Review Summary: Nightwish begins a new chapter and it's off to a decent, but not great start
Most Nightwish fans tend to agree that Anette (the vocalist for Nightwish on this album I'm reviewing) is the worst of the three lead vocalists that Nightwish has had over their career. The order of these lead singers, from best to worst, tends to go Tarja (original vocalist), Floor (current vocalist), and then Anette (previous vocalist). I tend to agree with this list for a few reasons.
1.) Tarja's voice is incredibly unique
2.) Tarja's vocal style fits perfectly with Nightwish
3.) Tarja essentially created the genre of symphonic metal
Floor, who is the current vocalist for Nightwish, also has a more unique singing voice (although not as unique as Tarja) and she is essentially a mixture of Tarja and Anette. This leads us to Anette. None of this is to say she's a bad singer. She has a good voice, but it's clear from the start of this album that her vocal style doesn't fit in with Nightwish.
From the start of this album we are made aware of two things:
1.) Anette is here and it's time to deal with it
2.) The whole band has changed their style and it's up to us to decide whether that's good or bad
The opening song, "The Poet and the Pendulum", starts as classic Nightwish. A soft Piano and Keyboard intro with Operatic vocals gives us the feeling that this album will be as good if not better than previous albums. However, once Anette begins singing, it's clear that she isn't nearly as good of a singer as Tarja, which leads Nightwish to take on more of a hard rock style instead of symphonic metal. It's not a bad song (in fact the chorus is quite catchy), but it's clear that Anette doesn't measure up to Tarja.
Some songs throughout the album feel more like a straight up rock song instead of symphonic metal. Songs such as "Amaranth" and "Bye Bye Beautiful" are prime examples of this. Don't get me wrong, they are good, if not great songs, but it's important to be aware that the style is very different than previous albums.
Marco Hietala's vocals are used significantly more throughout this album. Sometimes this works, but for the most part, it doesn't. His vocals in "The Poet and the Pendulum" feel forced and are completely out of place. However, his vocals in "Bye Bye Beautiful" are well done. He's also the lead vocalist in the song "The Islander", which is an enjoyable, slow track. The song is highly influenced by folk music instead of the usual symphonic power metal (or in some instances of this album, hard rock).
This album isn't bad, but it's also safe to say that Nightwish has some work to do. The first half of this album is significantly better than the second half. The band changing their style is probably a good thing because it's hard to imagine Anette pulling off the vocals that Tarja was able to do. Songs like "Bye Bye Beautiful" and "Amaranth" are good tracks that definitely have some replay value to them. However, there are a handful of songs that are forgettable. Songs like "Sahara", "Meadows of Heaven", and "For the Heart I Once Had" fit into this category. Hopefully Nightwish will figure out how to fit Anette into their original style or improve their new style to get back up to par with the old Nightwish. Only time will tell if that becomes true or not.
