Nightwish -
Yesterwynde
I am pleasantly surprised by it. The production fits. Yes, some parts are overlong, most of the symphonic ideas feel same-y and there are no solos at all
again (which is not worse than Bruce's TMP), but the songs are heavier, more memorable, catchier and work very well as a whole album. Floor is great, Kai is great. I miss Marko. An album with a certain charm and I always appreciate and like such albums.
''Something Whispered Follow Me'' is a great song (love the chorus already, one of my favorite deep cuts), ''Hiraeth'' contains one of their best melodic passages, while ''The Ocean Of Strange Islands'', ''The Antikythera Mechanism'', ''The Children Of 'Ata'' and ''Spider Silk'' are some of their best material in a while imo. Too bad they won't tour it.
There are some songs that could be called weak or fillers (not many, mostly the ones with the ballad-y/calm parts), but
all of them really help for the overall vibe of the album and are nice in their own way.