First came the album, then came the score; the final outcome? A visually beautiful film with a strong story line that has the greatest impact on whoever sees it. The film I am talking about is Nightwish's Imaginareum. It was 2011 where there came news from Nightwish about a new album in the making and a film to go alongside it. Naturally being a fan of Nightwish I was very excited as no other band has made a film to go with their album, the album itself was fantastic as you can read here in a previous post. So seeing the video Storytime where there was behind the scenes action and various trailers different feelings of anxiety, excitement and curiosity welled within me. The film's plot revolves around an elderly composer who is suffering severe dementia that has regressed him into his childhood state. He cannot remember anything from his adult life including his estranged daughter and his friends, he goes into a coma that allows him to try and find his lost memories. So today I watched the film for the very first time; the first thing I hear is the beautiful music of the authentic Finnish track Taikatalvi whilst a winter scene which consists of the main character Tom Whitman building a snowman is shown. Coincidently Taikatalvi means magic winter so to have this tune play over this sequence was a remarkable idea. You are than taken into the surreal world of Tom's memories as he tries to take back his memories before they are lost. The film most certainly has a hypnotic effect on you as like the character of Tom, once you have entered Imaginareum you have to find a way out. Performances of album tracks Slow Love Slow and Scaretale were brilliantly added to the plot; particularly Scaretale being performed in the circus sequence showed in Storytime. So naturally we saw appearances from Nightwish themselves. I don't want to give too much away so I will conclude that this film was most certainly very moving and I believe the music played a huge part. So my journey to Imaginareum is now complete.
After taking a two year gap from the spotlight; Finnish/Swedish symphonic metal gods Nightwish had been hard at work on a brand new album known as Imaginareum. If you remember I took my first step into this journey a few weeks ago with the iconic new single Storytime that really had me wondering what the new album would consist of. I was very impressed with the album; Nightwish have really gone out of their way to experiment with brand new genres and it works amazingly well, yet the magic lyrics Tuomas Holopainen writes contribute immensely with the new sound. It's incredible how they produce a jazz inspired track called Slow Love Slow and pull it off so well; I had never heard that from Nightwish before so I was greatly surprised. I love how the album opens with an authentic Finnish song sung by the heavenly voice belonging to Marco Hietala which then smoothly transforms into album's first single Storytime. My personal favourite songs on this album are I Want My Tears Back and Turn Loose The Mermaids; I love the melody of I Want My Tears back and it's amazing to hear the familiar pipes provided by Troy Donockley, he provided the pipes for The Islander and Last Of The Wilds. Turn Loose The Mermaids is a relaxing celtic track that gives the ears a break from the heavy distortion from the electric guitars. Scaretale also came as a shock to me on the album; sounding very dark indeed and Anette Olzon's voice sounds incredible, it also has a very Tim Burton feel to it; reminding me of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Not just on this song but the whole album; it has been six years since long term vocalist Tarja Tururnen was sacked via an open letter; there has been many years of debating whether Anette was the right choice for the band and I can honestly say this album says she is. It really has been one magical journey in the Imaginareum and I have enjoyed every step of the way. Stand out tracks: I Want My Tears Back, Scaretale and Turn Loose The Mermaids Tuomaslotte rates: TTTTT
