It’s a well-known fact that I’m a huge Nightwish fan, to the point where I assigned myself this article before any of my reporters even had a chance to volunteer for it.  I just had to write about Nightwish’s newest album, Dark Passion Play.

As you might know, Nightwish fired their lead singer, Tarja, in 2005.  Last year, when I reviewed Nightwish’s Highest Hopes, I said that it would take an incredible person to fill the vocalist role in future albums.  They hired Anette Olzon early in 2007, at which point she recorded the vocals for this album and honestly, Nightwish has changed so much between Dark Passion Play and the Tarja albums that it’s impossible to compare Tarja and the new singer.  So I won’t even try.  Let’s just say that, for those of you who didn’t like Tarja’s operatic style, Anette isn’t remotely operatic, so you might like her performance better.

The Poet and the Pendulum – This is the darkest, longest (twelve minutes) and most complex song on the album by far. It involves five different parts, including several soprano choir boys singing along with an orchestra, Anette singing the chorus, Marco singing along sometimes, and some whispering.  It’s extremely beautiful, but also depressing once you know the lyrics.  I have some trouble picking out which part to show you, but this seems to summarize the whole song well: “The morning dawned upon his altar / Remains of the dark passion play / Performed by his friends without shame / Spitting on his grave as they came.”

Bye, Bye, Beautiful – Toumas apparently wrote this song not long after Tarja and the rest of the band split paths.  It begins with Anette singing a few lines, and then Marco comes in for the chorus: “Did you ever hear what I told you?  Did you ever read what I wrote you?  Did you ever listen to a word we played?  Did you ever let in what the world said? Did we get this far just to feel your hate?  Did we play to become only pawns in the game?  How blind can you be – don’t you see?  You chose the long road, but we’ll be waiting.  Bye, bye, beautiful!”

Amaranth – Amaranth, a catchy, pop-style song, came out as a single before the rest of the album.  While musically this isn’t the most brilliant song, the lyrics are amazing: “Caress the one, the never-fading rain in your heart – the tears of snow-white sorrow.  Caress the one, the hiding Amaranth in a land of the daybreak.”  For those of you who don’t know, amaranth is a plant which supposedly gives immortality to people who eat it.  It also had special healing properties.

Cadence of Her Last Breath – In case you haven’t figured it out by now, Toumas has problems.  Never forget that while listening to anything of Nightwish’s.  Toumas is obsessed with loss of innocence (not necessarily with a sexual connotation – usually, he’s talking about moral and spiritual innocence).  That’s what this song exemplifies.

Master Passion Greed – Definitely the hardest, loudest, most powerful song on this album, Master Passion Greed is directed toward Tarja’s husband, Nightwish’s former manager.  “Who the [deleted] are you to tell me what to do, why to do, why bother?  Leech in a mask of virtue – such a waste to ever think of you again.  Hey, Judas, your Christus was our love.  Hit and run, your will be done.  Never sorry, never wrong.”  Warnings on language for this song (but I didn’t know that until I read the lyrics).

Eva – The first single to come out, Eva is a simple and sweet ballad.  It tells the story of – unsurprisingly enough – a girl named Eva, who apparently either left or died because she was kind and nobody else was.  As per usual, Toumas makes the world seem more cruel and beautiful than it ever really is, and this song is the result.  It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s soothing and pretty.

Sahara – This is definitely my favorite song on the album.  It’s another ballad, this time set in the Middle East, about a philosopher and a queen who fall in love.  Apparently the king finds out and isn’t thrilled.  Middle eastern melodies flow throughout this song, making it sound slightly exotic.

Whoever Brings the Night – Unlike the previous songs, Emppu (the amazing 5’2’’ tall guitarist) wrote the music to this one, and you can tell when you listen to it.  The guitar part is the most complicated; it’s almost like the melody isn’t important.  Just listen to the guitars.

For the Heart I Once Had – Sweet, high, and light, this song isn’t one of the best on the album.  Once again, Toumas says that he wants his heart back, but not from a girl – he wants the world and his sins to give him back his innocence.  “For the heart I’ll never have, for the child forever gone.  The music flows because it longs for the heart I once had.”

The Islander – Another ballad, this time sung primarily by Marco (who also composed it), The Islander tells the story of a “yeoman by a sea shore at the end of day,” who “gazes the horizon with sea winds in his face.”  I must admit, this is the best song on the whole album even if it isn’t my favorite.  Mainly acoustic, it has a Celtic feel and sounds almost more natural than the harder songs.

Last of the Wilds – This is the only instrumental track.  It picks up where The Islander left off and is almost as good.  The last instrumental piece Nightwish did was Moondance, which was also phenomenal.

7 Days to the Wolves – I’m not sure what to say about this song, honestly.  It baffles me.  It’s beautiful and all, and never gets boring in all of its seven minutes, and I like it a lot.  It’s just baffling.  Soundtrack elements appear (which sound like something from Pirates of the Caribbean, actually) and mix well with the metal elements, making this song incredibly fun to listen to.

Meadows of Heaven – The impressive part about this song is definitely the choir.  It sounds for all the world like you’re in a southern gospel church, listening to the choir in their navy blue robes holding their hymnals open.  Anette’s voice fits in perfectly – it’s a great end to the album.

Overall, Dark Passion Play has more of everything than previous albums.  It’s the most expensive recording ever made in Finland and went platinum within twenty-four hours of its release in Europe.  Huge orchestras participated, as did two separate choirs.  The band’s sound became more bombastic and huge than ever before.  Hopefully, Dark Passion Play will help Nightwish’s popularity in America to surge – because they definitely deserve it.