Despite the unwavering presence of founder member, composer, and keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen, the Nightwish of today is very different to the Nightwish which began in 1996. From a three-track demo to multi-million dollar selling albums featuring full orchestras and huge production values, the band has grown from three Finnish musicians to becoming a multinational enterprise.Continue reading
Tag Archives: symphonic metal album reviews
ALBUM REVIEW: Delain – Dark Waters
Dark Waters (Napalm Records), the seventh record by Dutch group Delain is met with quite a few lineup changes – a new vocalist and bassist in Diana Leah and Ludovico Cioffi, and the return of the long-term guitarist and drummer Ronald Landa and Sander Zoer. People may have come and gone but the symphonic quintet’s sound is still the same – operatic metal with liberal amounts of bombast and pomp. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Visions of Atlantis – Pirates
If you’re looking for a metal album about pirates this summer that you can listen to guilt free (what? I meant now that we’re all mature enough to not worry about calling things like this a guilty pleasure… honest guv!), you need look no further than Visions of Atlantis’ eighth full-length album, the rather bluntly and descriptively titled Pirates (Napalm Records).
ALBUM REVIEW: Nightwish – Once (Remastered)
Released an improbable seventeen years ago, Once (Nuclear Blast), the fifth album from symphonic metal pioneers Nightwish saw the band catapulted from relative obscurity and into the eyes and ears of a much wider audience. With lead single ‘Nemo’ being given regular airplay on radio and music television channels, everything seemed to be falling into place for the Finnish act.
Epica – The Quantum Enigma
Once The Quantum Enigma (Nuclear Blast) has had time to work its way into your brain, it’s a highly impressive album. Due to the fact there’s a lot to it, it does require a few listens for it all to separate out, even though the song arrangements have been simplified compared to previous albums’ over-elaborations.
Streamlining serves Epica well, as they no longer get lost in an endless seam of parts. Instead, everyone knows their role and performs it excellently; the guitars are happy to act as a chugging metalcore foil to Simone Simons’ exemplary soprano vocals, or to dial it a down and sit under keyboards or softer chords for the more sugary moments, such as the earworm chorus of ‘The Second Stone’. Equally, with their roaring thick sound, they can step up and drive a song, such as the rhythmic pounding of ‘Victims Of Contingency’.
The whole symphonic metal shebang is nicely spiced up by a full chamber choir and live string ensemble both of whom embellish most tracks, but none so more than ‘Chemical Insomnia’, a mid-album track that starts with a dark riff, picks up pace with strings swirling over the double-bass drumming, a thrashy riff, into a staccato verse, a symphonic, orchestral pre-chorus and a sweet, softer poppy chorus.
There are two minor gripes. Firstly, the 12 minute closing epic is a touch underwhelming and doesn’t reach the standards of the rest of the album – an ‘Of Michael The Archangel and Lucifer’s Fall’ it ain’t… Secondly, at 70 minutes, no matter how well it’s delivered, Quantum is pushing its’ luck a little.
The above may all sound a bit kitchen sink, but the thought, effort and craft bear fruit as The Quantum Enigma is both an excellent album and a collection of great songs and it is churlish to pick when presented with such an expertly put together symphonic metal album. Expertly produced, and in a year when the poppier Delain and the slick machine Within Temptation have released strong albums Epica are more than holding their own with an album that stands alongside Design Your Universe as the best the band have released to date.
8.0 / 10
STEVE TOVEY