NIGHTWISH mainman Tuomas Holopainen gives fans some insight into the making of their upcoming album Imaginaerum. The video below also featuring some exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the film set.

Nuclear Blast Germany have unveiled a number of formats for Nightwish's upcoming album, Imaginaerum, and their 'Storytime' single as detailed below:

Imaginaerum Mail Order Edition: limited and numbered to 1000 copies, the boxset includes the double digipak, the one-track-single 'Rest Calm' in its demo version featuring Marco Hietala on vocals and the exclusive Imaginaerum mirror:

Imaginaerum Two-CD digi pack featuring instrumental version of the album as bonus CD:

Imaginaerum Marbled Vinyl: Strictly limited to 250 marbled 180g double gatefold LPs incl. a DIN A2 poster:

'Storytime' CD Single featuring 'Storytime' (radio edit), 'Storytime' (album version), 'Storytime' (instrumental version):

'Storytime' Single Clear, White and Dark Blue Vinyl: Strictly limited to 250 lush 10" gatefold mini albums. Featuring 'Storytime' (radio edit), 'Storytime' (album version), 'Storytime' (instrumental version):

For more details visit Nuclearblast.de.

Nightwish will release Imaginaerum on the following dates:

Finland - November 30th

Europe - December 2nd

Australia - January 6th

North America - January 10th

Japan - January 11th

New Zealand - January 16th

The album is the band's first since 2007's Dark Passion Play, which was then-new singer Anette Olzon's debut.

The band examined its catalog when sitting down to write what would become Imaginaerum. The songs for the album were written between 2008 and 2010, after the Dark Passion Play tour cycle ended. At that point, Nightwish knew they wanted to do something different, new and unique, which is exceptional for a band whose career has been defined by words like different, new and unique!

The band consciously wanted to do something so big, crossover, detailed, innovative and, well, "nuts," that it would leave the band, and hopefully the people experiencing it, completely awestruck. It would be a situation where fans and/or critics would either love it or hate it, but they'd be left awestruck nonetheless. That's when the band realized another dimension, namely video, was necessary for the project. Instead of a concept album, the band set the album to a film.

"The original idea I had was to film 13 short stories related to the songs with a connected storyline, shot by Stobe Harju," keyboardist/songwriter Tuomas Holopainen said. It was Harju's idea to turn the 13 stories and visions into more of a connected cinematic piece – essentially, a film. It would have a clear plot, script, dialogue and real actors in an ambitious effort to create something wholly unique.The film was shot in September of this year.

The movie is based on the album and its 13 tracks, honoring the original ideas, but having evolved radically from the initial plan.

Holopainen said," Still, it was important from the very beginning that the album would work as its own individual piece of art, as well. It is a thematic album about life itself, about imagination, love, goodness and beauty, with a touch of darkness and melancholy, which are strongly included in all of those things mentioned." As if we could expect anything less from Nightwish!

The band will have but a small part in the film. A 2012 premiere date is being eyed. Imaginaerum: an audiovisual testament of what Nightwish have always been about.

The track listing for Imaginaerum is as follows (note that track 12 is broken down into four parts):

'Taikatalvi'

'Storytime'

'Ghost River'

'Slow, Love, Slow'

'I Want My Tears Back'

'Scaretale'

'Arabesque'

'Turn Loose The Mermaids'

'Rest Calm'

'The Crow, The Owl And The Dove'

'Last Ride Of The Day'

'Song Of Myself'

Song 1: 'From A Dusty Bookshelf'

Song 2: 'All That Great Heart Lying Still'

Song 3: 'Piano Black'

Song 4: 'Love'

'Imaginaerum'

Nightwish will release their new single, 'Storytime', on Friday, November 11th. The single is available as a pre-sale as CD (digipak) and 10'' MLP (gatefold) versions.

Nightwish recently announced the first European tour dates in support of Imaginaerum as follows:

January

21 - Gibson Amphitheater - Universal City, CA
23 - 70000 Tons Of Metal Cruise -The Caribbean

April

10 - Lisebergshallen - Göteborg, Sweden
11 - Falconer Theater - Copenhagen, Denmark
13 - Heineken Music Hall - Amsterdam, Netherlands
14 - ISS Dome - Düsseldorf, Germany
16 - Forest National - Brussels, Belgium
17 - Bercy - Paris, France
18 - Zenith - Nantes, France
20 - Halle Tony Garnier - Lyon, France
21 - Rockhal - Luxembourg, Luxembourg
23 - Jahrhunderthalle - Frankfurt, Germany
24 - Hallenstadion - Zurich, Switzerland
25 - Forum - Milano, Italy
27 - Gasometer - Vienna, Austria
29 - Budapest Arena - Budapest, Hungary
30 - Tesla (T-Mobile Arena) - Prague, Czech Republic

May

1 - Arena - Leipzig, Germany
3 - 02 World - Hamburg, Germany
5 - Arena - Nuremberg, Germany
6 - Schleyerhalle - Stuttgart, Germany
8 - Krizanke - Ljubljana, Slovenia