“Yeah, it’s good… but can we please keep things in perspective?”When it comes to me and music, things have been in a major state of upheaval the last few years. Gone are the days where I could pick up the latest release from a given band and enjoy it without reservation. Yet it’s uncanny how many of these bands – most of them hailing from the European school of heavy metal – have fallen by the wayside; how many of them can be summed up with a small handful of selections from some very large catalogs. I’ll admit that cutting through the musical clutter accumulated over the last decade has been kind of nice, but a part of me misses the days when a lot more of this stuff was still viable.
Be that as it may, regret is only natural when one is parting ways with something that was a large part of who you were. Moving on is never easy, even when you don’t know you are, but then the situation is hardly one-dimensional. As much as I pine for the days when this stuff suited me more, I also miss the days when I could listen to a new album and not have it come off as an aimless mass of instrumentation. Yet if every album since Sonata Arctica’s Unia has taught me anything it’s that the likelihood of this not happening is next to nil. It’s only after a dozen or so listens that the proceeding finally comes together.
So what does all of this have to do with Imaginaerum? Well, pretty much everything because despite how much clout the Nightwish name brings with it Imaginaerum – and Nightwish’s material – isn’t immune to such decay. Okay, I’ll admit I’m always in the mood for a “Deep Silent Complete” or a rousing “Ghost Love Score” but the simple truth is I can leave ninety-nine percent of the band’s Turunen era material to the ages at this point. Additionally, the second part of the conundrum explained above proved true as well: Imaginaerum initially coming off as a potluck of ideas and ambitions that initially seemed displeasing.
Anyways, with first impressions pretty much shot to hell, the first thing that really stuck me about Imaginaerum was how the ethnic flair heard in tracks like “I Want My Tears Back” was more or less “borrowed” from the concluding tracks of Dark Passion Play. Actually, saying it was borrowed is putting how I viewed it nicely – it really felt like it was ripped-off. I know that sounds silly, not allowing a band to emulate something it quote unquote cultivated, but given the sense of pride Nightwish puts into each album and making each one a unique entity this hardly seemed like something one would have to deal with given the four year period between releases.
The backwards step that was aside, Imaginaerum battled back ever so slowly. The first single (“Storytime”) was pretty much a no-brainer of a creation, a solid tune that holds no real surprises and doesn’t ask too much of the listener. As for the remainder of the album its acceptance teetered on whether or not I could get past not having any context to chew on given the increase of film score influences. Given that there’s a story going on with these tracks it’s kind of hard to see this release as an “album” (in the traditional sense) and not a soundtrack – at least at first. With such an obstacle in the way, it really falls on tracks like “Arabesque” and the instrumental parts of other tracks to break down the wall and forge a connection with the listener as items like the blues influenced “Love, Slow, Love” and seemingly congested “Ghost River” can’t really change perceptions on a dime.
Still, as for when the album turned the corner between chaotic mess and melodic marvel I am still unsure. All I know is that the tracks that seemed to get lampooned for their brief moments of lyrical “oddballness” turned out to be the best tracks. I love when Anette says “the bride will love you, cook you, eat you!” in “Scaretale” and as silly as it sounds out of context saying “an old man gets naked and dances with a model doll in his attic” it actually makes sense within the second half of “Song of Myself.” These tracks are ironically targeted for criticism by listeners for other reasons as well but those are the things that make them stand out. Yes, one can say Anette’s voice is stretched thin by the vocal approach used in “Scaretale;” yes, about half of “Song of Myself” is more of a monologue than an actual song but then I wouldn’t change these tracks for anything.
After discovering that the album’s highest highs where what some considered its lowest lows everything else started to fall into place. I neither craved that context I was looking for earlier nor did I mind the elements I perceived to be “stolen” from Dark Passion Play. The delectable burn of a track like “Slow, Love, Slow” became more than apparent and finally the last domino to fall was the stubborn “Ghost River,” sounding nowhere near as awkward as it initially did.
So, in the end, the story ends with sunshine and rainbows despite its glum beginnings. At the outset of this review I broke down the trouble I had with this album and genre in general, but there’s another problem that it and Nightwish face that’s all about perception and specifically deals with the fans. What’s the problem? That when a new Nightwish album comes out a large portion of the people reviewing it act like the previous albums mean squat. I get it, you’re excited - especially given the long wait for this one but (and this is going to sound hypocritical coming from someone’s that’s become disinterested in the band’s older material) this isn’t the musical equivalent of the Madden video game. The latest “version” (or in this case “album”) doesn’t make the last one completely obsolete. In other words, as good as Imaginaerum is, it doesn’t make Dark Passion Play any less important and I shouldn’t have to explain why that is so. So for the sake of everything that is good and holy, do not call Dark Passion Play Imaginaerum’s “practice run.” That’s complete and utter garbage and it doesn’t give a great album – and what it represents – it’s due.
Conclusion:
My ill feelings for some of the dribble “fans” write aside, Imaginaerum proves I’m not willing to give up on the genre – or Nightwish - just yet. As annoying as it’s become to have and “dig” for the enjoyment a given album can bring, I can safely say the end result is more satisfying because of it. Additionally, like the slight change in style Sonata Arctica debuted on Unia, the switch from Tarja to Anette was a change I didn’t know I wanted until I was presented with it and “got it.” Thankfully, for all intensive purposes, I still “get it.”
Overall Score: 8/10
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