Dark Passion Play

Untitled

Symphonic power metal band Nightwish's sixth studio album - as of May 20, 2007 untitled - has been recorded and is planned to be released on September 28, 2007. Including the EP Over the Hills and Far Away from 2001, and their first demo (see Demo (Nightwish)) from 1996, it is the band's eighth album. It is the first studio album to feature the new lead vocalist Anette Olzon and without former vocalist Tarja Turunen, due to her departure in October 2005. It is the band's first newly recorded album in three years, the longest non-album gap of their history (except the live DVD/CD End of an Era from the Once tour and compilations).

The first single, "Eva", was released on May 25 2007. It is a radio single only. On August 24 (about a month before the album release), the second single - still without a title - will be released as a normal single.

The band is as they were in the recordings of Once cooperating with the London Session Orchestra. Founder of the band, keyboardist and main songwriter, Tuomas Holopainen once said that people might be wondering what's going on, with all these musicians running out and in to the recording building in London.

The first information about the album was revealed together with the information about the two first singles on February 19 on the official website. On April 1, an official announcement from Nightwish claimed that the new title was revealed together with a promo of the album and the cover. Though, it was later stated in another official announcement that is was all an April fool's joke (see Faster Harder Nightwish).

Track listing

14 songs are going to be featured on the album, and there will be at least one bonus track. Though, in a diary entry made by the Anette Olzon on May 13, she said that she thinks that all of them agree in having the bonus track as standard instead.

	Title	Writers	Length
?	"Eva"	Holopainen	4:24
?	"The Poet and the Pendulum" [II]	Holopainen	14:00
?	"7 Days to the Wolves"	?
?	"Master Passion Greed"	?
?	"Amaranth"	?

Singles

There will be at least two singles of the album. The first one is Eva, which will be a radio single only. The second one is still untitled, and will be released in August 2007, succeded by the actual album about a month after. The second single will be a normal single (not radio).

"Eva" [I]
Released May 25 2007	"Eva" is the first single from the album. Main article: Eva (song)
	Chart position
	-
	Track listing
	Radio single "Eva"
Untitled [III]
Released August 24, 2007	The second single from the album.
	Chart position
	-
	Track listing
	TBA

Music style

File:Nightwishonce.jpg

Nightwish's fifth album: Once.

Lead band member Tuomas Holopainen has in an interview said that the album will have a lot in common with the last album (Once). For example, the band will keep the new kind of harder songs (such as "Nemo", "Wish I Had an Angel" and "Planet Hell"), but there will as well be softer ballads. The new album includes lots of guest musicians and orchestral parts - in the same interview, Tuomas said that as they recorded Once they had 18 people in the choir, and still this wasn't enough.

There are also going to be "shockers" that Tuomas didn't want to reveal. The longest song is a song that due to him is a very personal epic piece that is a lot like film music, and it lasts for about 14 minutes. Music engineer Mikko Karmila has as well stated that the style is much more progressive than earlier.

Tuomas has also stated that there are darker pieces reminiscent of Century Child, such as the 14-minute song, and some others. Both musically and lyrically, there will be darkness.

Growling will be featured on the album, by keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. And as several tracks are written and sung entirely by male vocalist Marco Hietala, it is expected that songs will be darker and heavier than before.

Background information

New vocalist

To find a replacement for Turunen as the female vocalist of the band, on March 17, 2006 the band allowed vocalists interested for the position to send in demo tapes as an audition for the spot. The band stated that it was looking for a vocalist with the ability to sing with good dynamics and versatility. However, to the surprise of some fans, the band did not specifically ask for a classically trained singer, but were open to a variety of styles and backgrounds. By the time auditions were over on January 15, 2007, the band had received over 2000 demo tapes.

During this time, speculation began to emerge as to who would eventually succeed Turunen as the female vocalist for the band. The band stated on their website that fans should not believe any source other than the band itself for information regarding the new vocalist. On May 24, 2007 it was announced on the official Nightwish website that Anette Olzon is the new vocalist. Joking with the previous rumors, in the news regarding the new singer, it was written "So without further ado, click the following links to get to know Liv Sarah Marcela Vibeke Anette..." ("Liv" referring to Liv Kristine of Leaves' Eyes; "Sarah" to possibly Sarah Jezebel Deva of Cradle of Filth; "Marcela" to Marcela Bovio of Stream of Passion; and "Vibeke" to Vibeke Stene formerly of Tristania - all female leads in fellow metal bands).

Samples

As of June 3, four songs are featured as samples on Nightwish's official website - "Eva", "7 Days to the Wolves", "Master Passion Greed" and "Amaranth" . The samples are between a half and one minute long, "7 Days to the Wolves" being the longest (56 seconds). The samples are of different styles and features the singing of both Hietala and Olzon.

Faster Harder Nightwish

Faster Harder Nightwish is an April Fool's joke album by the band, announced on April 1, 2007 on the official website. They said that this was the new title of the album, and that they were changing style totally, from symphonic power metal to something more like thrash metal.

The band also went as far as to leak a "promo sampler" of the album to several peer-to-peer networks that afternoon. It was later stated on their official website that this was an April Fool's joke due to the date and the abrupt changes of the band style.

Tour

File:Paradise Lost Promo (2005).jpg

Paradise Lost to support Nightwish on the North American tour.

Due to the upcoming album, a Nightwish tour has been planned. As of May 30, 2007, it is announced that the first concert will be in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 6. This will be followed of a North American tour beginning on October 15 in Springfield and ending in Atlanta on November 17. This will be followed up by a Scandinavian tour ending in Finland on January 1, 2008. Presales for the North American tour is already available, and the Norwegian tickets will be available on June 9.

Tuomas has in an interview said that this will be the largest tour they've ever made, and that they probably will be touring for about two and a half years.

On March 15, it was announced that Paradise Lost will be supporting Nightwish on the North American tour after the release of their eleventh studio album In Requiem..

• Official tour dates

Credits

It seems like the writing credits will be more shared between the band members on this album than the earlier albums; several songs are written entirely by Marco Hietala, and at least one track has got music written by Emppu Vuorinen, and lyrics by Tuomas Holopainen.

Anette Olzon said in a diary entry on Nightwish.com that she and Marco Hietala are co-singing on several songs, and on at least two tracks, Marco sings by himself. Holopainen is also singing (growling) on one track. Before Century Child, former vocalist Tarja Turunen sang close to entirely by herself, but on Century Child, Hietala started to sing not only backing vocals but larger parts by himself. It seems like Hietala now will be given much more space.

Current band members

• Anette Olzon – Lead Vocals
• Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen – Guitar
• Marco Hietala – Bass / Vocals
• Tuomas Holopainen – Keyboards
• Jukka Nevalainen – Drums

Guest musicians

• London Session Orchestra

Notes

I. ^{^} The first single of the album, to be released on May 30 2007, as a preview of the album. This was the first known track of the album, revealed in February 2007.
II. ^{^} An epic piece that is dear to Tuomas, including orchestral parts. It is much like for example Beauty of the Beast (from Century Child) and Ghost Love Score (Once).
III. ^{^} The second single of the album, to be released in August 2007.
IV. ^{^} More info.