The Finnish soprano Tarja Turunen prepared a whole
record of nine songs as a “prequel” to her next album, The Shadow Self. Depending on the taste of fans, this advance could
work in two ways: exciting them or preventing them from disaster.
It is hard to believe it, but Tarja has been a solo
artist for more time than the time she spent as lead singer of Nightwish, the
band that got her to stardom. While Nightwish has been constant with the
quality of its records, Tarja seems to be adrift in a sea of experiments that
sometimes give fantastic results and others dreadful. Her latest experiment was
The Brightest Void, a prologue of
nine songs for her most recent album, TheShadow Self.
The
Brightest Void is a very diverse mix
of original songs, covers and pieces written for other projects, arranged
specially for this record. Despite the participation of many different
musicians, the album has a very consistent, dark and melodic tone. It mixes
loud guitars with orchestral elements, potent drums and electronic atmospheres.
At times it is hard rock; at others heavy metal, and sometimes it sounds like
the soundtrack of a suspense movie. The only constant element is the powerful
voice of Tarja Turunen.
As it must be, Tarja is the centre of attention all
the time. It is evident that she is at her best moment as a singer. Her
technique has always been perfect, but her voice has never had this level of
confidence and boldness. Her timbre is warm, round and expressive. In songs
like “Shameless”, she shows her versatility in transitioning from whispered
verses to brilliant and powerful choruses.
In my opinion, the piece where Turunen shines the most
is “Eagle Eye”, a very rhythmic ballad, with a beautiful refrain that talks
about appreciation for life. Furthermore, it has special guests Toni Turunen doing
some vocals and respected drummer Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, whose
participation is on point.
In terms of song writing, the melodies of this record
are a lot more creative than the ones in Tarja’s previous album (Colours in the Dark), and give a lot of more game to her voice. However, their quality is
still far from reaching the one of the melodies the soprano used to give voice
to in Nightwish.
In the same order of ideas, the songs with the best
vocal lines in The Brightest Void are
the ones of the heaviest tracks. A very good example is the hard rock piece
“Your Heaven and Your Hell”, in which Tarja collaborates with Finnish star
Michael Monroe.
Unfortunately, The
Brightest Void has lots of weak spots, and the majority of them are
recurring vices that appear in all of Turunen’s discography. The most evident
of those vices are the stale, dirty and lazy guitar riffs. In most of the
songs, it seems that the instrument is only there for the music to sound like metal, but it doesn’t make any
substantial contribution to the songs.
Although it’s not a bad song at all, “No Bitter End” has one of the ugliest and dullest guitar lines in rock. It’s as lame as a salad from McDondald’s. From that point until the end of the record, there are no guitaristic achievements to tip the balance.
Another negative aspect of The Brightest Void is the
overindulgence with atmospheric instrumental passages in songs. Many of them
drag with electronic atmospheres that fail in their attempt to create tension.
“An Empty Dream”, “Witch Hunt” and even the cover of Paul McCartney, “House of Wax”, turn out to be painfully boring.
The album has a pretty good closing with a mystic
version of Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” and a new mix of her legendary
collaboration with Within Temptation, “Paradise (What about us)”.
All in all, Tarja’s rendition of each song is great
and that’s why it’s worth listening to The
Brightest Void. Despite its flaws, it could be a great appetizer that
establishes the tone for a very good album. Hopefully, The Shadow Self could be the masterpiece that’s missing for Tarja
Turunen to shine again like she did with Nightwish.
Have you listened to The Brightest Void? What do you think about it? Please, comment and share,
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