Nightwish - Dark Passion Play

General Information

Original Author: The Uncreator

Artist: Nightwish

Album: Dark Passion Play

Genre: Symphonic Metal

Tracklist

01. The Poet And The Pendulum
I - White Lands Of Empathica
II - Home
III - The Pacific
IV - Dark Passion Play
V - Mother And Father
02. Bye Bye Beautiful
03. Amaranth
04. Cadence Of Her Last Breath
05. Master Passion Greed
06. Eva
07. Sahara
08. Whoever The Night Brings
09. For The Heart I Once I Had
10. The Islander
11. Last Of The Wilds
12. 7 Days To The Wolves
13. Meadows Of Heaven
14. Reach (Amaranth Demo)

Disc 2: Orchestra Version Of All Songs

Sound

10 A Beautiful and majestic landscape of amazing piano, orchestra, vocal, bass, drum, and guitar arrangements molded into one entity of massive proportions. The classic nightwish sound, beefed up for a bit more heavy with your Nightwish.

Guitars

10 Easily Empuu's best work, some of his best riffs, and definetly Nightwish' heaviest to date. From the merciless riffs of "Master Passion Greed" and "Sahara" to the awe-inspiring solo's of "Last Of The Wilds", "Cadence Of Her Last Breath" and the all so beautiful "Eva", this showcases Empuu's awesome sense of melody and riffage. Throughout the album his Guitar work never fails to impress, with his unqiue tone and technique its a truly adventeruous experience.

Bass

10 Well, its Marco Hietala....so that means its awesome right away, i love his style, from his masterful work in Tarot to this, the newest Nightwish album, his riffs are always a sound to behold. And his fills are just awesome, the simple one bar fill he does in "Sahara" is still a highlight of the album for me. overall, a feat of true musicianship and superior tone, But sadly, not his Best work, still amazing though.

Drums

10 Jukka Jukka Jukka!!! A man with incredible talents, he is one of the first drummers i really analyzed, when i first heard the drums in "She Is My Sin" when Nightwish released Wishmaster, i thought to myself, "God this guy is just awesome!". Now by no means is he the most technical drummer, or fastest, but his grooves, fills, and riffs just have that feel to the you know, that just make you bang your head.

Orchestra Arrangements/ Keys/ Pianos

10 First time ive done this part of a review, should have done it with Epica, but oh well, Anyway, Tuomas Holopainen is a man with seemingly endless amounts of pre-conceived arrangements in his head. From the soothing intro to "Amaranth" or the Evil Intro to "Sahara" Tuomas knows how to get an orchestra to do what he wants. This album also features, in my oppinnion, his absolute best work to date, the song "The Poet And The Pendulum", a 14:00 minute epic which showcases the deepest workings of Tuoams Holopainen's mind musicaly and lyrically.

Vocals/ Marco

10 Always a man with a wonderful voice, his aggressive vocals or his soft vocals, Drive parts of this album to the heaviest realms of "Dark Passion Play". "Reach", the demo version of "Amaranth" is performed entirely by marco and is quite a contrast to "Amaranth" itself, as it is peformed entirely by Annette, but still great. If you are already a fan of Tarot, then you should thouroughly enjoy these parts of the album.

Vocals/ Annette

10 This is the part where some Nightwish fans are on the fence....Can Nighwish go on without Tarja? Can they still make music like they did before?....Well, yes, absolutely yes. Annette Olzen is not Tarja, not anything like her in anyway, no remnants of her, and still her beautiful voice soars through the record in tradtional Nightwish fashion. Nothing will suffice for Nightwish this time except the best, Annette sings the songs with true conviction and belief, i fell in love with her voice when i bought the "Eva" single, and after listening to "Dark Passion Play", I am just even more in love with it, Terrific performance.

Lyrics

10 Well as some Nightwish fans might know from interviews and documentars and reading the book, No one, not even the other band members know exactly what Tuomas' lyrics mean, and i love this mystery factor, but Tuomas has let us even deeper into his head with his most revealing set of lyrics yet.

From 'The Poet And The Pendulum'
(I - White Lands Of Empathica)
The songwriter's dead
The blade fell upon him
Taking him to the white lands
Of Empathica
Of Innocence

(II - Home)
Getaway, runaway, fly away
Lead me astray to the dreamer's hideaway
I cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, A whore for the cold world
Forgive me, I have but two faces
One for the world, One for God
Save me
I cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, A whore for the cold world

(III - The Pacific)
Sparkle My Scenery, With turquoise waterfalls
With beauty underneath
The Ever Free

Tuck me in beneath the blue
Beneath the pain, Beneath the rain
Goodnight kiss for a child in time
Swaying blade my lullaby

(IV - Dark Passion Play)
The morning dawned upon his altar
Remains of the dark passion play
performed by his friends without shame
Spitting on his grave as they came

(V - Mother And Father)
Be still, my son
You're home
Oh when did you become so cold?
The blade will keep on descending
All you need is to feel my love

Search for beauty, Find your shore
Try to save them all, Bleed no more
You have such oceans within
In the end...
I will always love you

From 'Bye Bye Beautiful'
Did you ever hear what i told you?
Did you ever read what i wrote you?
Did you ever listen to what we played?
Did you ever let in what the world said?
Did we get this far just to feel your hate?
Did we play to become only pawns in the game?
How blind can you be, Don't you see?
You chose the long road but we'll be waiting

From 'Eva'
Eva flies away
Dream the world far away
In this cruel children's game
Theres no friends to call her name
Eva sails away
Dream the world far away
The good in her will be my sunflower field

Overall Impression

10 Truly such a beautiful album, an amazing performance from all members. A Canvas of unimagineable exctasy and euphoria painted with dreamlike pictures. This is as good as "Once", maybe even better, but either way, just....amazing.