Oct 62 min read

Nightwish - 'Yesterwynde'

This album is utterly magnificent and you know it’s stunner when you have high expectations and still find yourself saying, “Feck me, wow!” after the first listen.

Over three years in the making, ‘Yesterwynde’ is the Nightwish’s tenth studio album and it’s every bit as epic and musically gargantuan as you’d expect. Lyrically, it follows on from the two previous albums with a truly lovely idea at its core that all of us exist “because of a million loves” (‘Perfume Of The Timeless’), that every person can be traced back billions of years through linage. Just think about that – if an ancestor was killed in Neolithic times, you wouldn’t be here! The music itself is every bit as vast as the inspiration for it. The album features eleven full-length tracks (plus an introduction), all of which are over four minutes and two exceed eight minutes.

‘An Ocean Of Strange Islands’ is the longest track at over nine minutes and it’s a classic Nightwish behemoth. Echoed backing vocals precede a tearaway riff, and it goes through a number of phases, including a soaring Floor Jansen chorus, before finishing with lovely pipes. ‘The Day Of...’ is one of the shortest offerings and has an almost Pop-like keys/vocals opening that’s designed to elicit a groove, while the children’s choir and punchy guitar are a delight. The other short number is ‘Sway’, an almost Medieval acoustic number that adds a touch of Clannad to the Nightwish cocktail.

‘Something Whispered Follow Me’ is another slower cut with a fine vocal/riff duet at the start before becoming imposing later on. Tranquil piano gives way in ‘Spider Silk’ to a powerful rocker of a tune with a bit of an earworm chorus. ‘The Children Of ‘Ata’ start with a bouncy, Dance-tinged beat before exploding into a Symphonic beast that has a bit ‘Nemo’ about it and an infectious chorus. The other lengthy monster is ‘Perfume...’ where choir and pipes explode into multi-faceted Symphonic colossus with a superb chorus and a maelstrom of an instrumental bridge.

This album is utterly magnificent and you know it’s stunner when you have high expectations and still find yourself saying, “Feck me, wow!” after the first listen. Jansen is absolutely sensational, while the rest of the band deliver a Symphonic tour-de-force. Is it the best Nightwish album yet? Probably, but I will stop just short of declaring that as I’m still absorbing it all a month later. What is in no doubt is this is one of the albums of the year and we can thank a few of our cave-dwelling ancestors for not getting killed by wolves or bears so we have this breathtaking release.

Reviewer: Dave Scott

Label: Nuclear Blast

Genre: Symphonic Metal

Issue Reviewed In: 108

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