With their previous album, Imaginaerum, being a full-blown concept album (and film), this most recent one still follows a loose theme, based on Charles Darwin's optimistic look on the evolution of life, existence and it's often-puzzling reasoning. I loved former vocalist Anette Olzon's operatic pipes, so when I heard Jansen wouldn't be exploring that sound so much, I was a little apprehensive at first. Fortunately Tuomas Holopainen's more intimate songwriting on this album doesn't call for a lot of that style and Jansen fits in like a glove. Instead of going with a smug all-out guns a blazing powerhouse of an album, Nightwish wisely opts for more of a standard symphonic, rather than metal sound which might deter fans of their earlier works but if you're in for the imaginative worlds they transport you to then this will suit you just fine.
3 origins of species out of 5
Songs of Note: Élan; Edema Ruh
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