Fugazi Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Yesterwynde (2024) Album released September 20th, 2024. Track list (with relevant threads when available) 1. Yesterwynde 💿 audio 2. An Ocean Of Strange Islands 🎞️ official lyrical video (single released September 10th, 2024) 3. The Antikythera Mechanism 💿 audio 4. The Day Of... 🎞️ official video (single released August 8th, 2024) 5. Perfume Of The Timeless 🎞️ official video (single released May 21st, 2024) 6. Sway 💿 audio 7. The Children Of 'Ata 💿 audio 8. Something Whispered Follow Me 💿 audio 9. Spider Silk 💿 audio 10. Hiraeth 💿 audio 11. The Weave 💿 audio 12. Lanternlight 🎞️ official video (video released September 20th, 2024) Credits: Quote Line-Up: Floor Jansen: Vocals Emppu Vuorinen: Guitars Jukka Koskinen: Basses Tuomas Holopainen: Keys Kai Hahto: Drums & Percussion Troy Donockley: Uilleann Pipes, Low whistles, Space guitars, Acoustic guitars, Bouzouki, Bodhran, Aerophone, Vocals “ Y E S T E R W Y N D E ” was: Written & produced by Holopainen Co-produced by NIGHTWISH & Tero TeeCee Kinnunen Arranged by Donockley / Hahto / Holopainen / Jansen / Kinnunen / Koskinen / Vuorinen Recorded at: Röskö campsite / Kitee Paha Pajari / Kitee Petrax Studios / Hollola Studio Dahl / Brastad Troykington Castle / North Yorkshire Abbey Road Studios / London During August - November 2023 by Tero TeeCee Kinnunen, Mikko Karmila & Troy Donockley Mixed at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki by Mikko Karmila in October 2023 - February 2024 with Tero TeeCee Kinnunen & Tuomas Holopainen ATMOS version mixed by Risto Hemmi and Tero TeeCee Kinnunen at Finnvox Studios in February - March 2024 Mastered at Finnvox Studios by Mika Jussila in February 2024 ATMOS version mastered at Finnvox Studios by Niklas Jussila in March 2024 Orchestral and Choir Arrangements by James Shearman and Tuomas Holopainen Orchestra and Choirs Conducted by James Shearman Orchestra Leader - Thomas Bowes Orchestra and Choirs recorded by Jonathan Allen Assistant Arranger and Booth Reader - Martin Higgins Music Preparation / Librarian - Tom Kilworth Recordist and Pro Tools editing - Christopher Parker Assistant Engineer - Neil Dawes Additional Engineering - John Barrett Studio Runner - Martin Riley Studio Bookings Assistant - Ellie Macready Orchestra and Choirs recorded at Abbey Road Studios - London Orchestra contracted by Lucy Whalley, Jenny Goshawk, Sara Pulice and Millie Hooper for Isobel Griffiths Ltd Choirs contracted by Isobel Griffiths Ltd and Tom Pearce for Vocals Unlimited Artwork by Pete Voutilainen / One Eye Media & Toxic Angel Layout by Mikko Pankasalo www.oneeyemedia.fi www.khimoo.com Photography by Tim Tronckoe, Pete Voutilainen / One Eye Media Spider photo by Jarkko Piipari The Francis Meadow Sutcliffe photos used with the permission of The Whitby Literary And Philosophical Society at The Whitby Museum. Welsh translation: Caron Jones NIGHTWISH is partnered with the wonderful `World Land Trust`. To discover their inspirational work, visit: www.worldlandtrust.com Worldwide management: Till Dawn They Count Ltd www.NIGHTWISH.com From Nuclear Blast: Once there was a dream. And once upon a time – many, many moons ago – there was an enchanting summery twilight – a night full of wishes – on the rocky shores of a North Karelian island. There and then, under the luminous sky and by the crackling campfire, the magic was refined: beautiful acoustic melodies and serene chords began to shine with shooting stars. No difficulty has been able to stop them ever since as they have wandered the path of the elves, gazed at the stars, recited the poems of dead boys, slayed dreamers and wandered the meadows of heaven – just to name a few twists and turns along the fascinating journey. They were certainly there – and they are still here. They are the Finnish / Dutch / British troupe NIGHTWISH – one of the most fascinating rock bands of the last decades, whose enigmatic paths have proceeded from acoustic passages to symphonic heavy metal and from catchy folk to progressive majesty. If there is one trait the band has year after year, it might be this: expect something familiar but also expect the unexpected. NIGHTWISH has indeed broken all kinds of boundaries – never deliberately, but perfectly naturally. Now guess what? NIGHTWISH's new studio album "Yesterwynde" – the band's tenth overall – is no exception to the rule. But it is more... “"Yesterwynde" took more time to make than any previous NIGHTWISH album”, nods keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, who once again envisioned most of the material. "The new album was intensively worked on for 3,5 years. My ambition and piety really skyrocketed, and I just couldn't let go of the creative process – and didn't want to. Along the way, "Yesterwynde" became both an exhilarating obsession and a comforting haven for me. All aspects of the making – compositions, lyrics, arrangements, cover art, videos, mixing and so on – were given more attention than ever before." The result? There's a fascinating, but inexplicable feeling that NIGHTWISH has once again been able to find unprecedented nuances, spices and perspectives in their new works – exactly: after a career of nine classic albums. ""Yesterwynde" is an experience that takes time to digest. The gravid ingredients of the songs are easily recognizable, but beneath the surface lies a large number of intriguing details and features", Holopainen describes. "It's interesting – but not surprising – that "Yesterwynde" has attracted quite a variety of opinions. Some have stated that it is the most 'band' record to date. For some it appears to be the heaviest and most ominous NIGHTWISH release. It has also been called our most progressive album. And the list goes on." And what does Tuomas think of it himself? "To me, "Yesterwynde" sounds, tastes and feels strongly like the true essence of NIGHTWISH – enriched with new moods and flavors." The lyrics of "Yesterwynde" deal with large-sized universal themes: memories, mortality, humanism, time and much more. "The new album is the conclusion of the trilogy – textually it follows in the footsteps of its predecessors "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" and "Human. :II: Nature."", Holopainen says. "At the same time, "Yesterwynde" is the band's most lyrically driven album: our music has never been so 'married' to the lyrics. So here's a tip: if something in the composition puzzles you, the words might clear it up." "For me, one of the key lines is 'we are because of a million loves' – taken from the song "Perfume of the Timeless". Each of us is part of an unbroken chain that stretches back billions of years. If even one of your ancestors had died too young – mauled by a cave bear, for example – during this incredibly long period of time, you would never have been born. In other words: our existence is such an unfathomable privilege!” What does the term 'yesterwynde' mean? "It describes a feeling that cannot be found in any human language. That's why we had to invent a whole new word. The album is supposed to open that feeling to the listener." Without taking anything away from the solid delivery of guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, drummer Kai Hahto, bassist Jukka Koskinen and multi-instrumentalist/singer Troy Donockley, it might be worth highlighting one fact: the performance of the eloquent storyteller Floor Jansen is once again unparalleled. It is simply breathtaking how the singer is able to make songs fly with her performance. "Floor's second child was born just over a month ago, and we hadn't rehearsed together at all... So it was a little nerve-wracking to go to Floor's home studio for vocal recordings. Well, what happened? We had booked twelve working days and after six days everything was completed in style. Floor's preparedness for the sessions was something extreme!" After the recordings and mixing process, there was one more working phase. Mastering. Could you possibly guess that no shortcuts were taken at this point either? "The album was mastered seven times until we reached the finish line – one hundred percent satisfied!", states Tuomas. "When the record was eventually finished, a three-year, extremely inspiring adventure had come to an end. I felt very, very happy." NIGHTWISH's next steps are clear. And they are not the most common ones. "NIGHTWISH will not go on a world tour this time. This was a decision made for personal reasons. But don't worry... Our contract with Nuclear Blast Records includes several albums, and there's plenty of motivation to create new music!" May the dream continue... Written by Timo Isoaho in April 2024 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted September 15 Author Share Posted September 15 I guess I'll leave this here: Yesterwynde Q&A Afterparty live on YouTube on September 20th, with Jukka, Kai and Troy. Not clear to me if it's only available to YouTube Premium members? -- EDIT: Yes, only for Premium subscribers, which I'm not, and I'm not even sure it's available for rewatching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3kND4C2_X0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted September 20 Author Share Posted September 20 It's almost September 20th, and tomorrow I will buy my own copy of Yesterwynde from a local shop. They already had it in the back-store of course but they weren't allowed to sell it today. 😁 On the other hand the full album is already on the internet now thanks to pre-orders arriving a day or two early, and I can have a first listen to the album as a whole. I will give it a spin or two and come back to write down some first thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moondance Posted September 20 Share Posted September 20 I've already listened to the album. Let's just say that I really was impressed and that it was amazing as always. 