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Music Reviews:

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play

Roadrunner Records – 2007

This album is brilliantly conceived and executed with grace, flair and power.  I'd never heard a Nightwish album before this one and have to say this band is incredibly strong.  What I'm most impressed with is that they have their own identity.  The are heavy, progressive but don't sound like any other band.  I think this stems from their female lead vocalist, incredible use a large orchestra, 2 choirs and their European heritage.

There's no doubt this is an epic concept album.  It's a huge story that crosses the boundaries of territory that most bands wouldn't attempt to tackle.  The story is told on so many dimensional levels, by a bunch of different voices that make it work.   Nightwish's DARK PASSION PLAY is an album you absolutely MUST HAVE.  I'd put it in the same class with The Who Tommy, Pink Floyd The Wall, Queensryche Operation Mindcrime and Dream Theater Scenes From A Memory.

The album begins with orchestra building up to the band unleashing their power in "The Poet And The Pendulum."  This 13-minute opening track is diverse, unpredictable and passionate.

"Bye Bye Beautiful" kicks the album into a different harder gear and I love how the bassist Marco Hietala sings the lead because he's got a rough yet cool voice that mixes nicely with Annette Olzon's velvet voice.

Annette Olzon sings "Amaranth" so beautifully that her melody carries you right into the tune.

Marco Hietala sings the lead in "Master Passion Greed."

Annette Olzon delicately sings "Eva."  This is one of the songs you can really hear Olzon's European accent, which gives her a vocal signature not heard by anyone else.  Emppu Vuorinen adds a tasty solo to fit this softer track.

Nightwish comes back harder in "Sahara" with Thomas Holopainen's piano and keys leading the way.

Choir voices soar in the beginning of "Whoever Brings The Night" and Vuorinen's guitar fuels this track. The band switches gears, which is another one of their strengths (alternating between hard and soft arrangement) to a more gentle approach in  "For The Heart I Once Had."

""The Islander" has a seafaring sound.  Acoustic guitar and flutes dress this tune with oceanic touches.  This tenth song leads into the instrumental festival of fun that is "Last Of The Wilds."  This track has a somewhat Celtic feel (flute) mixed with hard guitar and Nightwish's rhythm section.

Nightwish gets tough again in "7 Days To The Wolves" which has a wicked guitar riff and Annette Olzon's voice.  Midway thru the track orchestra takes over the lead with strings handing off the baton to Olzon

Roadrunner Records has released the Best & Runner-Up albums of the year.  That says a lot about their ability to release the best bands out there.  I give Roadrunner a lot of credit for accomplishing this and makes me look forward to what they will release next.

Piano and orchestra sets up the gorgeous melody of "Meadows Of Heaven" and allows Annette Olzon take full stage with her voice.  Emotional, passionate and classy are the best words to describe this final track and this album.

Nightwish has established themselves as a force to reckon with.  DARK PASSION PLAY is one of the CDs you should aggressively hunt down.

www.nightwish.com

www.roadrunnerrecords.com