Article by
John McCormack
I got the regular version of the Nemo single about a week ago. There are 4
songs on it: Nemo; Planet Hell; White Night Fantasy; and Nemo (orchestral
version). After a week of listening to it, here are my opinions of the songs
in descending order of preference:
Planet Hell is simply a masterpiece and is one of the heaviest Nightwish
songs that I have heard, with a great Marco/Tarja duet that is very
effective - very cool keyboard solo as well. The intro is reminiscent
of the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings and along with the sample of Dark
Chest of Wonders, suggests that the orchestra has been given a prominent
role on the new album. This is one of the songs that you can hear a sample
of on the website.
White Night Fantasy (which won't be on the new album) shows the opposite
side of Nightwish - a catchy, melodic song with a great hookline in
the chorus. I like it a lot, but there have been some negative comments about
it from some people. Tarja's vocals in the verses are very different to
anything that she has done before, more poppy to my ears at least than rock
or opera. A controversial song it may be, but a band that leaves a song as
good as this off of their album doesn't have any shortage of ideas.
Nemo is a good song, and is sort of in between the two previously mentioned in terms of style; i.e. heavier than White Night Fantasy, but much lighter on the ear than Planet
Hell. It is a fairly straightforward song, mid paced, and again with a catchy
chorus (although I don't actually think that it is as catchy as the White
Night Fantasy chorus). The sample on the website gives you a good indication
of whether or not you will like it.
Also on the single there is an orchestral version of Nemo which just has
Tarja singing with only the orchestra accompanying her. There are no drums,
or bass, and the only guitar is the solo. It succeeds in sounding completely
different to the normal version of the song. It is much more atmospheric and
sounds much less poppy or rock. I think that there are going to be a lot of
people who prefer this version.
Overall this is great stuff. If the album is as good as this then I will
be more than happy in June.
