Dark Passion Play

Dark Passion Play is the sixth studio album of Finnish quintet Nightwish, released on September 26, 2007 in Finland, September 28 in Europe and October 2, 2007 in the United States. It is the first Nightwish album with the band's new lead singer, Anette Olzon, and the first album not featuring former vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was dismissed in October 2005. This could also be considered Nightwish's darkest album yet.

Lead songwriter Tuomas Holopainen has referred to it as the 'album that saved his life'.

The album has spawned six singles. "Eva", the album's lead single, was released on May 25, 2007 as a download-only single for charity; "Amaranth", released on August 22; "Erämaan viimeinen", which was released on December 5 in Finland only; "Bye Bye Beautiful", released on February 15, 2008; "The Islander" was released on May 21.

So far, three music videos have been filmed to accompany the album's singles. The first two, "Amaranth" and "Bye Bye Beautiful" were both shot in Los Angeles, USA in spring 2007 and cost 270,000€. The "Amaranth" video was released together with the single on August 22, 2007, and "Bye Bye Beautiful" on February 15. The third music video, "The Islander", was finished in October, 2007, in Rovaniemi, Finland, and released in April, 2008. Holopainen has stated that at first they were planning not to shoot another video for Dark Passion Play, but when they were offered to make the video in a town with traditional Finnish nature, they couldn't refuse.

Title Origin

According to Holopainen, the band's keyboardist and main composer, the album's title was originally intended to be The Poet and the Pendulum, named after the album's first track. However, it was changed to Dark Passion Play for several reasons; taking into account that The Poet and the Pendulum was too long for an album title, and that he didn't want to name an entire album after himself (as he is the Poet in the song). The new name, though, has to do with the album's opening track:

The morning dawned, upon his altar
Remains of the dark passion play
Performed by his friends without shame
Spitting on his grave as they came

Faster Harder Nightwish was announced as the title of the upcoming record on April 1, 2007 on the official website. The title is possibly a pun on the Scooter single, Faster Harder Scooter. They also released a photo of the new cover's artwork, which led viewers to believe the band were completely changing their style from symphonic power metal to something more like thrash metal. Just hours later, a "promo sample" of the album could be found on several peer-to-peer networks. It was later stated on their official website that this was an April Fools' joke.

Recording

Nightwish began recording the instrumental parts of Dark Passion Play in the autumn of 2006, and were finished by spring 2007. A total of 15 songs were recorded. Following this, the orchestral recordings took place in Abbey Road Studios, London in two sessions: one in mid-December 2006 and the other in February 2007. As with their previous studio album, Once, the band collaborated with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Metro Voices Choir. Vocal recordings began in February 2007, after Anette Olzon had been chosen as the band's new lead singer. The album was mixed and mastered at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki in April - May 2007.

The album's production cost 500,000€, making it the most expensive album ever recorded in Finland. An extra 270,000€ was spent on filming the two music videos of the album.

Success

As of February 22 the album has sold 120,000 copies in Finland alone, granting it a four times platinum certification. It was certified platinum in Switzerland, and gold in Germany, Austria, and Poland. As of January 2008, the album has topped the album charts in six countries. The singles, "Amaranth" and "Erämaan viimeinen" have both reached number one on Finnish charts. According to Last.fm, it is their most played album, and its successful single "Amaranth" is their most played song for the last six months, as of June 2008.

The album was also critically acclaimed in most reviews.

New vocalist

In October 2005, after a world tour in support of Once, the band's lead singer Tarja Turunen was dismissed via an open letter. In search of a replacement, the band conducted auditions from March 17, 2006 to January 15, 2007, receiving over 2000 demo tapes in the process.

Amidst much speculation the new Nightwish singer was officially announced on May 24, 2007 to be Anette Olzon, previously the singer for the Swedish AOR band Alyson Avenue. In an interview, Holopainen said they had made the decision in January 2007 based on the impression she made while performing the song "Ever Dream" from the album Century Child.

Of course it's gonna be a huge task for the singer - she will be always compared to Tarja but I'm pretty confident that she'll do well.
-Tuomas Holopainen regarding Anette Olzon's ability

Leaks

The first single, "Eva", was leaked on the Internet six days before its official release, prompting the band to release the single earlier to boost downloads. Several other versions of the song were posted on YouTube and torrent sites a month later. The entire album with record label voiceovers had been leaked on the Internet by August 2, . The full album (without voiceovers) was leaked on September 21, 2007, as a result of several stores in Mexico selling the retail album much prior to the worldwide release date. The video for the album's fourth single "Bye Bye Beautiful" was leaked early on YouTube and similar sites.

Live performances

A world tour in support of Dark Passion Play kicked off in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 6, 2007 followed by a North American tour throughout October and November, with support from Paradise Lost. The tour includes a Scandinavian and a European leg, at least three American tours (the third one being in May, 2008) and visits in Australia and Asia.

According to Holopainen, this will be the longest tour the band has ever attempted, and will probably last for about two and a half years.

