The Shadow Self is the most ambitious album, to date, of
symphonic metal diva, Tarja Turunen. An army of renowned musicians and a whole
record as “prequel” sent the expectations of fans to the sky. Is it really
worth listening? Has Tarja Turunen released the album all of her fans were
expecting?
Tarja Turunen announced the arrival of her new album, The Shadow Self, with great anticipation.
As part of the promotion of the album, she published a mind-blowing list of
well-known musicians; released an entire record as “prequel”, and made several
trailers.
As I highlighted in my review for The Brightest Void, in
my opinion, all of Tarja’s previous albums had fallen short in relation to the
singer’s talent. Nevertheless, I hoped that The
Shadow Self would be, at best, a decent album. Fortunately, for me and for
all of Tarja’s fans, my forecast was wrong and, at last, Tarja Turunen released
something that matches her talent. I’ll say it right away: The Shadow Self is a true jewel.
The Shadow Self is a dark and elegant album that has the shady side that all human beings hide as a theme. Its main virtue is that the orchestral and heavy elements make a perfect combination. The drums, the heavy guitars, the strings and the electronic elements are blended to perfection, in order to create a cinematic listening experience directed by the piano.
The work of Tarja Turunen as a vocalist cannot receive
anything but praises. She has mastered the art of mixing her operatic technique
with heavy metal. She invented it and she nails it. Each note that she sings is
expressive and natural. There are very few voices as beautiful in the world as
Turunen’s, and in The Shadow Self she
shows an outstanding confidence. Her voice flows without effort over melodies
of great quality.
The Shadow
Self is a very diverse album. Each song has
very particular sounds and flavours. For that reason, the best way to approach
this album is for me to write separately about each song.
Innocence:
It’s a very strong mid-tempo song that introduces The Shadow Self with great strength.
From hearing the first notes of the piano, the listener can tell that it’s an
exceptional song. The melody of the verse has a lot of character, but what
really shines is the chorus. The strings, the piano and the drums accompanying
the passionate rendition of Tarja Turunen make “Innocence” a majestic piece.
I find the lyrics of “Innocence” very clever. They
talk about how, as life goes by, one goes opening doors in one’s conscience
that one cannot unopen, and that’s the way innocence gets lost.
The only objection I have for this extraordinary piece
is that it stops abruptly for a piano solo that cuts the flow of the song. I
found it unnecessary. It’s one of those inherited indulgences from Tarja’s
previous album that make songs drag. All in all, from my point of view,
“Innocence” is a magnificent song.
Demons in You:
This piece is radically different from the previous
one. Its intro is bizarre and baffling. It sounds as if it was written by
Primus. What follows is one of the heaviest songs of Tarja to date.
It is an experimental track, in which Tarja shares vocal
lines with Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy, ex-The Agonist) over a bed of
powerful guitars and a potent beat. It’s a fabulous mix of talents. During the
verses Tarja sings and Alissa grunts, Afterwards, both intonate a very
memorable and melodic chorus.
No Bitter End:
This song appears in the “prologue” to The Shadow
Self, but with other arrangements. It is a happy single with a catchy chorus,
but it isn’t the most colourful crayon in the box.
As I mentioned in my review for The Brightest Void,
the guitar in this son is dreadful and that isn’t improved with the new
arrangement. On the contrary, the solo is even uglier.
At this point, The Shadow Self returns to the
dramatism of “Innocence”. “Love to Hate” is a very intense tune that talks
about the people that enjoys the misfortunes of others out of envy.
The main melody of “Love to Hate” is a piano motif
that guides a very theatrical and orchestral song. The exotic combination of
sitar and guitar match perfectly with all that goes on within the song.
The voice of Tarja is on point in this song. It is one
of her more dynamic and emotional renditions in The Shadow Self. She moves very
comfortably between whispers and operatic blasts.
Muse is not my cup of tea, but Tarja makes everything
sound good. It is very similar to the original, but it has the added value of Tarja
Turunen’s warm and operatic voice replacing the whiny voice of Matt Belamy.
It is a breather within The Shadow Self’s intensity. It is a very pretty acoustic ballad,
in the style of the songs that Bryan May and Kerry Ellis play together. The bag
pipes in the background give it a very special touch.
This was something that was missing in Tarja’s career:
a pirate song. It is an epic, orchestrated waltz with a very histrionic
performance by Turunen.
“Diva”, definitely, is one of the most original pieces
in The Shadow Self and one of my
personal favourites.
This is the second song that
appears in The Brightest Void as
well. And how could they miss the chance to record it twice, being such a great
piece? In this occasion, the arrangements are a little more “industrial” and
the guitar parts are slightly different. Nevertheless, the chemistry of the
voices of the Turunen brothers is still the hook of the song.
The piano melodies with the rock band as background
are recurring sounds on this album. This piece retakes the style of the first
two records as a solo artist. It could fit perfectly in What Lies Beneath. It has a catchy refrain and very tasteful
atmospheric, orchestral passages.
Calling from the Wild:
This song appears flimsy, compared to the rest of the
tracks in the record. As it seems, every album needs a filler song. It’s
enjoyable, but it is just too bland.
I have never liked the style of Tarja’s long-time
guitarist Alex Scholpp. In my opinion, his sound is just too messy. Besides, I
think his riffs are ugly and lack creativity. That mediocrity is a setback for
“Calling from the Wild”.
It is a smooth piece that helps the album dissolve
until it finishes. Again with the piano as the leading instrument, it is a very
theatrical song with lots of changes and dynamics. It is an epic conclusion
that closes with a whispered refrain that’s on loop, as a coo, until the song
progressively burns out.
After the song finishes, a few minutes pass and
(SPOILER ALERT) there’s a mock bonus track. I loved the idea. It reminded me of
albums in the 90s, such as Nirvana’s In Utero, in which one had to fast forward twenty minutes of the last son to
get to a hidden track.
In my opinion, The
Shadow Self is an exceptional album. It is the first record of Tarja as a
solo artist in which she fully takes advantage of her voice with creative
melodies and interesting lyrics. If her career continues down this path, maybe
her next productions could be as majestic or more than the records she made
with Nightwish.
What do you think about The Shadow Self? Please, comment and share.
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