As a testament once again to the greedy nature of man, Nightwish has compromised the majority of what made them unique and beautiful in the first place, instead catering to the pop-music masses, creating an album that is a sick façade of yesteryear's majesty. The music has been dumbed down extraordinarily, and songs like "Amaranth" are so akin in structure and delivery to shallow MTV fare such as Evanescence and Britney Spears, it literally pains me to listen. The choice of Annete Olzon, a pop singer, as the new frontwoman is incredulous at best. Her range is severely limited, without a single iota of Tarja’s classical ability. It makes sense from a financial standpoint, as the brainless masses aren’t into classical singing. Classical is not hip, and will not make you bank. Simplistic, shallow bands like Evanescence became popular by ripping off and oversimplifying the Nightwish sound to make bundles of money off stupid people using basic song formulas. This is undeniable, and makes the fact that Nightwish took this route all the more horrifying to anybody who values artistic integrity as a viable aspect of music.

Olzon is not to blame, however, as Tuomas Holopainen is the main creative force behind Nightwish. To you, Tuomas, I ask why? Is money the price of your soul? The sound here is still very much identifiable as Nightwish, in the same way that St. Anger is identifiable as Metallica, and the tracks that don’t try to be #1 pop hits are sometimes quite good, but are tainted unmercifully by those that are whitewashed and sugarcoated to a sometimes unlistenable degree.

As alluded to in my opening statement, there’s still a faint essence of classic Nightwish, and original songwriting, but they’re buried under a heap of poppy, modern nu-metal standards. Nightwish used to be one of my favorite bands of all time, and one of the reasons I got into heavy metal, which makes all of this particularly disillusioning. In all honesty, none of the songs, short of "Amaranth," are overtly terrible, but they’re so obviously crafted with the audience, and not the creator’s soul, in mind, that the entire album has a very plastic feeling. Essentially, no matter how good the tits look, you simply can’t hide the fact that they’re mostly silicone.

So there you have it, folks. Money talks. I'll hazard a guess that Nightwish does not even believe they sold out in any way, only broadened their horizons, which is a testament to how loud that cash register can actually be. Bands who make moves like this can never understand why their fans get angry, and often criticize them for not understanding the new direction, citing closed-mindedness and an inability to comprehend evolution, but the cold reality is that of integrity. I hope you enjoy your fame and fortune, boys, but you’ve stepped on and over those most loyal to you to get it, and they will never forgive you....

written by Jesse Ketman

Playing time: 1:15:43