For their Once album, Nightwish had planned to have a grand concert in London with live orchestra, as the progressive metal band Dream Theater had on what later would be their "Score" album, and this is still in the works. In an interview in December, 2007, Holopainen said that they're planning the concert and that this is something he really wants, but that the locale they want is booked for two years in advance. The concert is expected to be filmed for a DVD release.

Dispelling the rumours that Olzon will never be capable of performing old Nightwish hit songs, Holopainen said that the tours' setlists will be divided equally to songs of the new album and older material. He is not afraid that Olzon won't be able to perform the songs that Turunen usually sang, as she even on her demo showed of her ability performing for example "Ever Dream" and "Higher Than Hope". He has also stated that they will play the band's biggest hits, such as "Nemo", "Sleeping Sun" and "Wishmaster", as earlier in their live performances. However he has confirmed that they will not play songs "The Phantom of the Opera", "Passion and the Opera", "Stargazers" and "Walking in The Air" again, as these go beyond Olzon's non-operatic mezzo-soprano vocal range. At first they didn't play the song "The Siren" either, but it was introduced in February, 2008 as an edited version.

Music style

Before the album's release, band leader Tuomas Holopainen said in an interview that the album will have a lot in common with the last album Once. For example, the band have kept the new kind of heavier songs (such as "Master Passion Greed", "7 Days to the Wolves" and "Bye Bye Beautiful"), but that additionally there will be softer ballads (such as "Meadows of Heaven, "Eva" and "The Islander"). Also that there will be a very long symphonic track ("Ghost Love Score" on Once), ("The Poet and the Pendulum" on Dark Passion Play). The new album includes lots of guest musicians and orchestral parts - in the same interview, Holopainen said that as they recorded Once they had 18 people in the choir, and still this wasn't enough.

He also claimed there was going to be "shockers" that he didn't want to reveal. The longest track, "The Poet and the Pendulum", is a song that according to him is a very personal, epic piece that is a lot like film music, and lasts for almost 14 minutes. Music engineer Mikko Karmila has also stated that the style is much more progressive than earlier.

The extremes are there more than ever before. So it's not going to be like Century Child 2. There is more hope in some of the new songs.
-Tuomas Holopainen, band leader, keyboardist and main composer

Holopainen also said that there are darker pieces reminiscent of Century Child, such as "The Poet and the Pendulum", and some others. It will be a dark album, both musically and lyrically. Even though the album is much more upbeat than Century Child. Songs that reflect this mood are for example the second single "Amaranth" and "Bye Bye Beautiful"'s B-side "Escapist".

Just like the album Once, Nightwish included many new influences and experimentations in several tracks. On Once, much inspiration came from Native American music, especially "Creek Mary's Blood", that featured Native American musician John Two-Hawks. However, on Dark Passion Play, much inspiration comes from Finnish and Irish culture and music as this can be clearly heard on "Last of the Wilds".

"While Your Lips Are Still Red", a bonus track on the "Amaranth" single, is the first song featuring Marco Hietala's softer vocals. Hietala is generally known for his screamings and sometimes growlings in the songs. "While Your Lips Are Still Red" is written by Tuomas as the theme song for the upcoming Finnish feature film Lieksa!, technically it's not a Nightwish track as it only features Marco on vocals, Tuomas on keyboards and Jukka on drums.

The album's average track length (Spinefarm Records' version with 13 songs) is 5.8 minutes, with most of the songs lasting for about four minutes. Three tracks are over seven minutes long, which is long for a Nightwish record, a band that mostly had songs about 4-5 minutes and one or two longer per album. The track "The Poet and the Pendulum" is the longest song in the band's history, 13:55, 3:33 minutes longer than the song that used to occupy that position, "Beauty of the Beast".

Track listing

All lyrics by Tuomas Holopainen. Arrangements by Hietala, Holopainen, Nevalainen, Vuorinen and Kinnunen.

	Title	Writers	Notes	Length
1.	"The Poet and the Pendulum"	Holopainen	Feat. Tom Williams on treble vocals	13:54
2.	"Bye Bye Beautiful"	Holopainen	The fourth single	04:14
3.	"Amaranth"	Holopainen	The second single	03:51
4.	"Cadence of Her Last Breath"	Holopainen		04:14
5.	"Master Passion Greed"	Holopainen		06:02
6.	"Eva"	Holopainen	The first single	04:24
7.	"Sahara"	Holopainen		05:47
8.	"Whoever Brings the Night"	Vuorinen		04:17
9.	"For the Heart I Once Had"	Holopainen		03:55
10.	"The Islander"	Hietala	The fifth single	05:05
11.	"Last of the Wilds"	Holopainen	Instrumental. Its vocal version, "Erämaan viimeinen", is the third single	05:40
12.	"7 Days to the Wolves"	Holopainen, Hietala		07:03
13.	"Meadows of Heaven"	Holopainen		07:10
14.	"The Escapist"	Holopainen	Bonus track on Japanese version	04:57

Special Editions

Nuclear Blast, Spinefarm Records and Roadrunner Records each released special editions that included an instrumental version of the album, which contain instruments that are hard to hear, or are omitted, from the original version of the album.

