NIGHTWISH – Yesterwynde (2024) *HQ*
NIGHTWISH, the Finnish / Dutch / British symphonic rock sensation, is back with their tenth studio album, ”Yesterwynde”. Known for their seamless blend of acoustic melodies and symphonic heavy metal, the band continues to push musical boundaries with every release.
Keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen shares that ”Yesterwynde” took over 3.5 years to create, making it their most meticulously crafted album yet. The new record delves into universal themes like memories, mortality, and humanism.
This new piece of work is rich in powerful compositions and intricate details, perhaps the band’s heaviest, most progressive, and most collaborative work. Floor Jansen, as usual, shines on vocals.
Each new record brings fresh challenges, and for their tenth album ”Yesterwynde” the band not only had to find a replacement for bassist / vocalist Marko Hietala but also work around the second pregnancy of singer Floor Jansen and then invent a brand new word.
Describing a feeling that cannot be found in any human language, the delicate title track features pipes, acoustic guitar, choral, and solo vocals – and begins with the sound of a flickering movie projector. True opener “An Ocean of Strange Islands” is layered with playful keys, a spidery instrumental break, booming basslines from recently added four-stringer Jukka Koskinen, and clear, soaring vocals from Jansen. After culminating with Troy Donockley‘s trademark Uilleann pipes, “The Antikythera Mechanism” steps in with cinematic drama and a formidable mid-paced stomp.
The ’80s-tinged and similarly anthemic ”The Children Of ’Ata” celebrates the survival of young castaways who lived peacefully on a deserted island for 15 months. In 1965, a group of Tongan children took a boat and became shipwrecked on the uninhabited Polynesian island of ‘Ata. Fifteen months later, the teenage castaways were miraculously discovered alive and well by a passing fisherman and returned home. So, while a plaintive introduction sung in Tongan might not be the first choice of how to begin a Nightwish song, this at least explains it. Add some chanting, an uptempo beat, and eighties synthpop keys and you have one of the best songs on the album by some distance.
”Something Whispered Follow Me” tiptoes to a conclusion via some earth-moving note-making from Floor Jansen, affirming once again that she is surely one of the finest living vocalist in rock. She throws in another jaw-dropping high at the end of ”The Weave”.
Then you have ”Sway” and ”Hiraeth”, gentle in touch and numerous in level, the latter a wistful folk-and-metal yearning for times that are on the very cusp of memory. Amid it all are several references to earlier Nightwish songs, nods to past glories that only serve to connect and elevate.
Over an hour of music requires a lot of concentration. While most of the big hitters come during the first half, there’s treasure to be found everywhere, even if possibly by accident (was that really a slightly reworked Star One riff and the shark attack theme from Jaws 3D?).
No twenty-plus minute extravaganzas this time either, the longest song coming in at under ten minutes. And as for Marko’s absence? Well yes, it’s felt, but only rarely as Donockley does such a good job with his vocals.
Dense and cinematic, accessible but exploratory, ”Yesterwynde” is yet another beautifully constructed record by the undisputed masters of symphonic metal.
Highly Recommended
01 – Yesterwynde
02 – An Ocean Of Strange Islands
03 – The Antikythera Mechanism
04 – The Day Of…
05 – Perfume Of The Timeless
06 – Sway
07 – The Children Of ‘Ata
08 – Something Whispered Follow Me
09 – Spider Silk
10 – Hiraeth
11 – The Weave
12 – Lanternlight
FLOOR JANSEN: Vocals
EMPPU VUORINEN: Guitar
JUKKA KOSKINEN: Bass
TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN: Keyboards / Piano
TROY DONOCKLEY: Uilleann Pipes / Whistles / Guitar
KAI HAHTO: Drums
Pre order:
emp-online.com/p/yesterwynde/571483.html
