Dark Passion Play

Untitled

Symphonic power metal band Nightwish's sixth studio album - as of April 19 2007 untitled - is currently recorded and planned to be released on September 26, 2007. Including the EP Over the Hills and Far Away from 2001, and their first demo (see Demo (Nightwish)) from 1996, it is the band's eight album. It is the first studio album to feature the new and yet unknown vocalist and without former vocalist Tarja Turunen, due to her departure in October 2005. It is the band's first newly recorded album in three years, and that is the largest non-album gap of their history (except the live DVD/CD End of an Era from the Once tour and compilations).

The first single, "Eva", is slated for a May 30, 2007 release. It will be a radio single only. In August (about a month before the album release), the second single - still without a title - will be released as a normal single.

The band is as they were in the recordings of Once cooperating with the London Session Orchestra. Founder of the band, keyboardist and main songwriter, Tuomas Holopainen once said that people might be wondering what's going on, with all these musicians running out and in to the recording building in London.

The first information about the album was revealed together with the information about the two first singles on February 19 on the official website. On April 1, an official announcement from Nightwish claimed that the new title was revealed together with a promo of the album and the cover. Though, it was later stated in another official anouncement that is was all an April fool's joke (see Faster Harder Nightwish).

Track listing

14 songs are going to be featured on the album. Notice that this is not the original order of the tracks.

	Title	Writers	Length
?	"Eva" [I]	?	?
?	The Poet and the Pendulum [II]	?	~14:00
?	Untitled [III]	?	?

Singles

There will be at least two singles of the album. The first one is Eva, which will be a radio single only. The second one is still untitled, and will be released in August 2007, succeded by the actual album about a month after. The second single will be a normal single (not radio).

"Eva" [I]
Released May 30 2007	"Eva" is the first single from the album. Main article: Eva (song)
	Chart position
	-
	Track listing
	Radio single "Eva"
Untitled [III]
Released August, 2007	The second single from the album. Main article: Second single from Nightwish's sixth studio album
	Chart position
	-
	Track listing
	TBA

Music style

File:Nightwishonce.jpg

Nightwish's fifth album: Once.

Lead band member Tuomas Holopainen has in an interview said that the album will have a lot in common with the last album (Once). For example, the band will keep the new kind of harder songs (such as "Nemo", "Wish I Had an Angel" and "Planet Hell"), but there will as well be softer ballads. The new album includes lots of guest musicians and orchestral parts - in the same interview, Tuomas said that as they recorded Once they had 18 people in the choir, and still this wasn't enough.

There are also going to be "shockers" that Tuomas didn't want to reveal. The longest song is a song that due to him is a very personal epic piece that is a lot like film music, and it lasts for about 14 minutes. Music engineer Mikko Karmila has as well stated that the style is much more progressive than earlier.

Tuomas has also stated that there are darker pieces that reminds of Century Child, such as the 14-minute song, and some other. Both musically and lyrically, there will be darkness.

As well, since there is a new lead singer, we cannot possibly expect anything else but at least a minor change in the music style. Nightwish was very famous because of Tarja Turunen's voice, and as she now is out of the band, there will surely be several changes.

Background information

New vocalist

Simone Simons was once theorized to be Nightwish's new singer.

To find a replacement for Turunen as the female vocalist of the band, on March 17, 2006 the band allowed vocalists interested for the position to send in demo tapes as an audition for the spot. The band stated that it was looking for a vocalist with the ability to sing with good dynamics and versatility. However, to the surprise of some fans, the band did not specifically ask for a classically trained singer, but were open to a variety of styles and backgrounds. By the time auditions were over on January 15, 2007, the band had received over 2000 demo tapes.

During this time, speculation began to emerge as to who would eventually succeed Turunen as the female vocalist for the band. On December 6, "Lady Angellyca" of the Spanish band Forever Slave issued a statement in which she said that she was one of the strong candidates to fill the vacant role. Simone Simons from the band Epica was also reported to have been chosen by Nightwish to be their new vocalist by Finnish gossip magazine Katso!, which Simons has denied. On March 20, 2007, Finnish magazine Ilta-Sanomat reported that the new singer would be former Tristania lead singer Vibeke Stene; whom left Tristania one month earlier "due to personal reasons", giving a perfect timing. Neither Nightwish, Tristania nor Vibeke has confirmed these rumours.

