This is likely to be the most polarizing metal release since Iced Earth's 'The Glorious Burden'. After their well-publicized split with singer Tarja Turunen, Nightwish releases their first album with Annette Olzon on the mic, and for many listeners, it'll be love it or hate it. Annette's style is more traditional and less operatic than Tarja's (think a metalized Pat Benatar, perhaps), which makes this a bold new direction for the band. God knows there's a Tarja clone on every fricking street corner in Scandinavia these days, and they could have done the safe thing and chosen one. So let's at least give them credit for having the courage to continue innovating, rather than following the trend that they popularized. The result is probably not as bad as the Tarja fanatics will say, nor as great as the anti-Tarja crowd would have you believe. The music is still Nightwish, which means you can expect good songwriting, tight performance, and sweeping key-laden gothic arrangements. But the thing that made Nightwish truly special isn't there anymore: the stark contrast between the dark, heavy music and the soaring, operatic vocals. The result is a very good album that falls short of greatness.
The band comes out swinging right at the bell, leading off with the thirteen minute epic "The Poet and the Pendulum". This is Nightwish at its best - a huge, sweeping masterpiece. In fact, most of the highlights are in the first half of the disc. It almost feels like they tried too hard to make this one special - the album goes on too long, and several of the songs could stand to have the last minute or two lopped off as well. "Sahara" is another epic track that will satisfy long-time Nightwish buffs with an open mind, as will "7 Days to the Wolves". "Bye Bye Beautiful," the most direct commentary on the bandmates' split, features an excellent vocal interplay between Annette and Marco Hietala, who sings more on this release than any previous Nightwish album. There's one song that's all Marco, "Master Passion Greed," which really sounds more like a Tarot song. Guitarist Emppu Vuorinen also throws his hat in the vocal ring on "The Islander," an otherwise unremarkable track. The instrumental "Last of the Wilds" is a nice surprise, sounding like a rocked-up version of an Irish folk song, and the single "Amaranth" features the type of layered vocal harmonies that made the band famous.
The biggest weaknesses of the album are a couple of uninteresting tracks that sound more like Lacuna Coil than NW ("Cadence of Her Last Breath" and "Whoever Brings the Night"), and the two ballads ("Eva" and "Meadows of Heaven"), which don't quite hit the mark. The latter drags on, unfortunately ending the album on a low note. But overall, the highlights are more frequent than the lowlights, making this a good, solid release, even if it's less than it could have been.

TRACK LIST:
1. The Poet and the Pendulum
2. Bye Bye Beautiful
3. Amaranth
4. Cadence of Her Last Breath
5. Master Passion Greed
6. Eva
7. Sahara
8. Whoever Brings the Night
9. For the Heart I Once Had
10. The Islander
11. Last of the Wilds
12. 7 Days to the Wolves
13. Meadows of Heaven

Review by Dave Sobecki