Kev Rowland In between this 2015 album and the previous studio release, 2011’s ‘Imaginaerum’ it is safe to say the band had been through some struggles (seek out the excellent tour documentary on YouTube detailing what happened). Due to singer Anette Olzon being hospitalized immediately before a show in Denver, the band went ahead with Alissa White-Gluz and Elize Ryd (who were part of support band Kamelot) taking on the role, using printed lyrics and a revised setlist. This in turn led to Floor Jansen being invited in for the rest of the tour. Late in 2013 it was announced that Jansen would be the full-time replacement for Olzen, and the band also made Troy Donockley a permanent member (he had already been touring with the band for five years at this point). However, before they went into the studio to record the new album it was announced that founding member and drummer Jukka Nevalainen would not be involved due serious insomnia (he has since left the band as a musical member although to this day he is still heavily involved in taking care of band-related business), and he would be replaced by Kai Hahto (Wintersun.

So there had been a lot going on in the band, but they had weathered issues prior to this, particularly with the loss of original singer Tarja Turunen, so like many I was intrigued to hear this album. I happened to see Nightwish on the tour with Floor (who I had always admired with After Forever) and thought the band had connected really well together, so was looking forward to this. Jansen is a good replacement for Olzon, as while she can sing that material well, her voice is also suited to the earlier material of Turunen, and I expected to see something of a return to the sort of material with which Nightwish made their name. When Marco Hietala joined the band in 2001, he made a massive impact as it gave the band a second really strong songwriter and someone who could also take centre stage as lead singer, so I had very expectations indeed.

However, apart from a few standouts, what we have here to my ears is a band who are really going through the motions. It has everything that one expects from Nightwish, but somehow muted. It is bombastic and over the top, yet without the soul and passion I expect. Delicate numbers such as “Our Decades In the Sun” stand out as they are a delight, an oasis of light in a fairly dark and parched atmosphere. But, it’s not a bad album, it is still much better than many bands will ever hope to release, it is just I expected more from a band who had been through so much, and I firmly expected them to take a step up from ‘Imaginaerum’, which I loved, yet somehow they have not managed that.

Anyone who enjoys symphonic metal is going to love this, but for me while it is an excellent album, and one which I am sure I will return to, it doesn’t deliver as I expected it to.

adg211288 Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) is the eighth full-length studio album by Finnish symphonic metal act Nightwish. For this album the band has increased their line-up to six having added Troy Donockley (who was a guest on their last two albums) to their line-up full time playing uilleann pipes, low whistle, bodhran and bouzouki. With that said drummer Jukka Nevalainen opted out of taking part in Endless Forms Most Beautiful due to his suffering with insomnia, so the drums on the album ended up being performed on a session basis by Kai Hahto (Wintersun, Swallow the Sun). The album also marks the first studio album with lead vocalist Floor Jansen (ReVamp, ex-After Forever) following Anette Olzon's dismissal. Both Jansen and Donockley appear on the prior live album/DVD Showtime, Storytime (2013) so Endless Forms Most Beautiful isn't really their introduction to the fans, though they were both still guests when the live album was recorded.

I had high hopes for this album as soon as I knew that Floor Jansen had been selected as the new vocalist of Nightwish. After original vocalist Tarja Turunen was fired Jansen was my personal choice to replace her. Instead we got Anette Olzon, who lets be fair on both sides of the argument, wasn't the sort of singer anyone was expecting or really wanted considering Tarja's operatic style that so defined the Nightwish sound, but who also didn't really do that bad of a job on the two albums she got to do with the band. Though I did not like it at all at first I happen to really quite enjoy Imaginaerum (2011) now and consider it Nightwish's bravest and most adventurous record. But with all that said, Floor Jansen would always have been a better replacement for Tarja Turunen. So this is really a better late than never appointment if you ask me.

It's a real shame though that Floor's talents feel completely downplayed and squandered on Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Floor Jansen is an incredible vocalist. She can do the operatic stuff like Tarja, but also be quite comfortable doing the stuff Anette sang on. She can also do growls, as demonstrated on her most recent ReVamp album Wild Card (2013). Not that I ever expected growls to make their way into Endless Forms Most Beautiful, though there are bits during Yours is an Empty Hope that sound like she's trying hard to hold herself back from doing just that. Wasn't what I was getting at anyway. It simply seems to me that Nightwish didn't make full use of Floor's abilities as a vocalist on the album and that's a lot of thrown away potential before the actual music is even discussed. Now don't get the wrong end of the stick with me here, Floor does sound great, but I have listened to her in other bands and I believe she has done better performances and perhaps more to the point, performances that have long had me convinced that she, not Anette Olzon, was the singer to replace Tarja Turunen.

The situation with the vocals extends to male vocalist Marco Hietala as well though, as he has had his vocal contributions incredibly scaled back on this album, to just three songs, not counting backing. While male vocals haven't always played a role in Nightwish's music, Marco has had quite a strong presence since Century Child (2002) and it feels strange for him to suddenly be pushed to the side. I can't even reason that it's because the band want to show Floor off, because as I said, she can do a lot more with her range and power than she does here. Troy Donockley gets a little bit of vocal time too, but not enough to balance things out.

Endless Forms Most Beautiful sets a better first impression than Imaginaerum did for me, as I actually really hated that album at first but it seems to be a thing with me now that Nightwish records need three or four listens to properly sink in. Endless Forms Most Beautiful has grown on me a lot quicker than the previous album though, but I'm actually not sure that's a positive thing for once, as I'm left with the nagging feeling that my opinion on the record, which I do enjoy despite my incessant moaning about it, has already settled down, leaving no room down the track to say, as happened with Imaginaerum, "You know what? This is a lot better than I originally gave it credit for!"

I've said that I eventually came to consider Imaginaerum as Nightwish's bravest and most adventurous record; the band even experimented by putting a jazz track on it, but by comparison the music found on Endless Forms Most Beautiful plays things very safe with the band's influences. They're brought the power metal elements back, not enough to call Endless Forms Most Beautiful a power metal record like Oceanborn (1998) or Wishmaster (2000), but enough to make them notable, which is a positive thing to me. They've also again increased their folk elements, giving the album a very Celtic feeling. Again, I consider this a positive thing. But there are no surprises in store for listeners either. It sounds more or less how you might have expected a Nightwish album to sound pre-Imaginaerum. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing but it does seem to me that Imaginaerum, the harder record to really understand and appreciate, is ultimately more rewarding.

This is probably due to that whole wasted potential thing I mentioned when I was talking about Floor's vocals, though the problems on Endless Forms Most Beautiful certainly extend beyond that. This is a good album by Nightwish overall but it's clear to me that it could have been a lot better had they made some different stylistic decisions. Most of the songs are actually really quite good, especially My Walden, Alpenglow and the lead single Élan. The only track I don't have a high opinion of is the instrumental The Eyes of Sharbat Gula, which at six minutes really outstays its welcome for the amount of ideas present. I'm also got mixed feelings for the closing twenty-four minute epic, The Greatest Show on Earth. On one hand, some of the very best ideas on the album are contained within this track but like with The Eyes of Sharbat Gula it simply feels a bit too long, at least in some sections, and probably could safely have been cut down by quite a few minutes. I'm not big on the narration (done by ethologist/evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins) either, though it's not as bad as was done with Imaginaerum's Song of Myself and it's poem recital. But tracks one through nine are pretty strong.

Endless Forms Most Beautiful is a difficult album to rate because while it is good it also has some glaring faults, ones that were apparent from the first spin and didn't disappear as the album grew on me. I have moments when I think that even despite my issues with it I should award as high as a 4.5 star rating and then others when I think it should be as low as 3 stars. I'm going to settle on 4 stars but objectively speaking, the rating is only just scraping up from a 3.5.