Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nightwish - Better than ever, 29 Sep 2007
There was a lot of talk about Nightwish when the band announced the departure of Tarja Turunen, the main vocalist. Some even said that Nightwish will be no more. Rumours and speculations were of biblical proportions about the new main vocalist and if Nightwish could ever produce their own kind of music ever again. Dark Passion Play - after two years of painful waiting and with a new lead, Anette, shows us that we, music lovers may rejoice once again.
Fans will immediately recognise the musical style of Nightwish, which hasn't changed a bit since the Once was released. Especially the fans of Ghost Love Score will be in heaven the minute the album begins. The Poet And The Pendulum is sheer awesomeness. The music, the choir, the orchestra. Everyone who has ever heard Nightwish before, will instantly recognise the musical style of Nightwish that separates the band from other metal bands out there.
Second track, Bye Bye Beautiful introduces more "classical" Nightwish approach with heavy guitar riffs and a beautiful parts with Anette and Marco. Yes, Marco is back, better than ever. Fans will especially enjoy the fifth track entitled Master Passion Greed. If you enjoyed some of Marco's vocals on Once, this album is definitely for you. Third, fourth and sixth tracks concentrate more on musical aspects and on Anette's performances - which are different to those of Tarja but are pure Nightwish nonetheless.
The lyrics on Dark Passion Play are once again more meaningful than they might sound. Mr. Holopainen has always said that while he writes new songs, the lyrics tend to draw heavy inspiration, amongst other things, from his personal life. One can easily read (or listen) between the lines his thoughts about Tarja's departure and general feelings of the band. While some of the songs may be less hearthbreaking than those on Wishmaster, Dark Passion Play is lyrically the most beautiful and meaningful of the Nightwish albums.
All in all, Dark Passion Play offers 13 tracks of pure and delicate Nightwish. There really isn't anything bad, Anette's vocals are excellent to say the least. There is no doubt that with a new lead singer and with excellent music Nightwish will dominate the charts and outsell their last album Once.
The Special Edition also offers a second disc, which is instrumental version of the Dark Passion Play. Those of us who appreciate the sheer awesomeness of the music alone can now enjoy to their hearth's content. To easily put it into one sentence: Nightwish has once again outdone itself, this album belongs to everyones musical collection.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Album of the Millenium (so far), 5 Jun 2009
Just when I thought I'd heard it all(having started listening to rock in the early 70's)I was pleasantly shocked when my nephew lent me this cd.The sound is stunning,the songwriting is powerful but unlimited in scope, the female singer has a beautiful voice and the overal impression is of a huge cinematic soundscape for some sci-fi blockbuster.
The tracks range from very heavy to catchy pop to acoustic folk and much of the sound's colour comes from brilliant orchestration and excellent use of large choral forces.It's around 75 minutes long but doesn't feel like that and is chock full of highlights.Their new vocalist Anette delivers 2 great ballads(Eva and Meadows of Heaven)where the music builds towards powerful climaxes,and despite the unwarranted criticism from some reviewers I prefer her vocals to her predecessor Tarja.Tarja could not have sang the commercial "Amaranth" or "The Heart I Once Owned" anything like as well."Sahara" is another massive wall of sound which has shades of Sabbath's "Seventh Star" about it.Marco shows off his incredible range on a couple of tracks, and these two combined really show up how monotonouus the male-female vocalists in Lacuna Coil are.
One of the highlights for me was hearing Troy Donockly (Iona)contributing uileann pipes to 2 or 3 tracks.The pipes (and low whistle combined with fiddle) add a delicious Celtic flavour to an already abundant panorama of sounds.The album's opening epic "Poet and the Pendulum" may be somewhat self-indulgent on Tuomas' part, but in the central passage blastbeat drums,riffing guitar and matching orchestral interplay produce one of the most jaw-droppingly powerful sequence of music I've ever heard.Every rock fan should at least hear this album.The last album to have the same sort of shattering effect on me was the debut by Montrose in 1973 !
The bonus disc in this special edition contains the orchestral backing tracks which are worthwhile and only a couple of quid dearer than the standard album.
I own over 3,000 cds and this goes straight into the Top 12 ! BUY !
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome album - but the variety of songs lifts it above its rivals, 15 Jan 2008
What everyone else has said before is definitley valid and i totally agree, but what struck me (as a first time buyer of a nightwish album) is the sheer diversity of the songs.
Having been a fan of 'within tmeptation' for a while now i decided to branch out into other similar bands. When i stumbled upon nightwish i decided to give them a go. Whereas 'within temptation' and other more well known bands of this genre tend to stick to the same old (and successful) formula of strong vocals and with your guitars and orchestral ensemble, nightwish have a strong variety that makes this album easily listen-to-able.
Where some songs such as 'Amaranth' sound alarmingly like a heavy metal version of the corrs (i know i wont win mnay friends with this comparison) whilst the lilting ballad that is 'the Islander' could easily have come from any Jordan or Tolkien novel.
Both these can then be contrasted to what (from reading other reviews) i suppose is traditional nightwish.
Overall this album succeeds where perhaps others (such as within temptation) don't do as well beacuse of the fact that after listening through the whole album, it does'nt all just seem to merge into one long song. In fact each song presented is refreshingly new.
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