In the latest bout of BraveWords' Crossfire, Finnish symphonic metal masters Nightwish's highly anticipated new album Endless Forms Most Beautiful - which will be out on March 27th (Europe), 30th (UK) and 31st (North America) - is the hot topic of conversation! Endless Forms Most Beautiful is the first Nightwish studio album to feature Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen. Longtime drummer Jukka Nevalainen sat out on the recording sessions due to health issues; Kai Hahto (Wintersun) replaces him. Nightwish also revealed the famed evolutionary biologist and writer, Professor Richard Dawkins as a guest on this eighth studio album.

Mark Gromen - 8/10

Most longtime fans will probably approach this album with some trepidation, following the Imaginaerum soundtrack and the recruitment of newest female vocalist Floor Jansen and piper Troy Donockley as full-time members. Fear not! The quixotic title title is matched by the fact that Donockley's contributions are less overt than when he was just a guest musician, although “Alpenglow” is augmented by Celtic pipes. The first thing heard is one of the voice-overs (this, courtesy of noted UK biologist and vehement creationism opponent, Richard Dawkins), opening “Shudder Before The Beautiful”. It's a fast moving, bombastic fist pumping anthem, immediately melting any ice that might have crept into the veins, with regards to Tuomas Holopainen's latest creation: he and guitarist Emppu Vuorinen trading licks throughout its 6:29. The forgotten man, Marco Hietala (bass/male vocals), makes his first prominent appearance on “Yours Is An Empty Hope” with aggressive guitar, akin to “Wishmaster”/”She Is My Sin”. While I know he doesn't work that way, first single “Elan” seems a leftover from the Anette Olzon days. The bouncy slice of commercialism, which ends with a lone-acoustic guitar, feels more suited to her voice. Never knew Holopainen to be much of a science geek/egghead (although there's also a non-album ode to astronomer/Cosmos author/TV personality Carl Sagan), preferring the written word, like Thoreau (a folky “My Walden”) or The Kingkiller Chronicle (“Edema Ruh”, the traveling entertainers therein, which obviously strikes close to the hearts of Nightwish). In the past he's utilized quotes from poet Walt Whitman, both in lyrics and an a pre-amble to the music, but this time around, the scientific world is central.

“Weak Fantasy” showcases a decidedly heavier/gritty tone, while “Our Decades In The Sun” is a ballad. In the mellower moments the music takes on a Christmas atmosphere, joyous, lightweight and a reminder of good times. An instrumental "The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula" is dedicated to the haunting stare of a young Afghan girl who graced the cover photo of National Geographic. It was originally intended to have lyrics, but instead is predominately piano, pipes and symphonic elements atop a chanting boys choir. A 24-minute finale, “The Greatest Show On Earth” (another paean to Dawkins' work, not the circus, although something tells me the Finnish mastermind smiles at that connection too), is actually subdivided into five (also entitled) pieces. It begins rather subtly, with electronic bursts occasionally invading the serenity. About the 3:30 point, Jansen proves it won't be entirely an instrumental, in high pitched coo. Another voice-over/narration heralds the rise in intensity, aided by the pipes, Jansen nearly unrecognizable in “evil” mode. At the midway point, some animal noises take the music in another direction and Hietala and Jansen trade lyrics (for one of the few times on this record. After a raucous bit (enough to be a song in its own right), it settles back into a hushed, piano tinged melody (complete with more of the scientific oratory), before fading out, the sound of waves lapping the shore, a final spoken comment and an assortment of distant/hushed animal noises (whale calls, etc.) befall silence. The final pairing, lasting a nearly a half hour, is more expansive, cinematic in scope. Since their touring cycle tends to last two-plus years, definitely will be hearing some of these songs for a while. Have no problem with that!

David Perri - 7/10

I’ve never met Nightwish founder Tuomas Holopainen but, given the urgency found on latest Nightwish record Endless Forms Most Beautiful, I’d be willing to bet that he’s a smart guy.  As, for all intents and purposes, the CEO of Nightwish Inc., Holopainen is probably astute enough to realise that his organization is in the midst of a crisis of credibility given that it’s on lead vocalist number three in less than 20 years of existence and, hey, let’s take this opportunity to remind you of other third vocalists in renowned rock bands. Ian Gillan, with Black Sabbath. Blaze Bayley, with Iron Maiden. Gary Cherone, with Van Halen (buried in the annals of the Dave-Sammy-Dave sequence). For all their hidden charms, Born Again, The X Factor and Van Halen III aren’t exactly where legacies were solidified. They’re where legacies went to be drawn and quartered.

So it’s no surprise that Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Nightwish’s eighth record, is written with magnitude in mind: the grandeur here is meant to impress its audience, looking directly at each person and daring them not to, at the very least, be engaged by this album’s striking scope. And it works, for the most part. Even for someone, like this scribe, who normally has no tolerance for trips over the misty mountain hop into the lands Nightwish calls home. 

In a bizarre twist that only life’s most beautifully ironic eye winks can provide, the album that bears the most similarity, spiritually, to Endless Forms Most Beautiful is Dimmu Borgir’s Death Cult Armageddon, an association neither band is probably keen on solidifying. In 2003, Death Cult Armageddon’s immensely ambitious scope roused even the kultest of black metal’s underground, especially as the imposing orchestra during “Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse” made its dressed-to-impress, grand entrance. It’s the same statement that “Shudder Before The Beautiful” and “Yours Is An Empty Hope” boldly make as they revitalize Nightwish’s brand with their scale and ferocity. The fact that Endless Forms Most Beautiful finds itself even in the vicinity of (admittedly commercial) latter-day Dimmu Borgir is an indication of its focus, strength and purpose. (Which, let's be clear to avoid a flame war, doesn’t mean that Endless Forms Most Beautiful and Death Cult Armageddon actually sound like each other.)

It turns out that Tuomas Holopainen’s birthday is on Christmas day, and that’s another of life’s eye winks that doesn’t surprise me, at all. In fact, no other day would have been appropriate given the symphonic grandiloquence Holopainen continually strives for generally, and wholly achieves on Endless Forms Most Beautiful specifically.  Both opener “Shudder Before The Beautiful” and follow-up “Weak Fantasy” reach the kinds of summits that ambition inevitably drives towards, while late album standout “Alpenglow”’s impressive sense of melodic flow literally describes a place where “once upon a time a song was heard”. Which brings us to a very important point, despite Nightwish's strengths: by requiring that Nightwish’s existence be based on describing “the fairytale in blue and white” (that’s a legit Nightwish lyric, folks), some of this music becomes a real challenge to take seriously. The grandeur that we marveled at just a paragraph ago?  That’s a double-edged sword that always needs to be used in appropriate doses, which is not the case here. And that leads to some awkward results.

Look, it’s got to be said: despite some admittedly very strong moments, Endless Forms Most Beautiful is also the home to more than one song that could realistically be a Celine Dion staple. First single “Elan” is an example of this kind of delivery, as are “The Eyes Of Sharbat Gular” and “Our Decades In The Sun”, both the most lavish and saccharine songs not to be included on a Hollywood movie soundtrack. Why Nightwish ventures into these easy listening pastures is a question that could be asked, and re-asked, but life is complex so we move on and happily think about the upcoming Winter Of Apokalypse record instead. Interestingly, though not surprising given Endless Forms Most Beautiful's apparent mission statement, there are no blasts of Abba disco-pop here à la “Amaranth”, as this album’s overall tone is one of meticulousness, diligence, grandiosity and, yes, wonder. Which are all in line with the respectable and respected goal of re-establishing the Nightwish brand in the face of adversity. 

Kippis to you, Nightwish.