Nightwish

Endless Forms is by far my favorite Nightwish so far.
 
The only thing I don't like about Endless Forms Most Beautiful is the finale. Which I find overdone and boring.
 
Dark Passion Play > Angels Fall First
Dark Passion Play > Imaginaerum
Dark Passion Play > Endless Forms Most Beautiful

and even:

Dark Passion Play > Once o_O

Wow.

Before this game I'd never thought I would appreciate an Annette album so much. But her debut with Nightwish is so consistent. I only have beef with the album closer. Too over the top gospelish, especially at the end.
 
Dark Passion Play has probably my favourite collection of any Nightwish album. Unfortunately it also has a few really bad songs, too.
 
Apart from the stuff at the end, I honestly can't find a really bad song. Sahara is even top 5 material.
 
I was just listening to Imaginaerum again to prepare for its eventual inclusion into the survivor and I released that I enjoyed the very end of the album more than usual.

Then I remembered it's because I edited off the 7 minutes of old man masturbation talk from Song of Myself.
 
I have given myself all these months with the new album, because I didn't want to rush to conclusions and praise something that might not stand the test of time... and now I can say Endless Forms Most Beautiful is a 10/10 album, the perfect Nightwish album for me. You could name any song and I'd go wild. Yes, even The Eyes of Sharbat Gula, though probably the weakest song in here, is good and enjoyable. Let alone the killer tracks like Shudder, Aplenglow, Endless or ... (!) ... Yours Is an Empty Hope! I even like the lyrics - though those balance on the edge of cheese, there's something in Floor's delivery that makes me believe it. You can laugh at me, but that gal's able to sing "Greet a blade of grass / Every endless form most beautiful" and it sends shiver down my spine. I am shudddering before the beautiful, indeed.

But it's not only about Floor (though she's perfect, perfect, perfect in every way)... I also like that Emppu has much more space with his guitar here and - don't crucify me - I also think that this album sounds much better because the change in the drummer post - Kai Hahto is (IMHO) much better drummer than Jukka Nevalainen and his presence gives the song the much needed energy. The album's just much juicier. The only thing that could improve the next time is Marco - he could have more vocals again. I miss The Islander! (still my favourite Nightwish song, hands down)

I, for one, like The Greatest Show on Earth - I like the cinematic feel, I like the meaning, I like the main melodies... And I'm probably the last person to be angry about some animal noises in the middle.

So, to sum it up, EFMB surpasses Dark Passion Play (my #1 Nightwish album before this one), and it really made me a fan of the band. Like a great fan. I've even begun to appreciate their earlier albums more. So far this is my #3 album of 2015.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
I have given myself all these months with the new album, because I didn't want to rush to conclusions and praise something that might not stand the test of time... and now I can say Endless Forms Most Beautiful is a 10/10 album, the perfect Nightwish album for me. You could name any song and I'd go wild. Yes, even The Eyes of Sharbat Gula, though probably the weakest song in here, is good and enjoyable. Let alone the killer tracks like Shudder, Aplenglow, Endless or ... (!) ... Yours Is an Empty Hope! I even like the lyrics - though those balance on the edge of cheese, there's something in Floor's delivery that makes me believe it. You can laugh at me, but that gal's able to sing "Greet a blade of grass / Every endless form most beautiful" and it sends shiver down my spine. I am shudddering before the beautiful, indeed.

But it's not only about Floor (though she's perfect, perfect, perfect in every way)... I also like that Emppu has much more space with his guitar here and - don't crucify me - I also think that this album sounds much better because the change in the drummer post - Kai Hahto is (IMHO) much better drummer than Jukka Nevalainen and his presence gives the song the much needed energy. The album's just much juicier. The only thing that could improve the next time is Marco - he could have more vocals again. I miss The Islander! (still my favourite Nightwish song, hands down)

I, for one, like The Greatest Show on Earth - I like the cinematic feel, I like the meaning, I like the main melodies... And I'm probably the last person to be angry about some animal noises in the middle.

So, to sum it up, EFMB surpasses Dark Passion Play (my #1 Nightwish album before this one), and it really made me a fan of the band. Like a great fan. I've even begun to appreciate their earlier albums more. So far this is my #3 album of 2015.
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Look, Judas, I like you. Let's be friends.
 
Your opinions of new Nightwish perfectly mirror my own:
- Floor is awesome and capable of making some truly ridiculous lyrics (Tiktaalik, Panthalassa, the eyes of aye-aye...Ok, Tuomas...) sound emotive.
- Needs more Marco.
- Absolutely stellar album.

It's nice to hear someone else has such a positive opinion of newer Nightwish and Symphony X material.
 
I feel pretty much the same regarding EFMB as well. It's my favorite.

I still can't get into GSOE though. The cinematic things are nice, but as a whole it's just way too pompous (this is coming from someone who loves Dream Theater and prog in general) and not enough interesting things happen to justify that. It's a shame really, it's the one thing that keeps the album from being perfect. Same problem with Song of Myself on Imaginearum, although that song is even worse and that album isn't quite as strong. I still like it though.

That major negative aside, I love EFMB. While Greatest Show is a pretty big chunk, every other song on there makes up for it. The title track and Edema Ruh are some of the best melodies I've heard produced in Metal. Marco is an awesome singer too. Normally I groan at the "beauty and the beast" type symphonic metal trope, especially when the male singer is very mediocre, but Nightwish does it well. I like that they use Marco sparingly too, it makes it more awesome when he gets a part. His vocal line in Weak Fantasy is one of the best moments on the album for me.
 
Mosh said:
I feel pretty much the same regarding EFMB as well. It's my favorite.