Nuclear Blast Special 3-CD Gold Box

In addition to a second disc containing an instrumental version of the album, a third disc was included containing these bonus tracks:

1. Escapist
2. Meadows of Heaven (Orchestral Version)
3. The Poet and The Pendulum (Demo Version)

Platinum Edition

Instead of instrumental tracks, the second disc featured a collection of B-Sides from the singles "The Islander", Bye Bye Beautiful, and "Erämaan viimeinen", excluding only the instrumental version of Escapist.

1. Erämaan Viimeinen
2. Escapist
3. Meadows of Heaven (Orchestral Version)
4. The Poet and The Pendulum (Demo Version)
5. Bye Bye Beautiful (DJ Orkidea Remix)

Bonus Tracks

"Amaranth" single

• "Reach" (Amaranth Demo Version) – 3:57
• "Eva" (Demo Version) - 4:18
• "Amaranth" (Orchestral Version) - 3:51
• "Eva" (Orchestral Version) - 4:28
• "While Your Lips Are Still Red" - 4:22

"Erämaan viimeinen" single

• "Erämaan viimeinen" - 5:10

"Bye Bye Beautiful" single

• "The Poet and the Pendulum" (Demo Version) - 13:41
• "Bye Bye Beautiful" (DJ Orkidea Remix) - 12:14
• "Escapist"- 4:57

"The Islander" single

• "The Islander" (Radio Edit) - 3:57
• "Meadows of Heaven" (Orchestral Version) - 7:14
• "Escapist" (Instrumental Version) - 4:57

Exclusive Digital Album

Roadrunner Records released a digital only album called The Sound of Nightwish Reborn on September 2, 2008. The tracklist is composed of demos and b-sides from Dark Passion Play.

1. Reach ("Amaranth" Demo)
2. Eva (Demo Version)
3. While Your Lips Are Still Red
4. Escapist
5. Amaranth (Orchestral Version)
6. Eva (Orchestral Version)
7. Bye Bye Beautiful (DJ Orkidea Remix)
8. Meadows of Heaven (Orchestral Version)
9. The Poet and The Pendulum (Demo Version)

Charts

Album

10.000

120.000

100.000

7.500

10.000

30.000

30.000

65.000

710.000

Chart	Peak Position	Certification	Sales
Australia	42
Austria	5	Gold	align="center"
Belgium	36
Canada	24
Croatia	1
Czech Republic	1
Denmark	18
European Albums Chart	4
Finland	1	Platinum (x4)	align="center"
France	6
Germany	1	Gold	align="center"
Greece	3
Hungary	1	Gold	align="center"
Ireland	62
Italy	14
Japan	54
Japan Foreign albums chart	12
Netherlands	5
Norway	7
Poland	6	Gold	align="center"
Spain	33
Sweden	4	Gold	align="center"
Switzerland	1	Platinum	align="center"
UK Album Charts	19
UK Top 40 Rock Album Charts	3
United States The Billboard 200	84		align="center" rowspan="2"
United States Top Hard Rock Albums	7
United World Chart	9		align="center"

Singles

Release date	Title	Notes	Chart positions
AUS	AUT	DEN	FIN	FRA	GER	HUN	ITA	NET	SPA	SWE	SWI
2007-05-25	"Eva"	Radio/Internet only	-	-	-	14 (1w)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2007-08-22	"Amaranth"		38	30	4	1	62	16	1	10	47	1	13	14
2007-12-04	"Erämaan Viimeinen"	Finland only	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008-02-15	"Bye Bye Beautiful"		-	-	-	5	54	35	-	-	-	4	-	-
2008-05-30	"The Islander"		-	-	-	1	91	-	-	-	-	8	-	-
			AUS	AUT	DEN	FIN	FRA	GER	HUN	ITA	NET	SPA	SWE	SWI
		Number one hits	-	-	-	3	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-
		Top ten hits	-	-	1	4	-	-	1	1	-	3	-	-

Credits

Band members

• Anette Olzon - Lead vocals
• Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen - Electric guitar, Acoustic guitar
• Marco Hietala - Bass guitar, Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals
• Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboard
• Jukka Nevalainen - Drums, Percussion

Guest musicians

• London Philharmonic Orchestra - Orchestra
• Guy Elliott - Lead Boy Soprano (on track 1)
• Tom Williams - Second Boy Soprano (on track 1)
• Metro Voices - Choir
• Troy Donockley - Bodhran, Uilleann Pipes, Low and Tin Whistle (on track 10, 11)
• Nollaig Casey - Fiddle (on track 11)
• Senni Eskelinen - Electric Kantele (on track 11)
• Greg Knowles - Cymbalom

Notes

References

External links

• Nightwish.com Official Nightwish Site