Nightwish - Imaginaerum (Album) review

Does anyone remember when those monsters from Finland won Eurovision and everyone was like "wtf man? How did that happen?" Well I'll tell you how it happened.. Finnish metal is bloody awesome, that's how.
Full disclosure - I am saying this after listening to one album that I have found. But I don't particularly like metal as a genre. I have tried to, but it has definitely been the hardest genre for me to enjoy. When I have liked some, it has been softer than most offerings (see recent Absu and Mastodon albums for reference) and somewhat dismissed by real metal fans as pandering to populist sensibilities. But this one is different.

It would be impossible to class this as heavy or death metal (two adjectives I believe to mean the hardcore versions of metal) but it has been lauded by respected metal publications and online communities as "epic" and "one of the greatest pieces of music of all time".

I would describe it as a super-duper collection of incredible orchestral and guitar thrash-y sounds that has astounded me with its eclectic and deep sound. Throughout there is a sense that you are listening a Tim Burton film that has been completely overwhelmed by its soundtrack, an opinion I have found to be shared by many others across the blogosphere. Perhaps, it is when it gets too obviously soundtrack-y that it is at its weakest (Scaretale) but then there are times when that element brings instrumental tracks ever so close to perfection (Imaginaerum (the title track)).

There is plenty of the loud growling (Ghost River) that typifies vast swathes of the genre and while it could be expected to clash with the sheer abundance of beautiful, and sometimes Gaelic sounding, strings it combines excellently. Then again, for large parts they do tend to leave each other alone. Absurd lyrical nonsense also rears its hilarious head (I Want My Tears Back, Last Ride of the Day) but English is not their first language, so let's give them a break.

I would recommend this album to anyone who listens to any kind of music - before sitting them down and forcing them to listen to every song even if they didn't like it. And then do the same with the entire instrumental version of the album.

Verdict: A bold, suprising and late contender for one of the albums of the year. Get it.