Dark Passion Play - pro or con? :)

[Virvatuli]

Will this talk about Nightwish never end? I couldn't find the old topic (if there even was any! maybe I've just imagined it all...) so I started yet again a new one..over Nightwish :P

The Doom day for Anette Olzon is finally here! From my point of view, Finns have bought the new album - Dark Passion Play- like there's no tomorrow. But that's probably just because I was selling them yesterday... Curiousity has probably been a big reason for many. So what about you guys? Have you already found a way to get a copy of the new NW album?

I can't make my mind about Anette. On the other hand, she sounds great, has a nice touch to her voice but then again... I don't know if she fits well enough... People have such different opinons on this matter, I've even heard opinions such as Anette's way better for NW than Tarja ever was... Well, no comments
Tuomas is trying to tell people to listen to the music. On all the interviews I've seen/read lately (and yes, there are quite many...) he's talking about the importance of the music, and not, to be a bit rough, of the instruments that play it. But still... a new singer is a big change for any given band.

But the album itself... I like it. Marco has more singing parts, which is nice, since he's such an amazing singer. This album is definetly darker than the earlier ones, and writing a song of Tarja? Well, I haven't made up my mind about that yet... A very nice song though, Bye Bye Beautiful. Other favorites are the darker songs of the album,  Sahara and the Poet and the Pendulum.

[AngelOfMusic]

There's only three songs on the album I like.  Anette is a pop singer, not a metal singer, and NWs music reflects Anette's poppy sound now.

And the video for Bye Bye Beautiful makes me want to punch babies.

[Virvatuli]

Punch babies? That music video must really suck then :D
Haven't seen it yet... But I hated Amaranth's music video...And you're right about Anette, she is quite pop...

Which three songs are those then? Cause there's only two, that I don't like... Eva being a song I really hate, amongst Ever Dream and Nemo. Blah.

[Souleraser]

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2405441
That's the video. Yes, that's far from the original Nightwish-style, which were beautiful story-telling mini-movies, not just video clips.
This one is something that could be done by any artist, it's not special.

I personally haven't had the chance to listen to the album yet and definitely won't buy it. I tend to think I appreciate this song, but Nightwish were never very high on my personal fav list and I have no reason to believe this has changed.
About the new singer...
Call me shallow, but Anette seems to be hotter than Tarja. That's basically a good thing.
As far as the voice is concerned, however, Tarja seems to beat Anette in every regard. The latter seems to neither have the vocal range nor the vocal power of her predecessor.

[Virvatuli]

Okay... That video really... sucks. I usually don't mind seeing nice looking girls rock, but ehm... that's just wrong. But well, I guess the band doesn't have that much say when it comes to music videos... Or if they do, they have a really bad taste in some things :P

[Prab]

The "New Nightwish" could have been worse and totally horrible.

But in fact, they're really good - Anette is not a bad singer at all.

Of course, she does the vocals way different than Tarja, but since NW gave up the operatic style some albums ago, it's not such a huge leap from Tarja to Anette.

I was very sceptical about the singer change in NW.
But after I've listened to the new Album - and yeah, I bought "Dark Passion Play" - I think that they made a fairly good album! I like it!
I mean Holpainens compositions are awesome, as they were in the past, and the new voice suits them quite okay. I feel like this album would have sounded even better with Tarja on vocals, but still - Anette definitely does a fine job. It's no secret that NW does indeed have some pop elements in their music, but that's been the case for quite a long while now. Me personally, I have not the slightest problem with it. Not everything pop is abominably disgusting and bad, even though the vast majority is.
I admit, the new NW videos aren't for everyone. But when seeing Anette perform in those videos, something strange - or maybe fitting? - comes to my mind: Late 80s Madonna that is! Really! I can't help but somehow think about that "Like A Prayer" Video. And yeah, I like that song and that video.

Well, to sum it up: Dark Passion Play is a really good album. Anette is not dissapointment, rather a surprise, but still has to prove herself.

Now for something different - I'm gonna go and listen to the new Arch Enemy album now 

[Odin]

Judging only from the video I just watched; to me, Anette's voice is just boring. It has nothing interesting to it at all. It's streamlined and ... just not special. Neither very high nor at least a little rough. Nothing.

[The Metal RN]

I have to agree (judging from the video only as well) that the vocal range there was a little flat. The video was good (the models seem to fake playing a little better than Robert Palmer"s did!!!!), but as with the song, there was nothing to set it apart from anything else, it was just good.

[Prab]

@Odin and Metal RN

There are some songs on the album that definitely show some of Anettes vocal variety. "For the heart I once had" (awesome pop song) has some high pitched vocal lines during the verses. It has some J-pop feeling to it.

[AngelOfMusic]

Virva:  I like the two songs they made into a video and...well, I've forgotten the third because I haven't listenened to the new album in awhile.

Odin: I've been saying since I first heard her sing more than one song that her voice is boring, lacks power, and rather generic.  HOWEVER, I saw some live videos with her, and her voice seems to have more power live.  Unfortunately, the older NW stuff does not suit her vocals at all.  After hearing her live voice, I personally think she's better suited to outright heavy metal, or maybe prog rock.  But symphonic metal is not for her.


@SE:  I disagree, Tarja is much more beautiful, IMO. 

[Prab]

Even though I'm a supporter of the new Nightwish, I have silent notion that Anette's strong resemblance to Tarja added to her being chosen for the band.
I bet that Tuomas had a strong say in this matter.
There are these, supposedly well-documented, rumors that, back in the days, Tuomas had strong feelings for Tarja which where not answered at all.
Well, who knows, maybe it wasn't her voice alone that got her the job.

[The Metal RN]

Could it be that as with many (more) bands recently that they are just looking to let the contrast of her clean vocals against his more rough vocals take their own shape? Rather than her adding any other layers. It seems to be very popular to have contrasting layers in music, whether it be vocals, guitar style or other contrasting elements.  I saw a Within Temptation video on Headbanger's Ball last weekend, and they seem to be a little more agressive than I remember. I have only heard the one song, pretty good but has anyone else listened to any more? <-If this is too off topic, please relocate!! Thanks.

[Virvatuli]

I have only heard the one song, pretty good but has anyone else listened to any more? <-If this is too off topic, please relocate!! Thanks.

Psst, they have some good songs.. Nice girlie metal, suits cheerful moods imo Worth checking out, if you like bands like Lacuna Coil, as I recall

And imo since the day women singers started singing in metal bands it has been pretty common to mix a clean, innocent kinda female sound with growling, or otherwise aggressive male singing. That's pretty much the case with Anette and Marco, I think. Though Anette does have some layer to her voice, they just didn't seem to use them so much on the album :( Still, if this were the first album of a new band, I think her voice would be... promising. . I've also heard one song from Anette's old band (I can't remember the name) and her voice can be pretty strong too.

Tarja's better though, can't come around with that one

[JoS]

I've been listening to this albums for two times right now and I like, nothing more to say