Album Review: Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Nightwish

Hi! For my first (official-ish) post, I decided to review the most recent album by Nightwish, Endless Forms Most Beautiful.
(Disclaimer: I am not a professional critic/reviewer, this is just my opinion and my personal review of the album.)

After Tarja Turunen's departure from Nightwish, I kind of "lost touch" with the band. I still listened to them, but only the old music, because the new singer's voice just wasn't my cup of tea, and I also felt like their original sound wasn't there anymore. But when I found out Floor Jansen was joining the band as an official member, I knew I'd have to listen to their future albums with her (and also sort of knew I would love it).

Regarding the album cover (seen above), it could be much better. The connection to the concept of the whole album is quite clear, but it just looks like someone threw a bunch of animals together along with the band logo and album title and that's it. The design should have been much more careful and the position of everything should have been more looked over.

Shudder Before The Beautiful is a powerful song and a perfect beginning for the album (if you cut out Richard Dawkins' spoken part). It takes us back to the older stuff, specifically Once, and the strong beginning with the full on orchestra along with the drums gives you an excellent example of what Nightwish truly are, after all. Floor starts softly but, in the chorus, the Dutch singer shows us what she's made of. The guitar/drum/orchestra combo is a perfect conduct to the epic verses sang by the choir. This is probably my favorite song of the entire album, it really makes me shiver, just like the past albums did.

The second song also starts with really strong guitars/drums/orchestra, a bit reminiscent of Romanticide, but in an original and new sound. Weak Fantasy is a perfect song, combining once again metal elements with classic instruments, along with not only Jansen's harsher and rawer vocals, but also her softest and sweetest. She really is out of this world.

When Élan (the first single) was released, there was an overwhelming mix of feelings. And most of them weren't nice. I wasn't used to listening to pipes in Nightwish songs, so that was my first big problem. Even though I like the folksy sound, it didn't fit the band's music. Then, the song wasn't as heavy as I expected it to be. It still had that feel from the two last albums (or, at least, the songs I'd heard from them). However, I've come to terms with the song and I'm now quite fond of it. It's a relaxing, feel-good song that makes you want to live your life however you want to, with no boundaries holding you back.

Yours Is An Empty Hope has the strongest Disney vibe. You can't fight me on this, it really does. The lyrics set a very creepy and morbid scene, but still it is a really good song. Floor's vocals are incredible in this track and it pleases me so much (really, very much) that she was given the freedom to do some grunts and really harsh vocals. She does everything so good, clean vocals, operatic vocals, grunts, harsh vocals. Just slay me, Floor Jansen.

The only ballad in the album, Our Decades In The Sun, has the most beautiful lyrics. Not my favorite Nightwish lyrics, but probably the most down-to-earth lyrics Tuomas has ever written, in the way that everyone's able to relate to them. In terms of sound, I'm not that much of a fan. Jansen's voice is flawless, as usual, but this ballad just doesn't get to me as older ones do. It is a beautiful song, but for some reason doesn't catch my attention.

Gaelic in a Nightwish song. I never saw that one coming. Ok, that was a bit rude I guess, I'm sorry. My Walden is one of the weakest songs in the album, overall. It's just one of those songs you will forever skip and you just keep it in your iTunes library because, well, you love the band and Tuomas told you to listen to the album as it is. However, the last minute of the song is almost worth the rest. Floor's final words are mesmerizing.

The title song, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, is an energetic track, with a speedy(-ish) guitar/drum duo combined with softened orchestral arrangements in the background. One more song to make you jump up and down, get out of the couch and start doing something with your life.

Edema Ruh is another song I find quite weak. I can't find the metal in it. But once again, the last two minutes of the song, where you can listen to a really good guitar solo, followed by some pipes and some man choir-ish vocals and the chorus, in which Floor, yet again, saves the song with her amazing voice.

 And then the Disney feeling comes back. Alpenglow brings back the good feeling, calling on everyone to sing along and make sure to realise that "We were here!" and we conquered a lot.

The Eyes of Sharbat Gula is the only instrumental song in the album and has a very Oriental feel to it. The enchanting choir and the beautiful orchestral instruments all combined make you dream and wish and hope for something better to come.

And finally, a masterpiece to end the album just perfectly. Of course it had to be big, but this time Tuomas just got so carried away that he ended up with a 23-minute final track. I don't even know how to talk about this song, or what to say. It's probably the best song Nightwish have done in over a decade. It is one of my favorites from the album and it feels so Nightwish that you actually feel every hair in your body rising up. The Greatest Show On Earth has everything to go right: a flawless piano intro, followed by a powerful mix of string instruments, and then one of the highlights: Floor sings the most beautiful, softened yet imperative operatic vocals. A spoken intro by Dawkins before the (actual) song begins, and then it starts. Please let me know if you don't get shivers (and tears, if you are like me). There's pipes and drums and it's actually magic. And a choir, reminiscent of everything done before but in a different, innovative way. Jansen's talent comes in strong in the chorus, reminding us yet again that she can really do anything with her vocal chords. Tribal rhythms and animal grunting noises outstripped, the two vocalists kick in with some more alternate verses before the "grand finale": the duo sings possibly the best lyrics Holopainen has written in a long time: Man, he took his time in the sun / Had a dream to understand / A single grain of sand / He gave birth to poetry / But one day’ll cease to be / Greet the last light of the library. One last time, Hietala and Jansen invite us to remind ourselves that "We were here!", before the epic ending to an epic song, in which we are the heroes who are being sung.

Credits to Ville Akseli Juurikkala

Endless Forms Most Beautiful definitely fulfilled my expectations. Floor Jansen clearly eased herself into the band, she was the exact person for the job and I'm glad she was, in her own magical way, able to bring back the soul that had been missing from Nightwish's music for a long time now. One of the most disappointing aspects of the album overall is the waste of Floor's vocal range. Even though she does pretty much everything she's able to do singing-wise in the album, I would've loved to hear some more operatic vocals (maybe because I still listen to too much old Nightwish), as well as some more harsh vocals and grunts. I'll be waiting for that to happen in the next albums. Nightwish, you can count me (back) in as a fan!


Have a lovely day,
Rita