Tarja - My Winter Storm
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Free Music Notes for My Winter Storm
Free Music Review: everything I expected and more
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is just amaizing. Is everything I loved about nightwish and more. Tarja really did a good job in this cd. I hope to hear a lot more from herFree Music Review: Another missed opportunity
Hit: 3 Stars
The split between Tarja and her former band Nightwish was as public as it was bitter, so I won't dwell on that, save to say that I had high hopes for both parties. Sometimes these splits do in fact work well for everyone concerned (see Helloween/Gamma Ray and Angra/Shaman). Unfortunately that wasn't the case for Tarja's former bandmates in Nightwish. Instead of recruiting one of the readily available "opera metal" singers to take Tarja's place, they wasted what would otherwise have been their most epic and ambitious album with a singer (Annette Olzon) who was painfully inexperienced and out of her league. I was hoping that my disappointment with Dark Passion Play would be alleviated by My Winter Storm, but sadly that was not the case.
My Winter Storm could have been a triumph. Tarja's voice is in terrific shape, she assembled a solid backing band, and the symphonic elements that made Nightwish so appealing are in place. Unfortunately the album is, well, boring. It lacks anything remotely resembling a pulse. You hear the electric guitars kick in and start thinking "oh yeah, this is where it's going to start to rock", and then...nothing. The song ends. Imagine if every song on Once sounded exactly like "Creek Mary's Blood" and you'll get a feel for My Winter Storm. I realize Tarja probably wanted to distance herself from Nightwish, and that's understandable, but trying to suddenly become Sarah Brightman has the potential to alienate a huge group of the people who made her a household name (in Finland) in the first place. There are a handful of beautiful songs on this album ("I Walk Alone" is terrific), but by and large My Winter Storm just seems like another missed opportunity from the Nightwish breakup.
Oh, and as much as I love a creative cover song, Tarja's version of the Alice Cooper hit "Poison" is an absolute disaster. It literally makes my ears hurt.
Ultimately Nightwish fans lost out twice. Nightwish is no longer what it was, and Tarja's solo material is nowhere near what it could have been. It's a shame, but I guess we'll always have Once.
Free Music Review: A Decent Listen
Hit: 4 Stars
There is inevitably going to be comparisons with this and with "Dark Passion Play" Nightwish's new album that has also been released recently. People are going to be acrimonious and be either "for" or "against" and will likewise spam both albums with their viewpoint.
This will not be one of those reviews. I am both a fan of Nightwish, and a fan of Tarja. Each album deserves the respect of being judged on its own merits, and not on the merits of what "could have been".
That being said, I find this to be a decent attempt at Tarja establishing herself. She has had one previous album, but was still with Nightwish at the time. Now that she has not that protective failsafe, I find her caution with certain things understandable. This album offers a little to the rockers with some of the heavier songs, and the bombastic like deliveries of music. It also offers the crooning ballads. It tries to be many things to give many people a little of what she thinks they want.
It is VERY clear that her self-pride is intact. Her defiance seeths in "I walk alone", and casting herself as the phoenix that burns those that come near while she draws them in is classic Diva.
Ultimately this album is about Tarja showcasing her lovely voice. On that she delivers.
I allow myself this small comparison to Nightwish, because I feel it germane...the lyrics on this album are not very subtle. Tarja never strikes me as a subtle person, but I do rather miss the multi-layered and poetic lyricism of Tuomos to place her voice against. It is my hope in future albums she will become more comfortable and willing to expand into challenging material.
All in all, this was a competent, satisfying and safe debut as a totally single artist.
Free Music Review: Yawn...
Hit: 1 Stars
Being a fan of Nightwish, I really had high-hopes for this CD. Tarja didn't leave Nightwish under the best of circumstances, so this should have been her big chance to break free and show us her chops. Nope.
With Nightwish, not only was the solid music was a good contrast to Tarja's operatic style vocals, it masked the fact that she's just not that strong of a singer.
Because EVERY song on "My Winter Storm" sounds like melancholy Cirque du Soleil music, Tarja's vocals are front and center throughout which really shows her limitations. You'll find yourself thinking that there's got to be thousands of singers out there who are more qualified to make a CD like this. But then again, more experienced singers probably wouldn't have made a CD like this.
For those of you expecting this to be in the "symphonic metal" genre, it isn't. In fact, there's really not a heavy number on this CD. Just when you think something is about to happen, the tempo and energy drop to nothing. Every song ends up sounding like the same uninspired pablum with goofy lyrics.
I'm not even sure where you would even listen to this CD. It's too slow for the general consumption of its metallic target audience, and way too annoying to listen to while falling asleep.
Free Music Review: Not quite there
Hit: 3 Stars
I have mixed feeling about this release. One on side, there is Tarja's incredibly beautiful voice. Not much you can say to dispute that. On the other end, the songs are substandard. Tarja is not a songwriter, and her song selections are poor. At least for veteran Nigthwish fans.
As "Dark Passion Play" makes clear, the success of Nightwish is due to the great songs written by Tuomas. Insert another outstanding vocalist (Anette) and Nightwish continues. Tarja needs to get over being so pretentious and self-important.