I've come to the conclusion that this album is.... fantastic!
At first I was "what?", but then it fully conquered me. Yeah, it's weird, it's not that heavy, it doesn't have the killer classic song like Nemo, I Want My Tears Back or even Elan, but damn it's good! and Floor does UNREAL things on this album, she kicks ass!!!
Some brief thoughts on the songs...
MUSIC: Weirdest opener ever, what's up with two intros in one? anyway, the vocal melodies are superb and Floor already on the first song starts to shine. Bad opener, wonderful and amazing song.
NOISE: Feels like the "Mh, guess we have to have a single" kind of song. It's not bad, but it's the least good leading single off the last three albums, possibly four.
SHOEMAKER: Once again clever and unusual melodies are put at Floor's service, and she does amazing things especially in that operatic final part. WOW!!!! JUST WOW!!!
HARVEST: We all know it by now, cute little folky song, I don't mind it at all, but I still think Floor should have sung the final chorus for a change.
PAN: I was sure that this song was called "Pain", not Pan
once again, I have to praise Floor for the delivery of the interesting vocal lines, this song gives me a "weird dream" vibe.
HOW'S THE HEART: The other single-y song, this is gonna go down so well live. Spiritual sequel to Elan, check the lyrical callback to the cliff meeting the sea.
PROCESSION: Wonderful ballad, half elegy half celebration of the grandiose complexity of life. Who knew a crash course in biology could have been so haunting and beautiful?
TRIBAL: I've seen a lot of early praise for this, but to me it sounds like a "damn, we don't have enough heavy stuff on the record" kind of song. Short and underdeveloped, Marco going Planet of the Apes isn't enough to save the song.
ENDLESSNESS: Now this is more like it! a doom-ish and majestic celebration of the universe, with a great chorus and awesome finale, and Floor's small part really shows how well you can use different vocalists. I wish they had more occasions like this on the album, where someone's song has a perfect and limited partecipation of another singer.
OH MY GOD, NATURE IS FUCKING AWESOME OR WHATEVER IS THE TITLE: Well, all in all I like it. Not love it, but I like it. Favorite movements are The Blue, which is absolutely majestic, and the ending Ad Astra, whose theme surfaces again in The Moors. I don't mind listening to it now that the album is new, but I don't plan on going through it every time in the future. I'm already planning an edit version where I keep Vista (the beginning after all), The Blue, the second half of The Moors and then Ad Astra, that should make it 10-15 minutes long at worst and make it more listeneable.
Maybe it's not a composition that will go down in history, but I like how after all it's just little vignettes here and there inspired by various aspects of nature (someone should make a video for all these others pieces however, it would be trippy to see the corresponding landscapes while listening to it), and how Tuomas didn't try to write the most majestic and solemn and glorious and whatever piece of music ever composed, aiming to end it all with the grandiosest grandiose finale of all time with a thousand choirs and stuff like that. He kept it kinda simple, it makes for an easier listening experience, but as I said I already know I won't keep to listen forever to the second disc whenever I'll listen to the first.