I still can't get into GSOE though. The cinematic things are nice, but as a whole it's just way too pompous (this is coming from someone who loves Dream Theater and prog in general) and not enough interesting things happen to justify that. It's a shame really, it's the one thing that keeps the album from being perfect. Same problem with Song of Myself on Imaginearum, although that song is even worse and that album isn't quite as strong. I still like it though.

That major negative aside, I love EFMB. While Greatest Show is a pretty big chunk, every other song on there makes up for it. The title track and Edema Ruh are some of the best melodies I've heard produced in Metal. Marco is an awesome singer too. Normally I groan at the "beauty and the beast" type symphonic metal trope, especially when the male singer is very mediocre, but Nightwish does it well. I like that they use Marco sparingly too, it makes it more awesome when he gets a part. His vocal line in Weak Fantasy is one of the best moments on the album for me.
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I do agree about GSOE, it's absolutely less than the sum of its parts. Tuomas has a problem condensing his visions sometimes.

As for Marco, I tend to agree about the double vocal attack in metal, but Nightwish's unique male vocals are why I love them so much. They don't just have a guy screaming, they have a guy with this howling high-baritone/tenor wail that sounds like a wolf - but he's still singing. It's perfect for the music and a perfect compliment (and contrast) to the beauty of the female vocalist (while still retaining its own type of beauty).
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
It's perfect for the music and a perfect compliment (and contrast) to the beauty of the female vocalist (while still retaining its own type of beauty).
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This is exactly it I think. My impression of the male/female combination in metal is to contrast the beauty with something uglier, which makes sense on paper but you don't really need bad singing to make that work. Nightwish/Marco proves this.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
It's nice to hear someone else has such a positive opinion of newer Nightwish and Symphony X material.
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Same here :)

MrKnickerbocker said:
- Floor is awesome and capable of making some truly ridiculous lyrics (Tiktaalik, Panthalassa, the eyes of aye-aye...Ok, Tuomas...) sound emotive.
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True, I kept hearing "The elves were creatures yet unseen" in Elan - only now, after checking the lyrics I realised my mistake :blink:. Though I don't know whether to blame Floor or Tuomas for that.
But I like the tiktaalik! :D

MrKnickerbocker said:
- Needs more Marco.
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I think we will have more of him the next time - I believe this album was primarily about Floor because it's her first. Yes, Anette's first album had a lot of Marco, but I think that's more about the differences between the two girls - we will all probably agree that Floor's really a different class than Anette, even though I definitely like Anette more than your average metal fan. Maybe it's about variation, too - Anette probably didn't provide that much diversity. That said, I totally go crazy about that "breathy", or a bit raspy vocals Floor has on the first verse of Weak Fantasy - I usually hate female breathy vocals, but this is (IMHO) that type of vocals done right.
Let's just hope Tuomas won't screw this up - he's had his bouts of bad behaviour as far as the Nightwish-girls are concerned. Though - as have someone said in another thread - Floor could probably beat all those guys up very easily :D

Mosh said:
I still can't get into GSOE though. The cinematic things are nice, but as a whole it's just way too pompous (this is coming from someone who loves Dream Theater and prog in general) and not enough interesting things happen to justify that. It's a shame really, it's the one thing that keeps the album from being perfect. Same problem with Song of Myself on Imaginearum, although that song is even worse and that album isn't quite as strong. I still like it though.
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I understand this, though I don't necessarily agree. I mean, pompous is Tuomas' second name (you could say a lot of things about The Poet and the Pendulum, but definitely not that it's subtle) and the various musical parts are cool, even if they don't fit together all that much. If anything, the narration could be dropped, as far as I'm concerned, but I don't really mind that, since I like the theme. Yes, it might be a bit cheesy, but - as the Renaissance painters have shown us - sometimes you have to have a bit of Wensleydale to achieve true beauty. When I hear that "We were here" part, something moves in me, silly as it might sound. Blame it on Floor, if you wish.

It also helps it's the last song on the album and the album would still have 55 minutes of astonishing music even without it - so you don't have to listen to it every time. :D You could always turn it off before that, or after the piano intro, or after the first 10/11 minutes or so. I sometimes do.


Ad Marco debate - he's a completely different spin on the B&B vocals (as far as vocals are concerned, I'd always take NW over Epica, to be honest), he's a decent writer (or even a great one - again, The Islander) and he has really cool voice. When he's in his "large ham" mode, he reminds me of Hansi Kürsch; he just sings in that "all caps" way that takes subtlety and throws it out of window (Master Passion Greed, anyone?) :D
 
For all his pompousness, at least Tuomas puts some thought into his lyrics and songtitles, which can't be said for a lot of artists lately.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
I understand this, though I don't necessarily agree. I mean, pompous is Tuomas' second name (you could say a lot of things about The Poet and the Pendulum, but definitely not that it's subtle) and the various musical parts are cool, even if they don't fit together all that much. If anything, the narration could be dropped, as far as I'm concerned, but I don't really mind that, since I like the theme. Yes, it might be a bit cheesy, but - as the Renaissance painters have shown us - sometimes you have to have a bit of Wensleydale to achieve true beauty. When I hear that "We were here" part, something moves in me, silly as it might sound. Blame it on Floor, if you wish.
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It's true Tuomas has been pompous from the beginning. I mean, I can handle pompous to pretty extreme extents. Greatest Show On Earth and Song of Myself managed to cross that line for me though.

It also helps it's the last song on the album and the album would still have 55 minutes of astonishing music even without it - so you don't have to listen to it every time. :D You could always turn it off before that,
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That's what I've ended up doing. I hate to listen to something incomplete, but sometimes I just don't have the patience for that song.
 
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