🥰 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted September 22 Author Share Posted September 22 Floor posted on various media about the new album: Quote From hearing its first notes in hotel rooms across Europe, to its release! Here is Yesterwynde! Such a journey it made already due to the pandemic and my personal experiences. Written during the silent days at home. Met by its band members during the Human Nature tour. Recorded while I was pregnant and giving birth to not an album, but a baby girl. And today it’s there for you, too. It’s not just ours anymore. I am beyond proud to present it to you and I am very curious to hear your thoughts and feelings on it. Let me know! Also, the full album will 'premiere' on YouTube in a little more than one hour, live chat included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 From James Shearman: https://www.facebook.com/JamesShearmanConductor/posts/pfbid02BKMY6N1LT1AxRV8gPWqPCz1x3m5zYwbdmZz62dNtTkAaEadm3SAcbtADJvsBpN3jl Listening to Yesterwynde! I haven’t heard most of these songs since Tuomas and I recorded our orchestra and choir arrangements back in October last year. Yesterwynde has been a very immersive experience. When I took on the orchestra and choir arranging duties I knew it was going to be a lot of work and was only worth doing if I gave it the care and attention the songs deserved. And so over the summer of 2023 I worked on the arrangements with Tuomas. As usual, everyday life sort of goes on hold on a big project like this, you think about the music day and night, you think about what’s not quite right yet, and how you’re going to get it to the point that satisfies. Then quite suddenly, after everything is finally recorded and your work is complete, you and the people you have been working so closely with say goodbye and you get on with the next project. Month’s later (sometimes years) the album finally arrives for everyone to listen to. However, there is always a sense of trepidation for me as I listen to my work; “is it going to sound as good as I thought it did back when I was conducting the orchestra? Will the orchestra and choir be heard? Did I do too much/too little here and there”, etc etc. So here we are now with the release of Yesterwynde and it was time for me to listen. And…..I love it! The very special added bonus for both Tuomas and myself is that all the orchestral arrangements for the songs are also available to listen to as instrumental's, so hopefully fans will be able to enjoy and appreciate both the orchestra and choir arrangements, plus the performances from our outstanding London studio musicians and singers. I’ll be talking more about the arrangements for each song in future posts. Hope Nightwish fans enjoy the album and let me know your thoughts. Have a great weekend everyone. James. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mabla Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 21 hours ago, Fugazi said: Floor posted on various media about the new album: Also, the full album will 'premiere' on YouTube in a little more than one hour, live chat included. Took a too quick listening to the album. Probably because it doens't grab me immediately and because it doesn't make me curious. Maybe I miss the real heavyness in it. Nevertheless I have to put much more listening time into it. + Directly the same comment/remark/compliant as with H2N. I really don't like Troy's lead vocals in Nightwish. For some reason I skip these parts ... Troy is imo not a lead singer for NW. In the Netherlands we say: "Schoenmaker blijf bij je leest", translates into something like "Cobbler stick to your last" or "Stay on your lane" Metalfan rewarded Y with a 8.3 what us quite good - Nightwish - Yesterwynde | Metalfan.nl Review To be continued ... 🤘 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mabla Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 Tank the Tech did a complete album listening and review: I Was NOT Expecting This From Nightwish's New Album (Review) (youtube.com) Still have to listen to the full album but his review made me curious 🤗 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 I'm still absorbing all of it, but it's not the super heavy album some were expecting. There is heaviness, but there's a lot more too. It's a very creative and varied album, and it did (and does) take me many listens to appreciate it fully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 Floor discusses the creation of Yesterwynde. She mentions that the decision to take a break from touring was made about two weeks after Floor discovered she had breast cancer, therefore in October 2022. It was then announced in April 2023, 6 months later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarDragonX Posted September 27 Share Posted September 27 In my opinion this the statement that "This will be our heaviest album" has been a meme for about 20 years. I remember Tuomas telling in 2006 that Dark Passion Play will be their "heaviest album ever". Tuomas has basically said this statement before every album release, as far as I can remember, at least before most of the albums. It is a bit like thinking "Tomorrow I will clean my garage". But I agree, that this is not technically a super "Heavy" album by Metal standads. But maybe this is a psychological thing that Tuomas thinks every time that the next album is the heaviest. But as I said, this statement has meme value for me. I think other bands say this as well. What I actually like about this new album is the orchestral part. I listen to music in Youtube Music. In Finland, Tuomas and other musicians have always been compared to Sibelius, the Finnish classical composer. The orchestral part of the album really got me. Tuomas has really developed his composing concerning orchestral, "classical" stuff. I know that there are many professionals in the background. Pip Williams and now James Shearman has arranged the orchestral parts in almost all of the Nightwish albums. Maybe Tuomas will become "Sibelius" II in the future. HAHA. Did you know a bulgarian artist Plamen Dimov actually put Nightwish together in the early days. He noticed that Tuomas is very talented, and things started rolling. Some early clips of Tarja singing and Tuomas playing in a classical group is actually Plamen Dimov's band. Tuomas told in this interview that they almost burned their Kitee bandcamp, as they lit candles and played "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan (Death Makes An Artist.)" If somebody wants to dive more deeply into the subject, here is a 50-minute Plamen Dimov interview. There is at least automatic subtitles in English. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted September 28 Author Share Posted September 28 Yeah, I think Tuomas mentioned that 'will it be heavier' has become a sort of joke, and that it would be the first thing that people would comment on every time NW would release new music. Anyway, I don't think Yesterwynde is much heavier that what came before. There are a few heavy moments, but overall I think it's very diverse, and there are a lot of classical, slow or sweet moments which make for a balanced album rather than a heavy one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarDragonX Posted September 28 Share Posted September 28 (edited) Yes, that's what I was trying to say. I agree that Yesterwynde is not one of Nightwish' heaviest albums. It is more on the light side. That is not necessary a bad thing for me. Though, there is a lot of dissonant chords in the orchestral background, which I like. But somehow, Tuomas would have potential in eg. the style of Dark Passion Play. That is maybe their heaviest album in my opinion. I also like songs like "Yours is an Empty Hope" (EFMB) and "Dead Gardens" (Once). But making the music a little bit towards light or pop music is also a business decision. There are very few people who buy modern classical music, with the very weird chords and all that. Tuomas is a realist in that sense. Most people like melodic music more than music with dissonant chords. Maybe you could call Delain a little bit more poppish in that sense. BTW, I love Delain as a band. One of Nightwish' heaviest songs is Master Passion Greed (DPP). Apart from the drama, I somehow very much like this nihilistic energy in that song, for a lack of a better word. I have bought the concert End Of An Era, the last concert with Tarja Turunen. There is this very tense atmosphere in these songs, as the band knows that Tarja is leaving and I think Tarja maybe had some clue of what's coming beforehand. She is giving her all in End Of An Era, I think. I think the neurotic stress is actually pushing the band to perform better. So, as a reminder, Master Passion Greed is written about Tarja's husband, Marcelo Cabuli (ARG). As I grow older, I think what a marriage gift this was, all on national TV. They are now happily married, as Tuomas and Johanna Kurkela. It is a little bit like having your ex in the band, concering the Tarja-Nightwish reunion fantasy. Why don't people understand, that Tuomas and Tarja got married to different persons, that's one reason tarja and Tuomas had to go different ways. But the Tarja-Nightwish fan fiction still lives on. Why did this become a long rant, all of a sudden. But anyway, there is interesting energy in these songs, which talk about the darker side of people, for me at least. My opinions might be unpopular for some people, maybe... Haha. My favourite song on the Yesterwynde album is "An Ocean Of Strange Islands" with the double bass pedals and stuff. Edited September 28 by StarDragonX Added a certain opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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