Nightwish - Shudder Before The Beautiful

A lot has happened to Nightwish in the past few years. Most significantly Tarja Turunen, trained opera singer and front woman of the band, has left to pursue her solo career. Like many Nightwish fans I was devastated, what was Nightwish without Tarja? This is and always was an unfair damnation of the rest of the band, it is not like Nightwish is a bunch of talentless boobs, they are with or without Tarja a collection of fine musicians, but it was impossible to deny that Tarja the main attraction, she was the center piece of their sound and what made they stand out as unique. What were we going to do? What was Nightwish going to do?

What they did was recruit Anette Olzon. From what I can tell Anette is not a trained opera singer, but her real sin was not being Tarja. Fan reaction to the change was very mixed, some were sympathetic to Nightwish and welcomed the new singer, while others could not imagine Nightwish without Tarja and stopped caring about Nightwish altogether. I found myself in the middle of the debate, I too struggled to imagine how Nightwish could ever be great again without Tarja, at the same time it seemed incredibly judgemental to just assume Anette was no good and give up on a band we were all otherwise loyal to up to that time.

I suppose Anette was not completely disliked and Nightwish was not completely abandoned by fans their hit “Bye Bye Beautiful” was a huge hit; still Tarja’s memory lingers since that song is obviously about her.

Anette stuck around for about four years and produced two studio albums with Nightwish, “Dark Passion Play” (2007) and “Imaginaerum” (2011). For reasons that are not exactly clear Nightwish fired Anette from the band in late 2012, she claims it was because she got pregnant, while the band claims it was an issue of personalities. Now enters Nightwish’s third lead singer Floor Jansen.

Nightwish's lead singers from left to right: Tarja Turunen, Anette Olzon and Floor Jansen

I already explained my enjoyable introduction to Floor in the Revemp “Wild Card” review: http://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.ca/2015/12/revamp-wild-card.html

Because Floor made such a positive impression on me I decided it was worthwhile to give Nightwish’s new lineup a fair chance and pickup their newest album “Endless Forms Most Beautiful.” Wait “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” where have I heard that before? 

Charles Darwin

 “Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” – Charles Darwin (The Origin of Species)

I have read “The Origin of Species” so I was quick to identify the reference. Then I noticed the title of the last track “The Greatest Show On Earth,” and that too seemed familiar as it is also the name of one of Richard Dawkins books. Then I began listening to the new album and the first thing I hear is Richard Dawkin’s voice speak these words:

“The deepest solace lies in understanding,
This ancient unseen stream,
A shudder before the beautiful.”

So seconds within listening to this new album I am looking up an explanation for all this and confirm my suspicions that “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” is in fact an ode to the beauty of biological evolution. This is a new sort of concept album, I have never previously heard of a band creating an entire musical effort celebrating the scientific understanding of life, or any other science for that matter. I instantly fell in love with “Endless Forms Most Beautiful.”

As stated a moment ago I have read “The Origin of Species,” which is not exactly the first book my fellow well read ballers across the globe tackle, but I have also read four books by Richard Dawkins, “The Selfish Gene,” “The Blind Watchmaker,” “The God Delusion,” and the “Greatest Show On Earth,” so I have done my homework before listening to “Endless Forms Most Beautiful,” but also I personally feel connected with Nightwish after this. If you recall my last review for Nightwish - “Wishmaster” focused on the band celebrating the fantasy works of Tolkien and the Dragonlance universe, that combined with this celebration of Charles Darwin with collaborating efforts by Richard Dawkins means that Nightwish and I are reading all the same books; we should hang out sometime; that would be cool.

I am particular fond of the first track “Shudder Before The Beautiful,” it is great hearing Mr. Dawkins speak some beautiful words of wisdom, but also this song starts off the album right, it is hard and fast and exciting and Floor does her part wonderfully. It seems Floor has been well received by Nightwish fans, including me, unlike Anette she was trained in opera, but also she is not Anette which I guess is a big relief to some.

What a delightful expression “shudder before the beautiful,” describing a pause to behold the awe of existence in its glorious splendor. For it is life itself that is the beautiful being so wildly admired by Nightwish in this song and indeed on this album, as Dawkins argued so poetically, life and with it the unique constant change it makes for itself via evolution, is the greatest show on earth.

I could not help but notice in the opening lyrics an interesting connection being made between the subject matter of life and the band Nightwish itself:

“Awake, oceanborn,
Behold this force,
Bring the outside in,
Explode the self to epiphany.”

I cannot have been the only Nightwish fan to have noticed the dropping of their second album title “Oceanborn.” Literally as mammals our ancestry does tie back to the waters of this pale blue dot, but also Nightwish may correctly identify that album as their birth in some aspects. Interesting thought anyway.

