Label : Nuclear Blast
Review by Davide Torresan
After almost a year of waiting, finally the soundtrack of the movie connected to the last Nightwish‘s album,“Imaginaerum”, is out. After its release the album had a global success, giving reason to the ambitious project of Tuomas Holopainen of creating a film with some new songs written by himself. Riding the wave of enthusiasm, Nightwish decided to leave for a long tour that took them first in Europe and then in North America. In October the waiting for the film’s release has been ruined by the premature split with the singer Anette Olzon. It caused the panic within the fanbase of the Swedish singer and an increase of hope to see the return of Tarja Turunen for the nostalgics of the “Old Era”. None of this happened. In no time Anette has been replaced with the talentuous Floor Jansen (Revamp, After Forever) to finish the tour in North America. To celebrate the end of the first part of the tour and the end of the works on the film, Nightwish decided to do a final concert at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki. And the premiere of the film took place immediately after the show.
“Imaginaerum” (The Movie), directed by Stobe Harju, tells the story of Thomas Whitman, an elderly songwriter with an otherworldly imagination. During sleep, the old man fights to find the most important memories of his life and to relive the experiences of his youth. He must also contend with the fact that, due to a serious illness, his life is in danger. Only the dreams are the “sanatorium” to cure his imagination and soul.
Slightly ahead of the film premiere in Finland, Nightwish decides to release the soundtrack: “The Score”. It can’t be considered a Nightwish‘s new album since Tuomas Holopainen didn’t put his hands on it though he has never hide his wish of creating one. He entrusts the work to the flautist and Finnish composer Petri Alanko. Just to give you a hint, he’s a composer of soundtracks for movies and games and he teaches in the renowned Sibelius Academy. So he is not exactly a newcomer. He had the difficult task of rearranging the songs of “Imaginaerum” doing an orchestral reinterpretation. The results are 13 epic and magnificent songs. Petri gives a new and meaningful title to the new songs. They almost certainly describe some scenes or quotes of the film. Some melodies are the same of “Imaginaerum” or more orchestrated. The opener is “Find Your Story” which reproposes the melody of the musical box of “Taikatalvi”. The same will be repeated also in the last song “From G to E Minor” as if Petri wanted to close the lid of the musical box. No important changes have been made to the new songs, and this can demoralize the fans that were expecting something more grand and majestic. I appreciated a lot that hither and thither they put some choruses sung by Anette, like in “Orphanage Airlines” (“Storytime”), “Sundown” (“Turn Loose the Mermaids”) and “Deeper Down” (“The Crow, the Owl and the Dove”). In the end Anette did a great job on “Imaginaerum”, and I believe that this attempt of inserting her voice also in the movie soundtrack was a deserved award. In the last 2 songs that I mentioned it’s really wonderful the slow pace of the strings with the piano.
In conclusion, it’s hard to give a suitable score to this release without seeing the movie. For sure I would have increased the final score of a few points since I love “Imaginaerum”. We just have to wait the release of the movie on DVD/Blu-ray. The “Imaginaerum” brand is finally running out, or if you want, you can call it a season. After the slippers and the wine, the bottom has been reached. Surely “The Score” is a must-have for all the Nightwish fans and for who loved “Imaginaerum”.
It lacks a little bit of originality, but it is really a good soundtrack. Now the Finnish band fans can only wait for the announcement of the new singer and the one of a new album. As the mastermind Tuomas Holopainen has already announced, it will be something really new for Nightwish. Meanwhile, “The Score” can entertain us until the release of their new work.
Rating – 75/100
Tracklist
- Find Your Story
- Orphanage Airlines
- Undertow
- Spying in the Doorway
- A Crackling Sphere
- Sundown
- Wonderfields
- Hey Buddy
- Deeper Down
- Dare to Enter
- I Have to Let You Go
- Heart Lying Still
- From G to E Minor
Line Up
- Anette Olzon – Vocals
- Tuomas Holopainen – Keyboards
- Marco Hietala – Bass & Vocals
- Erno “Emppu” Vuorinen – Guitars
- Jukka Nevalainen – Drums
- Petri Alanko – Composer