When I listen to the songs on our debut album, it’s a whole different thing, but then again it’s not, because the atmosphere, the passion and especially the mentality of the band has always been there and hasn’t changed in 20 years.The key is not to put you under pressure to be even bigger and more epic than before. Just find some new ways of telling some new stories that you want to tell, to keep the whole thing interesting for yourself and the band. It doesn’t mean that it needs to be bigger; it just needs to be different enough to keep it interesting. That’s our goal for every album – and always will be!
These are the words from Tuomas Holopainen, the mastermind, composer/songwriter and keyboard player of Nightwish. After 8 studio albums the band decided to bring a best of album called ‘Decades’ to keep in with their world tour this year. The last best of album dates from 2005, after the departure of Tarja. When you look at the cover, you see that Nightwish put details from every album together in one picture. ‘Decades’ will be available as a 2CD digipack, a 2CD earbook and as vinyl boxset (spearmint green, silver or black).
I’m a little stuck on how to review an album of which I know almost all songs and there are no bonus tracks or unpublished songs on ‘Decades’. Which struck me pretty quickly when I was listening, is the fact that Nightwish used the original songs instead of re-recording them with the current line-up. Tuomas explains why:
The other thing that many people requested was that we should re-record some of the older stuff with Floor and Troy, but the answer to that is also a very clear ‘No’. The songs are what they are. They are absolutely perfect in their imperfection and reflect the era in which the band existed at that time. So I thought it would be a sacrilege to go and tinker with them afterwards.
I totally agree with him because every former band member had his/her added value at Nightwish.
Which makes the album unique to me, is the fact that ‘Decades’ is telling the story of Nightwish backwards. It starts with 3 songs from the last album ‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’ with Floor Jansen, followed by 4 songs with Anette Olzon from the albums ‘Imaginaerium’ and ‘Dark Passion Play’. The rest of the album consists of songs with Tarja Turunen, starting from the album ‘Once’ and ending with the song ‘Nightwish (Demo)’. This way the band brings a nice compilation of the last 20 years and how they evolved. Yet there is one song I miss on this album, ‘Ever Dream’ to be more specific, but I think the songs that define Nightwish depends on everyone’s personal opinion.
With ‘Decades’ Nightwish really convinced me to go to their concert when they come to Belgium because I think the album and the world tour are a perfect combination. The album maintains the original sound and the world tour brings the new elements Floor added.
Release date: March 9th, 2018
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Tracklist:
1. The Greatest Show On Earth
2. Élan
3. My Walden
4. Storytime
5. I Want My Tears Back
6. Amaranth
7. The Poet And The Pendulum
8. Nemo
9. Wish I Had An Angel
10. Ghost Love Score
11. Slaying The Dreamer
12. End Of All Hope
13. 10 th Man Down
14. The Kingslayer
15. Dead Boy’s Poem
16. Gethsemane
17. Devil & The Deep Dark Ocean
18. Sacrament Of Wilderness
19. Sleeping Sun
20. Elvenpath
21. Carpenter
22. Nightwish (Demo)
