NIGHTWISH have been hard at work on their Imaginarium project, the band's forthcoming new album/movie (the album is currently scheduled to be released early in 2012, followed by the movie after an indefinite time).

Mainman Tuomas Holopainen has issued the following update from Helsinki's Finnvox Studios:

"After three years of brainstorming and songwriting, over a year of rehearsing, arranging and studio work, this triumph of musical passion and piety is finally ready to be mastered.

Yesterday, after a six-week mixing session in Studio C at Finnvox, I listened to the whole thing from start to finish alone for the first time, and couldn't make heads nor tails of it. It's the same old story - the same feeling of bottomless emptiness that has marked the completion of all previous albums.

We could have honed the songs till Armageddon, but at some point you just have to let go and start admiring the scenery.

This time, the landscape consists of 13 songs totalling 75 minutes. I think I'll probably be able to savour the end result only after a couple of months of mixing detox, but the encouraging comments by those near to me assure that it is a decent album. One person who heard Imaginarium called it "the greatest adventure he ever heard with his two ears".

There's clearly more grin to the new album than on the last one, more funfair, Moomins, smoky taverns, and twisted landscapes. It equals the Milky Way in width and breadth, even according to our standards. As Markus Selin put it, "Now you've really gone and emptied the bag of tricks!"

We're now going to get some distance to the album before mastering it later in the autumn. Meanwhile, we're going to be busy designing the cover, completing the instrumental and orchestral versions of the album, planning the upcoming tour, shooting the movie, and digesting the audio bloat. An excellent cure for the latter should be peaceful country atmosphere, fishing, and following the games of the current pesäpallo season. (By the way, during the home games of Kiteen Pallo, the entry music will be a remix consisting of the main riff and chorus of song number 11 off Imaginarium.)

Big thanks and bear hugs to the whole band for their patience; to Mikko Karmila and Tee Cee Kinnunen for their forbearance, craftsmanship and enormous amount of work; and in advance to Mika Jussila for the finishing touch! It's been a magnificent journey so far. Big thanks to you, too, for living with us through this process and having faith in what's to come. I'm sure you won't be disappointed."

Check out more studio photos here.

The first single from Imaginarium, as well as the trailer for the movie, should appear well before the end of the 2011.

As previously reported, Nightwsih bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala recently spoke to BW&BK; about the forthcoming Imaginarium album. He comments on the sound of the record below:

“I have an idea of it, but I’m not sure how to put that into words (laughs). Big and bombastic, there’s going to be that stuff. People will be able to recognize the music as Nightwish, but I think if there’s something we managed to do differently this time it’s overcome the preconceptions of what this band should sound like. There’s a hell of a lot of musical variety on the album, and for myself I can honestly say that when we were doing Dark Passion Play – rehearsing and all that – I was sure it was going to be a good album. This time around, when we started rehearsing these songs, I was immediately sure about the same thing maybe ten times more (laughs). I just have a feeling it’s going to be a killer album.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Nightwish recently announced they will kick off their next tour with an exclusive US date at the Gibson Amphitheater in Univeral City, California on Jan 21st, 2012. Support bands for the one-off show will come from countrymen AMORPHIS and Roadrunner labelmates DOMMIN. More details will be revealed soon.