Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015)
So, instead of posting this in my journal (I have an MB members music theme going on right now), I decided to make an 'official' album review thread for this album. I knew this album was supposed to be released this year, but I guess I forgot to take note of the actual date of it's release seeing as i'm late to the listening party. Anyway, this is Nightwish's first album with the new vocalist Floor Jansen. As most are probably aware, Nightwish have been sort of stuck in a rut when they lost Tarja as their vocalist. They attempted to do some music with Anette Olzon but for me personally, I didn't take to her vocals all that well. I didn't like how 'normal' and non operatic they sounded. It made the band just sound like something not so special. I always found myself not really rating the album with her as the vocalist very high, but then when news came that Nightwish were going with Floor Jansen as the new vocalist, I amongst most other people decided to see what she sounded like, and I was blown away instantly, it was almost as if Nightwish knew the mistake they made with Anette and decided to go back with what they knew people liked. Throughout this album, you can really feel the chemistry back in the band that people came to know and love with their earlier work with Tarja, except it's just ten times better than any of that. It's weird for me to say that because I am a huge fan of Tarja era Nightwish, but this really brings something new to the table of what Nightwish will be for years to come. Every track on this album is better than the one that comes before it, and that's also with saying that the first and last tracks start and finish the album on a strong foot. The album remains strong throughout and doesn't seem to get boring once, and doesn't lack that traditional Nightwish sound that they are known for. Floor really delivers something spectacular that i'm sure most people were hoping would happen. I'm only on my first listen right now, so I don't want to throw any tracks out right now that I think are really stand out tracks that really make the album worth listening to, but...just trust me when I say that if you are a fan of this type of stuff, this album is right up your alley. Also seeing as every track just seems to better the album for what it is, it's almost impossible for me to choose a favorite. I probably will in time though. Coming in at 12 tracks with an average of about 4-5 minutes per track, you're really getting nothing short of a great album. Whether or not my rating of that will change over time is yet to be seen, however I don't see myself ever really hating this album as first impressions are everything for me when it comes to music.