NIGHTWISH singer Anette Olzon has issued the following studio update via her official blog:

"So, yesterday I did the last polishing of the songs and now the whole album is recorded! Mixing starts today. I will write a longer studio diary soooooooon....

Tomorrrow we fly home to Sweden and it feels great to come home but also a little bit sad, cause we have really loved being here in Finland."

Holed up in Finland's Petrax Studios for the better part of this spring, Nightwish's' new album, Imaginarium, is scheduled to be released early in 2012, followed by the movie after an indefinite time. The first single off the album as well as the trailer for the movie should appear well before the end of the 2011.

A recent Imaginarium movie update from Nightwish reads: "If you were to witness an unprecedented magic trick that could not be explained rationally, would you want to know how it is done?

A child experiences something new and unique each day. Something that is often impossible for the child to put into words without the guidance or explanation of an adult. Often the explanation has disappointed us. Sometimes it’s better not to know the truth.

If you had the chance to return to your childhood - just for a split second - when witnessing a magic trick, would you forfeit that chance and seek for a rational explanation?

Imaginarium is all about such questions. They have been answered by many people who have worked with the album and the movie already in the planning stages. As the final storyboard is being created, the producers, the director, the band, the production designer, the concept artists, and the casting director all work together to perfect their various arts for the movie. Contradictorily, they often have to ask the question: “How can we weave that kind of magic?”

The script has seen many improvements, more than ever before. The truth about movie production is that the script is often polished right until the first day of shooting, sometimes even during the shooting. At the moment, a lot of loose ends are being tied together, and a lot of characters are changed substantively to act as either a negative or a positive force in the story.

The SFX and prop design is underway, as well as the casting for the main roles. Storyboard drawing is interrupted momentarily, as concept art is needed to outline the characters and the environments.

We’ve experimented with arranging the background score with the actual songs off the album, and the best indicator of success is the amount of goose bumps the combination has raised.

?These are exciting times, because the decisions being made now largely shape the finished movie. We can only say that we’re already immensely proud of it.

We’ve travelled a long road, but not until the next crossroads can we distinguish a sign “Imaginarium, X miles”."

Nightwish recently announced that the very first show for the Imaginarium World Tour will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, CA, on Saturday, January 21st, 2012.

This will be the biggest Nightwish show production ever on North American soil and strictly a one-off - there will be no US tour until later in 2012. Ticket sales will begin soon.