Another set of replies and another update just before I'll go to sleep. I know only four hours passed since the previous one, but as at working days I'm awake at home for about precisely four hours, that's the schedule, I guess.
Classic
One of the most important albums ever made.
Agreed. It should be on everyone's list!
Hell yeah to all three of you. Thinking about it, maybe I should've swapped it with the one that comes next, but you know, all these #37 and #36 and whatever numbers don't really mean a lot, as I love all the fifty albums I've got here. And besides, the next album is definitely the one I've listened to the most in 2014. I'm not sure how many spins I gave it, but you can be sure it's a lot. It is...
#36ImaginaerumNightwishGenre: symphonic power metal2011 It’s, eh, time for a story now. I’ve got into Nightwish around or maybe shortly after the release of their sixth studio album, Dark Passion Play. I liked the band for their fine blend of classical operatic vocals and more aggressive and modern approach, obviously was a fan of Tarja voice and all that stuff. Then the band parted ways with Tarja and hired Anette, and DPP was released. I was severely underwhelmed with this new album and kind of gave up on Nightwish since. The news about Imaginaerum sparked my interest back, but after I watched the video for Storytime I was incredibly disappointed. I don’t even remember what irked me so much about the song, but as the result I didn’t explore Imaginaerum further for a long time, missed their concert in Moscow on their recent tour; all in all, did a lot of stupid things.
I totally gave up on Nightwish back then.
Speaking of Nightwish, it’s one of the most famous Finnish metal bands. Their style can be described as symphonic power metal with a lot of orchestrations and lots of female lead vocals; male vocals are usually present too, though. Nightwish was created in 1996 by
Tuomas Holopainen, their keyboardist and main songwriter, and
Emppu Vuorinen, the band’s guitarist. Those two have never left the band.
Jukka Nevalainen, drummer, joined the band shortly after its creation;
Marco Hietala, current Nightwish bassist and vocalist joined sometime around 2001. The third band’s founder,
Tarja Turunen, was replaced with
Anette Olzon around 2006 or 2007; Anette was replaced with
Floor Jansen in 2012, when the band was touring. The vocals on Imaginaerum are provided by Anette.
So, how did I rediscover Imaginaerum after my initial strong disappointment with the single? In 2013 I was buying some Sonata Arctica stuff in Mad Supply shop, an online music store working with bands like Amorphis, SA, Ensiferum, Nightwish and so on, and since the delivery costs for one item and for two of them were identical I needed to order something else and I went for Imaginaerum digipack. I’ve placed an order, it had arrived and I placed the digipack on my shelf and didn’t listen to the album for six more months for some unfathomable reasons. Then I finally give this album a spin and, guess what, I wasn’t impressed at all again.
Ghost River was too random for me with Marco going wild in this pre-chorus,
I Want My Tears Back felt too commercial,
Scaretale was completely awful, you get it. Apparently, I was just biased in the worst way, and maybe wasn’t in the right mood for this record. I’ve ripped the disc, put the files on my phone and forgot about it.
Then I was going back home from work by train and something made me to put this record on. It was nearly the weekend, exhaustion and tiredness crept on me and I fell asleep just as I found a place in the train. I jerked awake after some time and
Turn Loose the Mermaids was playing in my headphones. I was amazed how magnificently simple and beautiful the composition was, how Anette’s voice was so fitting for it, how could I ignore this song for all these years. I started to pay attention and the rest of Imaginaerum blew me away that day. The whole album turned out to be so magical and breathtaking. From the stunning opener
Taikatalvi, through jazzy
Slow, Love, Slow and purely bombastic
Last Ride of the Day to calm, depressing spoken part in
Song of Myself, and finally to the orchestral reprise of the record in self-titled instrumental track, this album is marvelous. Even Scaretale went from “awful” to just “not as good as the rest”. I think Scaretale – Arabesque sequence is the only reason this album is here and not in Top 20.
Sorry, this writeup ended up a little long (well, I’ve warned you guys these are going to be longer as the list progresses on), so let’s wrap this up. The whole band obviously did great on the album, but I think Tuomas deserves a special mention for Imaginaerum. This man has a huge talent as a composer; the way he wrote all these songs to fit Anette’s vocal abilities, to make her voice truly shine, it’s remarkable. The bold decision to go with six minutes of spoken text in Song of Myself is polarizing enough, but I think it’s quite a fine way to end a concept album, and the music behind the speech is so glorious and sad. I get chills every time I hear the
“It was us, roaming the rainy roads…” passage with violin playing on the background, and another round of chills just before
“Beyond all mortality we are...” part. It’s the pinnacle of Imaginaerum for me.
Disclaimer: for the most satisfying experience you should listen to the whole album
Favourite tracks:
Taikatalvi,
Storytime,
Turn Loose the Mermaids,
Rest Calm,
Last Ride of the Day,
Song of Myself