The chorus, which makes up the bulk of the song comes off like the sort of poem Dawkin’s himself might have wrote:

“The music of this awe,
Deep silence between the notes,
Deafens me with endless love.
This vagrant island Earth,
A pilgrim shining bright.
We are shuddering before the beautiful,
Before the plentiful,
We, the voyagers.”

Again we see something of a connection being drawn between the subject matter of the ever changing and evolving life of the planet and music that now comprises the beauty of this understanding. This reminds me a little of Rush’s “2112 Overture” when Getty Lee describes the discovery of technology through the wonderment of playing guitar. Basically every word is perfect in this chorus, deep silence between the notes, vagrant island Earth, and shuddering before the beautiful, this is amazing deep heavy stuff, and Floor sings it so perfectly.

It is a weird thing to admit, even to myself, but “Shudder Before The Beautiful” might be my favorite Nightwish song. This development seems almost inappropriate, how could anyone’s favorite Nightwish song be sung by someone other than Tarja? How is it even possible for us to consider the possibility that Nightwish might have produced their best album in 2015, and without Tarja? I do not expect everyone to agree with me, in fact I suspect most Nightwish fans to refuse to even pause and consider the possibility as they cling to the past glories of the band, but I have to concede, at least to myself, that “Endless Form Most Beautiful” has become my favorite Nightwish album, and “Shudder Before The Beautiful” may have become my favorite song of theirs.

Richard Dawkins approved.

Now maybe I am biased. I am a huge fan of Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins, and maybe the outlandish fact that Mr. Dawkins has now collaborated on a metal album is just such an insanely awesome thing to have happened that I will always be partial to this event in metal music history.

The version of “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” that I purchased included a bonus CD that was the instrumental version of the same album, and that too is fantastic, but also it says something about Nightwish quality that even without a lead singer at all they can obviously produce fantastic music.

Shudder Before The Beautiful - Instrumental Version:

“Endless Forms Most Beautiful,” Richard Dawkins approves and so do I.

- King of Braves

Nightwish - Wishmaster

So Nightwish, you probably heard of them. Of all the many central European metal bands I love Nightwish is probably the most successful and easily the most famous in my native Canada. Perhaps Nightwish needs no introduction, but as a quick summary Nightwish is perhaps the first, or at the very least the first famous, metal band to use a beautiful female trained in opera as their lead singer, and that kind of became a big thing.

Naturally I was on board with the idea of opera singer meets metal band, and in many ways Nightwish was a launching point for me to discover the wonderful world of central European metal which is absolutely my favorite genre music currently. However there is something else about Nightwish that makes them special, and that is fantasy, it would be difficult to argue Nightwish as being anything other than a power metal band and impossible to deny their fantasy inspirations and themes.

As someone who is attempting to write his own fantasy epic and as someone who writes his own music blog as a hobby you can imagine I have been involved in countless conversations where the two topics overlap. Once many, moons ago, a friend asked me what sort of music inspires me the most when I write epic battle scenes, as that is the best thing to be interested about in this world. This gentleman in question was rather into really heavy badass warriors and combat as well as metal and who isn’t really? So I thought for a moment and came up with a couple of Nightwish songs, the two that always stood out to me the most for this specific sort of criteria are “Planet Hell” and “Wishmaster.”

“Planet Hell” is a great song and has always been one of my favorite Nightwish songs however this is not the time to talk about “Planet Hell” just yet. Today we are discussing “Wishmaster.”

“Wishmaster” is the title track of Nightwish’s third studio album which was released in the year 2000. It was around this time that Nightwish started to establish themselves in the international market of metal due to the success of their second album “Oceanborn.” While “Oceanborn” is a great album it is the hit songs off of “Wishmaster” that really started building Nightwish’s momentum. Songs like “She is My Sin,” “Deep Silent Complete” and as of this moment, most notably, the self title track “Wishmaster” that really set the stage for who Nightwish were, what they were about, and where they were going.

With a band name like Nightwish, it does not take tremendous powers of observation to notice how a album and song titled “Wishmaster” might has some level of personal connection or involvement in its artistic meaning. What I am trying to say is “Wishmaster” in many ways is Nightwish’s primary flagship song. It is not just the name but also the content of the song; naturally it is a hard hitting metal song with beautiful lead vocals from Tarja. It is a Nightwish song where Tarja really gets to show off but also has a great guitar solo where Emppu gets to show off, a little bit of everything and great pacing by the rhythm section to boot. There is also a mysterious reference to seven individuals;

“Master,
Apprentice,
Heartborne,
7th Seeker,
Warrior,
Disciple,
In me the Wishmaster.”

I have read a lot of fantasy novels but I have no idea who these seven individuals being referred too are. Oh but it gets better.

"Varda" by Gustav oMalek

“Elbereth,
Lorien.”

I know these two, they are from the Silmarillion. Elbereth is the alternate name for Varda the eldest of the female gods, known as the Valier; she is the lady of the stars and dwells with Manwe the eldest of the Valar, the male gods. Lorien is the second youngest of the Valar (not including Morgoth), and is the master of visions and dreams, and Esre is his spose who is the Valier of healing wounds and weariness.

So that’s some pretty intense and obscure fantasy reference but you are not going to out Tolkien me Nightwish.

Then they drop these two names:

Silvara from the cover
of one of the Dragonlance
books.  I couldn't figure
out which one.

“Silvara,
Starbreeze.”

Okay... I’ve never heard of them. But a quick Google search should clear that up. These characters are from the Dragon Lance novel series apparently.

Silvara is the name the silver dragon though she was often sen in her polymorph elf form, so that is pretty interesting. Meanwhile Alhana Starbreeze is the leader of the Silvanesti Elves.

The moral of the story, I should probably read the Dragon Lance series when I get a chance. The more important moral of the story, Nightwish are like super awesome metal fantasy fans, and that is probably nowhere made more obvious than a song with a similar namesake that refers to characters from both Tolkien and Dungeons and Dragons mythologies.

One mystery still remains, who are the master, the apprentice, heartborne, the 7th seeker, the warrior, the disciple, and the wishmaster? Maybe I will never know. Maybe it will turn out to be a list of fantastic characters from a fantasy world of Nightwish’s own imagination, not unlike Freddie Mercury’s Rhye. If anyone knows I hope they let me know, because I listen to the album and song “Wishmaster” a great many times and often allowed my mind to wonder who these persons might be. It was a fun exercise in dreaming, and that is only made possible by the guitar strings and the drum beats and the baseline and of course Tarja’s voice bringing together a song that perfectly captures the spirit of their band and power metal in general. Also if you do a Google search some better read fantasy fans than I have some very good theories who these individuals are, but there seems to be at least some level of uncertainty still, so for me at least the mystery lingers.

There is a good conversation about it here: http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/37969/

If you have somehow managed to avoid discovering the greatness of Nightwish up until now, then “Wishmaster” is perhaps the finest introduction one could hope to have, and for us who don’t live under a rock we can probably all agree that “Wishmaster” is among Nightwish’s finest work.

Until next year, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Nightwish - Deep Silent Complete

I’ve been struggling to pick the right song for this month.

As always there is about a million thoughts rampaging in my brain, and focusing on a single thought can be difficult when you are a paranoid perfectionist. But I believe I have pinpointed the song I need to talk about.

I wanted to do a song a little harder then pervious months. Figured my heavy metal friends might be getting bored with the relatively light atmosphere I have developed in recent months. So heavy was a necessity for this month.

I dislike the idea of being yesterday’s news and though I hardly doubt anyone who actually takes the time to read my monthly music rants cares, that doesn’t mean they should settle for my second best. I want to share music that is not only great on any standard, but also somewhat unknown. So obscurity is important this month.

I keep thinking about a conversation about fantasy literature (which I write for a hobby) where I was unable to describe the exact kind of music that runs through my head while I write. So something mystical, and fantastic was an important element to me in this month’s review.

In the end I knew what band I wanted to talk about, but picking the right song was the challenge.

I want to talk about Nightwish before they become too well known and I end up talking about yesterday’s news. Nightwish is out of Finland, which apparently is the greatest nation in the world for hard, over the top, super emotional, heavy metal. Formerly led by trained opera singer Tarja Turunen (that name is about as Finish as it gets) this heavy metal group has something I personally rather enjoy… an actual singer! Not some ninny yelling stupidly.

For some time I contemplated various tracks by Nightwish I would review. Some songs like “Wishmaster” and “I wish I had an Angel” fit very well with the whole ‘fantasy’ theme I was hoping for. Songs like “Planet Hell” captured the brutality I was describing to Tom Theroux in a conversation about some of the harsher elements to my own story telling.

“Save yourself a penny for the ferryman, Save yourself and let them suffer.”

Cool stuff, anyway you can understand my dilemma. Though unimportant insofar that this is sort of monthly spamming I do; I make a conscious effort to be entertaining and interesting.

In the end I believe I have to side with my little brother Devin who initially introduced Nightwish to me. I believe his favorite track, is “Deep Silent Complete” and while I am on the fence about which Nightwish song is my favorite or which song best captures the mood I was trying to capture this month Deep Silent Complete does capture the overall the style of Nightwish best.

There is a lot of Tarje singing very opera-esc in this song, and though still undoubtedly a metal song there is a clear melody and coherent style through out. It is the best combination of opera metal the band has to offer even better then their cover of “Phantom of the Opera.”

Deep Silent Complete really is an impressive song that does mix two genres rather well. I suppose it speaks well of Nightwish that their songs sound different enough that various tracks racked my brain as to which captured a variety of themes best. Also they appear to be growing in popularity, as I saw a commercial on TV not too long ago for their greatest hits album release in North America. Also I believe one of their songs was featured on “Lord of The Rings,” which I think is a pretty big deal.

Anyway, until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly