Finland Kantri magazine recently accompanied Tuomas Holopainen of Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH as he visited the Helsinki Music Centre and sat down to play one of the three instruments making up the centrepiece of Organo Hall: a tempered, 29-stop Fosters & Andrews organ representing English Romanticism, from the year 1892. Check out the footage below.
NIGHTWISH‘s new album, “Imaginaerum”, is due in North America on January 10, 2012 via Roadrunner Records. The CD is the band’s first since 2007’s “Dark Passion Play”, which was then-new singer Anette Olzon‘s debut.
NIGHTWISH will kick off the “Imaginaerum” world tour in Los Angeles. The very first show of the trek will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on Saturday, January 21. This will be the biggest NIGHTWISH show production ever on North American soil and strictly a one-off — there will be no U.S. tour until later in 2012.
Finnish television channel TV4 conducted an interview with keyboardist/songwriter Tuomas Holopainen of Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH after the first media listening session for the band’s new album, “Imaginaerum”, which was held on Monday, October 10 at Finnvox studios in Helsinki. You can now watch the chat below (in Finnish, with English subtitles). A report from the event can be found at Metal From Finland.
Fans of dramatic, symphonic Euro metal have something to look forward to when the cold, dark, dreary winter sets in. Finnish/Swedish superstars NIGHTWISH will release “Imaginaerum” in North America on January 10, 2012 via Roadrunner Records and it will serve as a welcome beckon of warmth and light in an otherwise dark season! 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.”
The band will have but a small part in the film. A 2012 premiere date is being eyed.
“Imaginaerum” track listing (note that track 12 is broken down into four parts):
01. Taikatalvi
02. Storytime
03. Ghost River
04. Slow, Love, Slow
05. I Want My Tears Back
06. Scaretale
07. Arabesque
08. Turn Loose the Mermaids
09. Rest Calm
10. The Crow, the Owl and the Dove
11. Last Ride of the Day
12. Song Of Myself
Song 1: From A Dusty Bookshelf
Song 2: All That Great Heart Lying Still
Song 3: Piano Black
Song 4: Love
13. Imaginaerum
“Imaginaerum” release dates:
Finland: November 30
Europe: December 2
Australia: January 6
North America: January 10
Japan: January 11
New Zealand: January 16
A track-by-track breakdown of the album by Tuomas Holopainen can be found at Metalhammer.co.uk.
Regarding the “Imaginaerum” cover artwork, which can be seen below, Holopainen said, “Originally, this was supposed to be the centerfold image of the album, but once I and some mates saw the final image, we immediately knew that the hunt for the actual cover artwork was over. I believe this is Toxic Angel‘s finest piece of work yet, capturing the deepest essence of what ‘Imaginaerum’ is all about. The power of imagination and places of wordless wonders, magic and awe, of longing and the surreal.
“I emphasized from the start that not a single living thing should be seen in the picture, and Toxic was able to create that sublime but desolate, ‘all this waiting for you, and you only’ feeling.
“All you need is the courage to enter.”
NIGHTWISH‘s new single, “Storytime”, will be released in Europe on Friday, November 11 via Nuclear Blast Records.
On the topic of the musical direction of the forthcoming album, NIGHTWISH singer Anette Olzon wrote on her official blog, “I think it’s a great and varied CD. The feelings in it are great and there are a lot of elements in it, so I am sure it will have many different favorite songs for the listeners since the songs are so different in styles and sound. [2007’s] ‘Dark Passion Play’ is a great album and this one, too, so I don’t know yet which one I like more, but, of course, for me personally, this one feels better to do since the songs are more adjusted to my voice and my style.”
NIGHTWISH will kick off the “Imaginaerum” world tour in Los Angeles. The very first show of the trek will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on Saturday, January 21. This will be the biggest NIGHTWISH show production ever on North American soil and strictly a one-off — there will be no U.S. tour until later in 2012.
Finnish TV channel YLE TV1 recently conducted an interview with NIGHTWISH mainman/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen and Stobe Harju, the director’s of the band’s upcoming movie,“Imaginarium”. You can now watch the report below. (Note: The report is in Finnish, but it contains English subtitles.) Source: Blabbermouth.net
NIGHTWISH mainman Tuomas Holopainen has revealed more details about the band’s upcoming “Imaginarium” album and movie project exclusively to Petri Silasof Finland’s Soundi magazine.
In an interview that was conducted on February 13, just prior to Tuomasflying over to London to oversee the recording of the album’s orchestral parts and choir sections, Holopainen said that he was responsible for penning all of the music on “Imaginarium”, with the exception of one track, which was written by vocalist/bassist Marco Hietala.
The new NIGHTWISH CD includes an epic 20-minute track which may or may not be split into two sections during the mastering. This is why Holopainen can’t say yet whether the album will consist of 12 or 13 songs. Orchestral arrangements by Pip Williams and assorted Celtic instrumentation by Troy Donockley will once again make an appearance on the new album (as they did on 2007’s “Dark Passion Play”). However, according to Holopainen, two of the tracks on “Imaginarium” will have no orchestral score whatsoever. There are also some very interesting new sounds in the mix.
“We are using a wide array of ethnic instruments like the Taiko drums and the zurna on ‘Imaginarium’ The choir parts are yet again delivered by The Metro Voices,”Tuomas said.
The movie “Imaginarium”, directed by Stobe Harju, will follow the album’s theme and story closely and will also include dialogue. All the preliminary screenplay work is finished and the storyboards are now done but no actors or actresses have yet been cast. In Holopainen’s estimation, mainly unknown actors would be the best choice for the film as “unfamiliar faces tend to leave more space to the viewers’ imagination.”
No shooting locations have been chosen so far.
Holopainen has a decidedly low-key attitude towards the entire movie project. He has personally adopted a humble “straight-to-DVD” mentality but adds that “of course, it would be great” to experience the movie in a proper theater setting one day. “Time will tell whether we are able to stage some special viewings in select movie theaters in Finland and maybe Sweden and Germany as well,” he said. “But I’m gonna be super-happy with even a DVD release.”
The underlying themes of “Imaginarium” are a positive outlook and a certain “carpe diem” attitude to life.
“Because ‘Dark Passion Play’ turned out to be the band’s darkest and heaviest album to date, this time I wanted to be inspired by love and the beauty of the world,” statedHolopainen.
With regards to the similarity of the name and the concept of “Imaginarium”to Terry Gilliam‘s 2009 feature film “The Imaginarium Of Dr. Panassus”, Holopainen maintains that he came upon his concept for the album — and the name “Imaginarium“ — approximately two years ago while vacationing and traveling in Australia. He has yet to see“The Imaginarium Of Dr. Panassus”but admits to having already purchased a DVD copy of the film.
Petri Silas‘ entire interview with Tuomas Holopainen will appear in the 3/2011 issue of Soundi magazine, due in Finland on February 23.
NIGHTWISH will hold a press conference related to this project at the end of February.
Regarding the musical direction of the forthcoming album, singer Anette Olzon recently wrote on her official blog, “I think it’s a great and varied CD. The feelings in it are great and there are a lot of elements in it, so I am sure it will have many different favorite songs for the listeners since the songs are so different in styles and sound. ‘Dark Passion Play’ is a great album and this one, too, so I don’t know yet which one I like more, but, of course, for me personally, this one feels better to do since the songs are more adjusted to my voice and my style.”
On January 14, NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen was interviewed by his official web site, The Escapist, at his hotel in London, England during the recording sessions for the band’s new album, “Imaginarium”. You can now watch the chat in two parts below. Source: Blabbermouth.net
Keyboardist/songwriter Tuomas Holopainen of Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH has issued the following update:
“In the excitement of Yuletide magic I wrote there would be secrets revealed at the end of January.
“There are big things happening within and around the NIGHTWISH camp but the Big Boys and Bosses just sent me an ultimatum to keep my mouth shut for a couple more months, or I would wake up with a horse’s head in my bed.
“I truly am very sorry about needing to keep future plans and sights still in secrecy. The purpose is not to annoy anybody or cause a carefully planned hype over the matter. Due to the changes in the schedule, things will be revealed later during the spring.
“The recordings [for the new NIGHTWISH album] continue.
“I’m off to E-Major Studios next weekend to put together all the files for the orchestral and choir sessions in London. I’m in daily contact with Mr. Pip Williams, going over the arrangements and new ideas for the songs. The demos he has sent me sound simply otherworldly! Beautiful, twisted, tribal and cinematic stuff. And with a theme album coming up, the mood changes seem to be more present than ever before.
“Yup, it still is the Burton-Gaiman-Dali — amusement park we are about to enter.
“More coming up once the mobsters grant me permission.”
Source: Blabbermouth.net
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