sun 08/12/2024

Album: Nightwish - Human II: Nature | reviews, news & interviews

Album: Nightwish - Human II: Nature

Album: Nightwish - Human II: Nature

A symphonic metal feast for all the senses

Human II: Nature - a blast of symphonic metal

When it comes to new releases by Scandi rockers Nightwish, it’s not unusual to hear the well-worn phrase “I like their early stuff…” – usually referring to the mythical times when the band were with their first singer Tarja Turunen. Indeed, listeners might even have given up on Nightwish or at least failed to stay up to date with their line-up changes. However, their new release Human II: Nature deserves close listening.

The symphonic metal band have made a massive contribution to Finland’s global metal image and their unmistakable style continues to evolve in exciting directions on this, their ninth studio album.

Nightwish have always had the ability to capture the imagination with the kind of sound that evokes fairy-tale landscapes, painting vivid pictures of the beautiful geography in northern Europe. With this album explicitly exploring humanity’s complex relationship with nature, however, Nightwish are confidently playing to their strengths. Human II: Nature does not seem to be obviously concerned with knocking out the hits but instead focuses more on longer compositions. And yet, tracks like “Music” and “Shoemaker”, and the folk-inspired “Harvest” and “How’s the Heart”, contain the kind of riffs, melodies, and rhythms listeners will struggle to get out of their heads.

Vocalist Floor Jansen (ex-After Forever) is, after all, a true master of all those singing styles that we have come to expect in symphonic metal. Together with the masculine voices of bassist Marko Hietala and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley, this makes for a nicely varied album.

For this writer though, it is the second half where things get truly interesting. Pip Williams, the band’s orchestral arranger, has done a fantastic job on the connected last seven tracks, exploring “All the Works of Nature Which Adorn the World". Here, instrumentals dominate and the vocals are only a subtle contribution, sometimes through narration: an approach which Nightwish have tried out before, but never taken this far.

In short, Human II: Nature is a blast, especially for those sonic perfectionists who enjoy the musical hinterlands where rock meets classical… and sometimes even folk music.

Nightwish are confidently playing to their strengths

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Share this article

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters