I approve!
Nightwish has lost some of their "operatic" elements since they changed out their lead singer as of their most recent album, "Dark Passion Play". I am happy with Nightwish's evolution though, pushing towards symphonic metal for many of their tracks. I find their music has so much more depth than nearly anything else I've heard. Writing songs for a full rock band, choir and orchestra is a long way from an easy task and I applaud Nightwish for taking it on.
Bottom line though...I do think losing Tarja as the lead singer has hurt the band. The new singer, while she isn't that bad, she's very different and I can definitely hear her struggling to sing some of the songs. I really don't think her voice is as trained as Tarja's is.
I must admit though, their latest album, "Dark Passion Play" was a little rougher than I would have liked. Thinking back to "Once", with "Ghost Love Score" for instance, the song was very elegant, beautiful, coherant and powerful. Comparing GLS to the "equivalently-epic" (10:01 for ghost love score, 13:53 for Poet and the Pendulum) song on "Dark Passion Play", "The Poet and the Pendulum", they are of very different musical styles while utilizing the same basic instruments.
The Poet and the Pendulum would have earned more of my respect if a few key differences existed:
1) The opening was too sudden and too static. For 1:20, we hear atmospheric-like music, which is fine except there is so little fluctuation, progression, development, etc. The track opens up with a few seconds that sound like the opening was almost "cut off" and we started a little bit into the intro. Perhaps just something subtle I feel with the track but it's taking me a little getting used to.
2) In the middle section of the song, the aggressive vocals are a turnoff for many listeners. I find this section takes away with so much of the elegance that has been built up in this song prior. To be fair, it is a stylistic choice. I am just surprised that Nightwish would take such an aggressive stance on an otherwise beautifully-powerful song.
I don't fully understand the song but from what I know of it I'm not a huge fan of its performance. It's very good in some parts but it lacks in others.
The Dark Passion Play album in general has a few musical themes which seem to be consistant throughout many of the tracks, specifically the use of chromatic notes (I'll post up some recordings to show you what I mean) on transitions and on the heavier parts of many songs, typically on the guitars or the orchestra. The number of times this occurs on the album made me think it was some sort of theme that ties the album together.
Here are clips from some of the songs on Dark Passion Play to show you what I mean:
AmaranthPoet and the PendulumMaster passion GreedSaharaWhoever Brings the NightI love what Nightwish does when they utilize their more elegant and beautiful sides. I don't mean just the slower stuff; some of their upbeat tracks are very elegantly powerful (see Ghost Love Score, Nemo, Planet Hell, Dark Chest of Wonders, Amaranth, etc.)
Beauty and the Beast (The guy's voice was a bit strange..but eh...that's Metal for ya)
Toumas (the man, actually he's the keyboard player for Nightwish) has sung in a few other Nightwish songs as well. In one version of this song, Nightwish and Sonata Arctica (another Finnish metal band whom I respect) performed it together with Tony Kakko taking over as the male lead singer. He's actually very good.
