we’re not really used to hearing from her, there was the aggressive singing that we all love and where she shines, she had some operatic moments… overall very versatile and she sounded great every single moment. I’m happy with what Tuomas pulled out of her. She is a vessel for the music and not the actual focus, but at the same time, she still shines and isn’t put in the background or limited in any way.

Shudder before the beautiful has grown on me a lot and I honestly don’t care at all that the melodies have been recycled, that the chorus is repeated ad nauseam and that beginning of it is that horrible Storytime style. The song is epic and dreamy and story-like and the middle chorus is awesome and Floor is awesome and there’s a little bit of Marco and OMG THEY HAD AN ACTUAL GUITAR SOLO! Also, they have prominent keyboards and it sounds like such a mix of new soundtracky Nightwish and old Wishmastery Nightwish. For some reason, I feel that they’re all doing this record with actual love and passion and enthusiasm and don’t give a rat’s arse on what anyone thinks and for me that is the most endearing trait of an artist

Weak Fantasy is probably one of the best songs of the album. Floor and Marco’s aggressive voices sound great together and I like the heaviness and bluntness of it all, and the way it grows with the awesome instrumental into Marco’s explosion near the end. The lyrics are kinda condescending, but eh… I can live with that. The song is overall too good to worry about that.

Elan is growing and growing and growing with each listen. It’s so freaking cute and positive and adorable, it just warms my heart. Yes the vocals are bland and could’ve been done by anyone (they sound like the Anette/Johanna Kurkela type of voice that Tuomas seems to love so much these days). Yes, by the end it gets a bit repetitive. Yes, it’s not complex, sensational or mind blowing. But it has the thing was missing in Nightwish at some point and it was the worst thing to be missing in music: it has soul. It’s so gentle and sweet and uplifting, it reminds me a lot of the The crow, the owl and the dove, which is possibly the most heartwarming song they have ever written. And I like how Nightwish’s discography reflects in a way the stages of life – the first albums were full of magic and fantasy and child-like enthusiasm, then Century child and Once were full of angst and teenage-like “nobody gets me” depression, we’ll skip Dark passion play because for me that album had no heart and then there are Imaginaerum and this album, which are full of joy, but it’s the more mature type of joy – the one of a content grown up, who is at peace and is simply happy to do what he likes without impressing anyone. I like the stage that they have reached.

Yours is an empty hope seems to be the fandom’s universally disliked song, but honestly I like it a lot. I absolutely hate how they completely stole the intro from Dark chest of wonders, but then it evolves into something good. I always liked their aggressive songs, maybe because they’re a rare treat with this band and they’re a break from the norm. And Floor and Marco again kill it, they’re simply made for this type of song. I don’t like the screaming in the middle of the song though, by that point I’m kinda tired of hearing “yours is an empty hope” over and over again, I don’t need it screamed too. 

Our decades in the sun is just gorgeous. They are great at ballads lately, all of their ballads are very soothing and uplifting. Marco is again great, I love love love his background vocals. The instrumental is so nice as well, they have become masters at instrumental parts. I think by this point, this is their best trait (and yes, I am saying this even though they have two of my all-time favourite vocals in the band). Even Emppu had actual guitars this time (very oldschool guitars, I might add, glad to hear that).

I have mixed feelings about My Walden. It sounds like Nightwish sandwiched between some Eluveitie beginning and ending. Coincidentally, the beginning and ending are really awesome, but the middle part is kinda meh and it reminds me of Last ride of the day waay too much. I really don’t like the chorus, especially the “higher higher higher” part. Thank God the ending is there to save them. As soon as the instrumental parts starts, it morphs into a totally different song. A very good one, at that. As much as I hate the first half, that much I love the second one. Whoever’s complaining about Troy’s folky parts needs to go away, that’s almost the best moment of the whole album!

Endless forms most beautiful is in a tie with Edema ruh for the most boring song of them all. I keep waiting Anette to burst into “it was the night before when all through the world” and “where is the wonder where is the awe”. It’s Imaginaerum bits and pieces pasted together to make a somewhat coherent song. Even if it weren’t for all that, it’s still very uninteresting and generic. Again, the instrumental ending is there to save the song, I swear they should skip singing altogether! Ok, I’m exaggerating here, but that low piano is so awesome!

Weeeeeee aaaaare theeeee edeeeeemmaaaaaa ruuuuuuhhhhhh….. oh the cheese and lack of creativity!! I am SO happy they didn’t choose it as the single, compared to this, Elan is just divine. Troy is again here to save the day, though. I love Floor to bits, but I’m starting to think Troy’s addition is the best thing they’ve done in ages. That little Troy bridge is such a good break from the snore fest that the rest of this song is. And I can’t say how happy I am they remembered they have a guitarist!

Alpenglow is a again a bit hit and miss. It starts out so well and the “together we slay” part is to die for, but then it morphs into the most anticlimactic conclusion of a buildup ever and there’s nature and joy and gratefulness and cheeeeeeeeese. This album kinda frustrates me, it has such awesome awesome parts and then at other times is so overwhelmed by cheese….

The eyes of Sharbat Gula…*falls into dreaming* Did I mention how they should turn instrumental? I’m getting that feeling again. Tuomas has a better knack for writing atmospheric instrumental parts than he has for vocal lines. I love this track, it reminds me of Mike Oldfield and Yanni and it’s just perfect!

The greatest show on earth is easily the best song of the album. Even though the piano intro seems a bit prolonged, as soon as there is a change of pace with the piano theme coming back, it turns into a really nice buildup. Certainly not too long or too boring for me, but then again I love long songs that have time to grow and experiment.

Can’t say I’m too happy with the narration, I like how it fits into the song, but Dawkins isn’t a very good narrator. He nearly startled me the first time I listened to the song, there was that gentle instrumental and then he came in so suddenly and un-gently it broke the feel. I’m not happy with the animal sounds in the middle either, there’s such a beautiful growth and then…. anticlimactic again. I like the weirdness and etherealness of that part, but there’s something wrong with it, can’t quite put my finger on it. Speaking of weird things, what on earth was that techno beat around minute 15?? These are the only things that bother me about this track, but they are so short and unimportant overall, that they don’t take away from the greatness of it.

Vocally Marco is awesome and this is where Floor shines, I love pretty much everything about her vocals, from the airy vocalisation in the beginning, to the operatic part and the low speaking and the high powerful vocals in the chorus and the gentle vocals before the chorus and the aggressive duo with Marco and…. is there any type of singing she didn’t touch in this song except grunts?

Overall, it’s a song that puts you in a mood, it’s a story and a journey and that’s exactly what I love about Nightwish. I guess it’s not super-coherent and the transitions seemed a bit forced now and then, but it’s not an incohesive mess as I was fearing it would be. It starts out so beautiful and soothing and then grows and it explodes and the middle is so powerful and the near-ending is epic and the actual ending is such a nice touch in the context and a proper ending for the story of life (it starts with nothing and it ends with nothing). Tuomas should be proud with this song, with more listens it has the potential to become one of my favourite Nightwish songs. Definitely the best epic since Ghost love score!

I’m glad Sagan was left of the album, it’s basically everything I hate about Nightwish. Bland, repeats the chorus ten thousand times and has those annoying typical tractor riffs that they have used in almost every single since Century Child. The only thing that saves it is the pipe thing everyone keeps complaining about (personally I love that part in Nightwish, there can never be enough Celtic/Irish inspired music in the world).