Nightwish

I've only listened to the first disc so far, but I have to unfortunately echo some of the other comments on here. I just don't find anything catchy and it's deeply upsetting. The vocal melodies seem tacked on, overly complex, and utterly unmemorable. I thought Endless Forms felt like a record written for any singer that Floor just happened to sing on, but after hearing Human Nature I can't help but feel like Tuomas has zero idea how to utilize Floor's voice whatsoever. In fact, the same could be said of all three singers in the current lineup: they are all so poorly used on this album it's mind-boggling. You've got a vocal chameleon powerhouse lead vocalist, a demonic high harmony-capable powerhouse male singer, and a great harmony singer with a soft voice and you've got them all using the weakest parts of their voices. I think I heard Marko maybe twice on the album (a fucking crime) and Floor spends most of the tracks singing in a light, breathy register instead of her chest voice. Speaking of underutilized, why does this band even have a guitar player? There's no riffs, there's no solos, there's literally nothing happening in the guitar channel.

The compositional music? Sure, it's great as far as heavy film scores go, but the lack of hooky songwriting is just sad.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
I've only listened to the first disc so far, but I have to unfortunately echo some of the other comments on here. I just don't find anything catchy and it's deeply upsetting. The vocal melodies seem tacked on, overly complex, and utterly unmemorable. I thought Endless Forms felt like a record written for any singer that Floor just happened to sing on, but after hearing Human Nature I can't help but feel like Tuomas has zero idea how to utilize Floor's voice whatsoever. In fact, the same could be said of all three singers in the current lineup: they are all so poorly used on this album it's mind-boggling. You've got a vocal chameleon powerhouse lead vocalist, a demonic high harmony-capable powerhouse male singer, and a great harmony singer with a soft voice and you've got them all using the weakest parts of their voices. I think I heard Marko maybe twice on the album (a fucking crime) and Floor spends most of the tracks singing in a light, breathy register instead of her chest voice. Speaking of underutilized, why does this band even have a guitar player? There's no riffs, there's no solos, there's literally nothing happening in the guitar channel.

The compositional music? Sure, it's great as far as heavy film scores go, but the lack of hooky songwriting is just sad.
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I agree with everything you've said. Marko's sidelining is a travesty, he only appears on one song, I think.
 
I don’t see where you’re coming from at all. Floor is so much better used on this album than on EFMB it blows me away. Troy’s voice works beautifully when he gets a time to shine. Marco doesn’t get as much attention, but his bass is now a more important part of the mix instead. Also every song has Floor, Marco, and Troy harmonizing on the chorus so it adds a whole new layer for the band.

I agree that Emppu is underused, but it’s not like this is a big change from previous - it’s to be expected from the band at this point. The biggest thing for me is that the songs are very well put together with the strong points of the musicians highlighted. Kai, for instance, really nailed his performances on this album.

EFMB was a good album, but almost by-the-numbers apart from TGSOE. H/N to me is going to new places sonically and I get it’s not for everyone but some of the reviews it’s gotten genuinely leave me confused.
 
Second listen:
  • “Music” is the worst song on the album
  • The second half of the album (starting with Pan) is vastly superior to the first half
  • Two songs (Noise and Pan) have super heavy bridges that really would’ve benefited from Marko vocals
Diesel 11 said:
I don’t see where you’re coming from at all. Floor is so much better used on this album than on EFMB it blows me away. Troy’s voice works beautifully when he gets a time to shine. Marco doesn’t get as much attention, but his bass is now a more important part of the mix instead. Also every song has Floor, Marco, and Troy harmonizing on the chorus so it adds a whole new layer for the band
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Those layers are literally impossible to hear on anything other than headphones, but they’re there! Thank Dio. Marko’s harmonies are mixed the lowest on every song, though. Stupid.

Let me clarify what I meant about the melodies with some fresh insight. On multiple tracks (most notably Music, Shoemaker and Endlessness) the melodies have an incredibly classical, musicalesque tendency to “be SUNG, like THIS eveRYthING goES UP at THE enD of A PHRASE” or “WaRbLeS uP aNd DoWN” and just doesn’t sound good to me. Maybe it’s considered great writing but it sounds fucking annoying even when performed by people whose vocals I love.
 
