I think that maybe my initial disappointment in the album may have been to do with it possible feeling disjointed. Of course it's all very well being inventive with your influences but what really matters in any album is whether the songs themselves work. Now tell me, what other symphonic metal album does all of that? There's Celtic folk music, folk metal, jazz, power metal, progressive and even avant-garde metal, poetry recital, pure orchestral music you could probably even make a case for it being a form of cabaret. The amount of atypical elements along with the familiar in this album should be applauded. Although it has taken me a long time to hear and appreciate it I think it may be the case that Imaginaerum is not only the most creative Nightwish album but also a contender for the most creative symphonic metal album in general. Track by track Nightwish do different things on this album, refusing to uphold any formula. It has the folk influences (both in a metal context and not), and it has a little bit of power metal, but it also has a whole lot more besides. It's actually more unusual I think to hear a new symphonic metal release that doesn't use any of these little cliches. There are a few variances in sound such power metal and folk influences creeping in and sometimes there's some progressive stuff or even outright pop leanings, but those things have become so common that they are now part of the generic symphonic metal formula. I've had to have a good think about why this could be and I think it may be because I've listened to a lot more symphonic metal bands since I first heard Imaginaerum and noticed that most artists playing the genre are pretty generic. I've left it a good while (over a year even) since then before doing this review re-write just to make sure it wasn't just me being in a specific mood for this album, but lo and behold it seems this is the real deal.
I'm not sure exactly what changed to make everything about Imaginaerum suddenly fall into place, but it happened. It's been a long journey to take to get to where I am at now with the album, listening to it only very occasionally to see if my perspective had changed at all as I got more experienced with different types of metal music (and more importantly, other symphonic metal acts) and every time I couldn't say that I felt any different about the album, until the day that it suddenly clicked. Well guess what? Many years later, I do believe that I have now found what I have expected has always been here. This is actually not my first review of it as I reviewed it way back when to the best of my ability once it had opened up into a more positive experience, leaving my readers with words along the lines of 'I'm very sure that there’s a masterpiece hidden in Imaginaerum somewhere, only I haven't found it yet'. Imaginaerum (2011) is not an album I recall fans reacting too positively about at the time of its release and I can say that I for one hated it right at the start. Fast-forward a few more years though to Olzon's second and final studio album with Nightwish, which may just be their most divisive release all told. I think that album feels like the band were still in the same gear as they were with the final Tarja voiced album Once (2004) which would have been all well and good if Tarja had still been around to sing on it. The first of her Nightwish albums was Dark Passion Play (2007) and though I personally quite liked it at the time I can't say it's weathered too well since. For what it's worth I think she gave it her all for her two albums with the band before she too found herself going the way of Tarja and was also fired. She's certainly no Tarja Turunen but she was never supposed to be.
Now, I think Anette Olzon gets a lot of unfair criticism for her performance in Nightwish. With Tarja's distinctive voice gone many fans understandably felt that the band had lost one of its key elements, which was only further enforced when they announced that instead of doing what was expected of them and finding someone who could handle the material of the Tarja era, that they were instead bringing in one Anette Olzon of the AOR group Alyson Avenue to be their new lead singer. There weren't just fans and detractors any longer, but divisions within the fans themselves. With Tarja Turunen fronting the band they gained quite the loyal following though, so when Tarja was fired Nightwish became even more divisive than ever. They've always been a pretty divisive band as well though, having popularised the soprano voiced symphonic metal sound that was a far cry from metal's roots. Finland's Nightwish are probably one of metal's best known artists and certainly are a name that new metalheads will come across sooner rather than later.
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