Review: Dark Passion Play by Nightwish

Dark Passion Play is Nightwish’s first album since Anette Olzon replaced Tarja Tururen.

To be honest, I could not imagine the band without Tarja, but this album put all of my fears to rest and made me fall in love with Nightwish is a deeper way than I had ever believed possible.  They sound a little different than they once did, but the new energy and life in their music is a welcome change.  For my money, this is the best Nightwish album yet.

• The Poet and the Pendulum

  

  
  A lengthy and mesmerizing song in 5 parts featuring Anette’s voice.  The power and beauty of this track is trademark Nightwish.

• Bye Bye Beautiful

  

  (watch the video)
  A passionate song about the dismissal of Tarja Turunen, the bands former lead singer.  The anger is obvious, but the song is so catchy, you cannot help but bob you head to the tune and laugh.

• Amaranth

  

  (watch the video)
  It is hard to pick favorites on this album, but I cannot here this song, so watch the video often enough.  This track carries you through a wide range of emotions.  Truly epic in scope.  My perspective on the song is clouded by the video, which is absolutely brilliant.

• Cadence of Her Last Breath

  

  (watch the live video)
  This song is at odds with itself: its appreciation for beauty is juxtapositions with a mad loner chasing his victim.  The story will frighten and move you at the same time, brilliant.

• Master Passion Greed

  

  
  The hardest song on the album.  “Mammon, opiate of the masses,” this song is the tale of Greed and is feasts on life, taking everything away.

• Eva

  

  
  The softest song on the album.  The story of Eva dreaming of a happy world where she is not alone, and the people are kind.  It reminds me of myself as a child.

• Sahahra

  

  
  Banished to the desert by the Pharaoh, the caravan of a man faces the horrors of the desert.  This would make a great book of Dune like proportions.

• Whoever Brings the Night

  

  
  The evils lusts of the night haunt this song.  It is a great song if it were performed by any other band, but for Nightwish, this song is not up to the high standards I have come to expect from them.

• For the Heart I Once Had

  

  
  The story of love lost never again to return, this song will pull on your heart strings.

• The Islander

  

  (watch the video)
  An ancient mariner looks back on his life from the edge of the world, smiling at the beauty of all that he has had, and knowing that he is now one of the unseen.

• Last of the Wilds

  

  
  An instrumental track that will take you away.

• 7 Days to the Wolves

  

  
  I feel like I am missing a cultural reference.  The song is about a group preparing for the wolves to come for them.  I get the feeling that this is a song about bravery.

• Meadows of Heaven

  

  
  Ghostly brilliant, the beauty and mystery of life as a dream that is our life.

Dark Passion Play is available through Amazon and

.