Nightwish 'Imaginaerum' -- Review

[Jonny B]

Nightwish 'Imaginaerum'
I think it might've been a mistake to market this album so far ahead of the movie...because the casual Nightwish fan may not be aware that there is a movie to go along with this album, and if they treat this as a stand-alone album, they could say it's easily the worst Nightwish album to-date....and after the first listen, I would've agreed with them. However, some of the songs that don't have the typical Nightwish feel have really grown on me, and so I'm not completely disappointed with 'Imaginaerum.' Unlike some other bands I could mention, there are some pretty damn good tracks here.

Half the album is, in essence, the Nightwish I know and love. 'Storytime' (contender for song of the year. Pretty amazing how Anette Olzon has significantly improved her operatic voice, though I still prefer her clean vocal,) 'Ghost River,' 'I Want My Tears Back,' 'Rest Calm,' and 'Last Ride of the Day,' are everything that I've come to expect from Nightwish: heavy guitars, bombastic keyboards, excellent vocals (although Marco Hiatala's attempt to grunt is a bit on the 'fail' side...stick to shouts.)

The other half of the songs sound like they do belong on a movie soundtrack, and without a label of who wrote the songs you wouldn't know it was the same band. 'Taikatalvi' could be the opening or ending song to the movie. 'Slow Love Slow' has a film-noire feel to it. 'Scaretale' is unlistenable...but it makes me curious about the movie scene that will support this track...could be disturbing to say the least. 'Arabesque' has that background-music-to-a-movie feel. 'Turn Loose the Mermaids' and 'The Crow, the Owl, and the Dove,' have a big-time Blackmore's Night-feel and either would be my pick for the second single (if anything, 'Imaginaerum' is pretty weak in the singles department.)

....and what would a Nightwish album be without an epic track? Well, it's half-epic anyway. 'Song of Myself' is about 6 and a half minutes of heaviness, with some progressive moments that I don't think Nightwish has ever flexed before...the other half is more like a spoken story (possibly a prologue of the coming movie?) Ending it is the title-track, which is more of an instrumental orchestraic medley of the album.

There are some inconsistencies, but that is typical of movie soundtracks. What may work in a movie may not work on an album. However, in the end though, in spite of a few terrible tracks, if this album as a whole, is indeed, a sountrack to the movie of the same name, this will easily be the best ever movie soundtrack I've listened to since the soundtrack to the 1986 Transfomers movie. The movie soundtrack industry could learn a lot from Nightwish.

Review Score: 85 / 100
Best Tracks: 'Storytime,' 'I Want My Tears Back,' 'Rest Calm,' 'Turn Loose the Mermaids,' 'Last Ride of the Day.'

The score which I award this album, however, is based on how the album stands on its own. (only 'Once' has a worse score among the Nightwish albums, which I rated an 84 back 'in '04.) I have a feeling I will be re-reviewing this one when the movie comes out next year.

[Jonny B]

I very rarely delete tracks and rearrange track orders, maybe once every couple years. But for the first time ever, I'm about to do two in the same year! (The other was to Sirenia 'The Enigma of Life.') The new Nightwish now gets the same treatment.

The goal: To make it a listenable classic-sounding Nightwish album.

Here's the track listing, as it goes on the original order:

Taikatalvi
Storytime
Ghost River
Slow Love Slow
I Want My Tears Back
Scaretale
Arabesque
Turn Loose the Mermaids
Rest Calm
The Crow, the Owl, and the Dove
Last Ride of the Day
Song of Myself
Imaginaerum

Several of these tracks are here, obviously because for the roles they will play in the movie. But until that movie comes, they aren't very listenable, and kill the overall flow of the album. Here are the tracks I removed and why:

Taikatalvi -- A short ballad in Finnish? Not really a fan. Not at the beginning. Maybe at the end, but it just doesn't work anywhere.
Slow Love Slow -- A film-noire feel that doesn't belong on a classic-sounding Nightwish album.
Scaretale -- Heavy, but very long filler that doesn't seem to go anywhere.
Imaginaerum -- An orchestra-style medley of the album. Filler all the way. Bye Bye.

And now, with the magic of track order rearranging & editing with iTunes, here's my new track order:

Nightwish 'My Imaginaerum'
1.) Arabesque (Turns a filler instrumental into the intro. Shortening the track by 5 seconds sets up the single nicely.)
2.) Storytime
3.) Ghost River
4.) I Want My Tears Back
5.) Song of Myself (Part 1)
6.) Song of Myself (Part 2) (I spliced the first half of the vocal version with the second half of the instrumental version, cutting out the spoken word part of the song. End the first at 6:35.75, and starting the instrumental part at the same part. The piano outro sets up the slower half of the rearranged order.)
7.) The Crow, the Owl, and the Dove
8.) Rest Calm
9.) Turn Loose the Mermaids
10.) Last Ride of the Day (after a slower grind of the back half, ends the album with a bang!)

It's only 9 tracks, but it's 9 tracks of classic Nightwish. This shortened version still runs at about 52 minutes, this still sufficiently long enough for an album of any kind. This rearranged album is perfect Nightwish.

Now, to wait for B-Sides and/or unreleased tracks that can further enhance this...

[Penny]

I believe the movie has been cancelled.

[Jonny B]

I believe the movie has been cancelled.

That wouldn't surprise me. The director wasn't even gonna use the original tracks, but 'rearranged' ones. I don't know what it is about directors and wanting to change rock songs before putting them on a soundtrack, but that is a trend that needs to go. Hollywood absolutely butchered Evanescence's 'Made of Stone,' with an unlistenable 'photek remix.'

BTW, long time no see Penny! I've been seeing the lost 'rant' regulars popping up here and there. How's life been treating you?

[Penny]

Pretty good. Hope all is well with you too.