NIGHTWISH founder, composer and keyboard player TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN will be releasing his first solo album this spring via Nuclear Blast.

The album will be based on writer and illustrator Don Rosa’s graphic novel, The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck, which tells the life story of Scrooge from his early years in 19th Century Scotland and follows him in his worldly adventures through the 1950s. When Holopainen read the story nearly twenty years ago, its immense depth, detail, wit, and emotional power resonated with him instantly. While the initial spark of creating a soundtrack for the graphic novel came to him in 1999, the idea took fourteen years to come to fruition.

Recorded from August to October, 2013 at Angel Studios in London plus various locations around Scotland and Finland, The Life And Times Of Scrooge will include elements of the classical & folk genres in the vein of VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, MICHAEL NYMAN, JAMES NEWTON HOWARD, and ENYA. The album will feature artwork by Don Rosa (pictured below with Tuomas).

Pip Williams – who collaborated with Tuomas on the Nightwish albums Once (2004), Dark Passion Play (2007), and Imaginaerum (2012) – will once again assist with orchestral arrangements for The Life And Times Of Scrooge.

The album will feature four lead vocalists: Finnish singer Johanna Kurkela, Tony Kakko of SONATA ARCTICA, Johanna Iivanainen, and Alan Reid.

Musical guests include: The London Orchestra, the Metro Voices choir from London, Nightwish's Troy Donockley (uilleann pipes, low whistles, bodhran), Mikko Iivanainen (guitars, banjo), Teho Majamäki (didgeridoo), Jon Burr (harmonica), and Dermot Crehan (solo violin).

The Life And Times Of Scrooge tracklisting:

'Glasgow 1877'

'Into The West'

'Duel & Cloudscapes'

'Dreamtime'

'Cold Heart Of The Klondike'

'The Last Sled'

'Goodbye, Papa'

'To Be Rich'

'A Lifetime Of Adventure'

'Go Slowly Now, Sands Of Time'

Bonus Track:

'A Lifetime Of Adventure' (Alternate Version)