In response to these and other rumors, the band stated on their website that fans should not believe any source other than the band itself for information regarding the new vocalist. Tuomas have himself in an interview said that he wouldn't be surprised if paparazzis etc did release the information before May 30, as photographs might be taken when the band members are hanging out together, for example. He thinks that it is sad that media tries to do this; it is a reason that the band doesn't release it themself; probably, the singer is an amateur, and then media and fans will find out any bit of information about her, and judge her before she gets to show what she can do. It is clear on Nightwish's website that they don't want to talk about the new vocalist or the departure of Tarja too much; all that is said is "After the last concert, Tuomas, Emppu, Marco and Jukka fired Tarja Turunen, and her manager Marcelo Cabuli. The reason for this was because during the Once Tour their attitude and actions had turned out to be against almost all that Nightwish represents. As one may guess, the news of the firing was followed by an incredible sensation and hullabaloo. Once the nearly ridiculous fuss was finally starting to calm down in the end of 2005, Nightwish was able to look to the future and wait for an adequate singer to be found" (on the Biography page).

Recent events

File:Nightwish-2006.jpg

Vuorinen and Hietala practicing newly-written material

The band entered the studio on September 15, 2006 to record their sixth full-length studio album. The process began with drum recordings, with guitar, bass and demo keyboards, followed by orchestral/choir recordings. After those, the final synthesizers and vocals are being recorded. Tuomas Holopainen said in an interview that it was as good having to do the orchestral recordings before the vocals (because of the replacement, they had to wait). He learned this on the Once recordings as there can be conflicts in the vocal lines.

The planned release date for the new album is September 26, 2007.

Rumors are persistent in hardcore fan groups that Tarja Turunen may in fact be returning as vocalist. Whilst these are only rumors, it is feasible as all four band members have stated they miss Tarja and would love to have her back under different circumstances.

Eva

Main article: Eva (song)

A first single from the new album, "Eva", which features the band's new female vocalist, is slated to be released on May 30, 2007. It will be the first release to feature the band's new singer, following Turunen's departure. The single will only be released on the Internet and radio; the scheduled date is May 30, 2007. All profit from the release will be donated to a charity. It will be followed by another single in August.

Nothing else about the song, including the musical style and length, has been told, as of April 16 2007.

Faster Harder Nightwish

Main article: Faster Harder Nightwish

Faster Harder Nightwish is an April Fool's joke album by the band, announced on April 1, 2007 on the official website. They said that this was the new title of the album, and that they were changing style totally, from symphonic power metal to something more like thrash metal.

The band also went as far as to leak a "promo sampler" of the album to several peer-to-peer networks that afternoon. It was later stated on their official website that this was an April Fool's joke due to the date and the abrupt changes of the band style.

Tour

File:Paradise Lost Promo (2005).jpg

Paradise Lost to support Nightwish on the North American tour.

Due to the upcoming album, a Nightwish tour has been planned. As of April 25, 2007, all that is clear is a North American tour (in October - November). Pre-sales of these tickets do already exist. Countries so far booked are the United States and Canada. The North American tour begins on October 15, 2007. This was announced on February 19.

There will be a European tour as well. Though, no dates or verifications are revealed as of April 15, 2007. Tuomas has in an interview said that this will be the largest tour they've ever made, and that they probably will be touring for about two and a half years.

On March 15, it was announced that the 1988 doom / death metal band Paradise Lost will be supporting Nightwish on the North American tour as of the release of their new, eleventh studio album, In Requiem this very summer.

• Official tour dates

Credits

Observe that these credits aren't totally sure.

• TBA^[IV] – Lead Vocals
• Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen – Guitar
• Marco Hietala – Bass/Vocals
• Tuomas Holopainen – Keyboards
• Jukka Nevalainen – Drums

Guest musicians

• London Session Orchestra

Notes

I. ^{^} The first single of the album, to be released on May 30 2007, as a preview of the album. This was the first known track of the album, revealed in February 2007.
II. ^{^} An epic piece that is dear to Tuomas, including orchestral parts. It is much like for example Beauty of the Beast (from Century Child) and Ghost Love Score (Once).
III. ^{^} The second single of the album, to be released in August 2007.
IV. ^{^} More info.