First of all, I'll start by saying that I was totally stunned - this album is amazing...They've well and truly pulled off a spectacular record. Here's my attempt at a breakdown of the album "Dark Passion Play" track-by-track:
1. The Poet and the Pendulum - WOW. No wonder Tuomas loves this one. It's stunning. Fantastic orchestrations, choir and crunchy guitars. I love how it's split into sections. Love the last part "Mother and Father". Sounds like something he's taken straight from his parents here. Is very moving. Is very Tuomas. ;)
2. Bye Bye Beautiful - Ho boy. Definitely seems to be about Tarja. I like it, despite the slightly pop-esque sounding title. Interesting chorus - the line "you chose the long road but we'll be waiting" - is this perhaps suggesting that they hold no grudge or animosity towards her now, and if she decides she wants to reconcile, they'll be willing to give it a go, too? Not to rejoin the band, but just repair their friendship. After all, Tuomas has known her for over a decade, yes? Surely even he wouldn't throw that away - now the hurt has eased, are they willing to put it behind them? Also, the line "I need to die to feel alive" is in quotation marks in the booklet, which makes it sound like a quote. Curious.
3. Amaranth - This was the first official single from the album. I can't think of much to say here, but it's a fabulous song, with a really catchy chorus. The video is quite nice too - different, a bit strange, but still very Nightwish.
4. Cadence of Her Last Breath - Does Tuomas have a thing for heavy breathing on NW's
albums?? ("She is My Sin", "Wish I Had an Angel"). Potential single? Lovely chorus, I really do love Anette's voice :) "Sometimes a dream turns into a dream" - Depending on which way around you see the 'dream', this line could be taken as poignant and yearning or hopeful.
5. Master Passion Greed - If "Bye Bye Beautiful" is about Tarja, can I go out on a limb here and say this is it's companion, for her companion (her husband)? It's angry, aggressive, vicious. "who the hell are you to tell me what to do..." (indeed, after all, the band has nothing to with him); "Hey Judas, your Christess was our love" (feeling betrayed by his attitude towards the band members, his treatment of Tarja? She was their sister, they love her dearly, but hated seeing what happened to her?); "seek her, seduce her, tame her, blame her, have her, kill her, feast on it all" (woah, this part seems particularly vicious. Is this how they feel about how he treats her etc? Some people have already said the boys felt like he just treated her like a business project, a commodity. Nippy, effective). That's my thoughts of this. It jumped right out at me when I first read the lyrics, I wasn't looking for a connection, but it was the first thing that occurred to me. Oh, and it sounds kind of Metallica-esque. Not a copy of their style, just slightly influenced.
6. Eva - This was released back in May 2007 as a charity single, available on download only. It's a lovely flowing song, quite sad-sounding, and I love the orchestra here, and the scale change towards the end of the song. "Eva flies away, dreams the world, far away" - the whole song seems to speak of childhood and innocence, but also hurt and longing.
7. Sahara - Starts off quite "Wishmaster"-style with the plinky-keyboard part. Love the slow part, quite seductive and smooth. Echoes of "Pharaoh Sails to Orion" and "The Siren". Egyptian elements in the orchestration. Marco fairly showing off with his bass here! Just a great song
8. Whoever Brings the Night - Niiice. Crunchy. The guitars and keyboards, I mean. Nice use of synth on the vocals. Now, Emppu co-wrote this with Tuomas, although Tuomas still wrote all the lyrics. Which makes me ponder what the song is about. Nonetheless, it's catchy, the chorus is solid, and the orchestra is played-down somewhat (compared to other songs, that is *g*) Sounds somewhat angry as well, but more directed at himself than anyone in particular. And woah. Crazy guitar breaks in the middle-8.
9. For the Heart I Once Had - *sigh* Lovely. Lovely and sad. Potential single? It's one of the shorter tracks, it's catchy: could be this album's "Nemo"? Anette's voice is so sweet on this track. Songwriter still seems to ache for his childhood. Seems to cling it more when he's hurting or scared? Or, sounds like he's thinking "because of the childhood I had, because of who I was then, I can hope for my future". "Time will not heal a Dead Boy's scars/time will kill" - beautiful line, but full of sadness. Yet despite the sadness you pick up in the lyrics of this album (not right the way through, but in certain songs), They still seems happier than they have for a long time.
10. The Islander - No way! That's Marco?! Wow. What a voice! Think he's channeling his inner-Irishman ;) Love the acoustic sound. This song is like an old Scottish or Irish story-song. Bonus points for use of traditional instruments! Anette and Marco's voices compliment one another wonderfully.
11. Last of the Wilds - Moves smoothly in from "The Islander", love how Celtic is sounds! It's like Wolfstone, or Capercaillie, or Runrig - I love it!! Also, we haven't had an instrumental track since Oceanborn, no? Long instrumental parts within songs, yes, but not a solid, full instrumental since "Moondance". If it makes you want to dance, do it! Yes? It's fantastic.
12. Seven Days to the Wolves - We heard snippets prior to the album release, but nothing beats the full track. Nice effects at the start. Like the drum lead-in. Quite a dark song, isn't it? Could Tuomas be questioning his mortality here? And how if we want to live life, we need to let go of fears, be aware that when what we long for is presented before us, to grab it and not let it go past. So if something seems to pop up at the right time, it's not a 'coincidence', it's meant to be. Oh, I like the change of drumming at around 3:00minutes (very "Creek Mary's Blood"). Has the theatre and power of "Higher Than Hope", but without the grief.
13. Meadows of Heaven - *stares* ... what can I say? It struck me so hard, I was pretty much crying, though I can't pin down why. By the way, Tuomas has really developed those piano-playing skills (remember: keyboard players are different from pianists, the two are not the same. I'd be the first to vouch for that, and I understand why it pisses him off being called a pianist. Just because there are piano parts here, doesn't make him a pianist either. But damn, he's good at it). I've waited for this album for months, it hasn't failed to deliver, and I'm so happy. But this year so far as been an emotional rollercoaster, so I guess something like this was going to affect me more than it may have done previously, even 18 months ago. Oh yeah. But I love it when people (especially musicians/songwriters) make me feel like this. One thing about "Meadows of Heaven" though - gospel choir? Eh...ok? But do you know what? It works pretty well! It's a good finish to the song, it's not over-done. And it's a bloody great song to finish the album on.
Safe to say this is one of the best albums I've heard all year. It tans the hide off a lot of other bands out there at the moment :)
A brief note on the second disk - it's the exact same as the first album, but without any of the vocals. It's a fantastic addition to the album, and I personally love being able to really hear the instrumental and orchestral parts with the added clarity that a purely instrumental disk allows.
The band totally gets extra brownie points for adding this to the Spec. Ed.
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