I guess I see where your coming from. I still think this album is awesome though. First listen I was left confused by a few songs, but with every subsequent one that I’ve done it’s cemented itself as a big favorite. In fact I currently think the only album that tops it at this point is Once. I’m very impressed by this release. Clearly a lot of other people aren’t given some of the reviews I’ve read. But this to me is classic bombastic Nightwish but with fresh elements added to it, and it’s exquisite.
 
Glad you like it.

I wouldn't say I dislike the album, but I listened to it twice through and barely felt like anything had happened. It's bland. Very bland.
 
Second “disc” is cute. Good music for a visual presentation about conservation or the intermission at an “Evening with Nightwish” show.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Second “disc” is cute. Good music for a visual presentation about conservation or the intermission at an “Evening with Nightwish” show.
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My first impression is it's music for a stage spectacle above all (or 'stag weekend' as autocorrect just amended that to) rather than music for listening to on its own. It's certainly Nightwish, but I'm getting little sense of standalone completeness from any of the tracks.

It's either intended as a full-album work (although I'm not convinced it works that way either, not enough structure and direction), or it's intended for live performances with lights, film, pyros and profound voiceovers. My money rests heavily on the latter, having seen the last tour.
 
I wasn't too impressed after the first listen, but as mentioned, the album has really grown for me.

That being said, I understand that it doesn't appeal to everyone, but I'd say it's definitely worth giving a try every now and then, given that there's a lot of subtle, beautiful things in it.

I find it even refreshign, or at least very intriguing and interesting that it seems to divide opinions quite dramatically. If I remember correctly, EFMB was generally received very well as "safe, but very good nonetheless."

At least something is done right, or differently, when others absolutely love it and some are utterly disappointed. Evoking strong feelings towards and against is definitely more or less of an accomplishment in this particular case.

Very curious to see how the new stuff goes down live, when the tour some day starts off. I'd expect The Harvest and How's the Heart to become huge live favourites.
 
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On the whole I'm entirely whelmed by Human Nature. It's got a couple of good tracks (Pan and Noise), but it's bloated and just isn't as much fun as previous NW albums (especially the early ones).

Doesn't help that we don't get to hear any of Floor's really high notes .
 
I've given this several listens over the past week and I can safely say that I am distinctly underwhelmed by this album. It's not a bad album, but it's not a great album either. There's nothing that sticks out and grabs my attention. There's too much bagpipes and they basically do the same thing over and over again. A lot of the album seems nice for observing the natural world (I found it quite pleasant when walking around the woodland on the university campus) but there's nothing exciting or impressive about it. Yes, Floor is underused (I can't wait to read Judas' and Foro's views!) and Troy is overused. I couldn't care less about Marco - he's a good backing vocalist and has done some good stuff but I don't want to hear him on lead vocals.

I feel like 'Human 2 Nature' (or whatever it's called) has turned Nightwish into a Vehicle of Tuomas rather than a Vehicle of Spirit. The second disc of the album is wildly pretentious and pointless. What's the point in having Floor Jansen if you're going to write a meandering piece of music with spoken word parts? I can imagine much of these songs being sung around a campfire by boy scouts - 'Harvest' in particular. 'How's The Heart?' is probably the best song of the album but it still gives me that campfire vibe. I reckon it will be more powerful live, but I reckon even Nightwish's tour at the end of the year will get canned too at this rate.

This was a chance for Nightwish to make a big statement with their recent surge into the mainstream and capitalize one of the most popular singers in Metal at the moment. I see the value of 'Noise' as it's a decent initial promo song and has received plenty of radio play from Planet Rock, but Tuomas has missed the boat by trying to make the world see his grand vision. What a disappointment.
 
Randalf said:
Would one or two solos improve it? :p

An addition to my previous notes:

* Shoemaker. Wow. Those vocal lines and harmonies in the chorus. That Romeo & Juliet part. And that ending.

That

Ending


FLOOOR!!!
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I was about to say OMG! The outro to Shoemaker! WOW!!! I still said it!
 
Well, there's at least one happy customer.^

I might try it as background music when I'm doing something else and see how it fares.
 
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