3.8.13

Tarja - Colours In the Dark (2013)

As part of the band who transformed symphonic metal into respective genre, ex-Nightwish Tarja still a force to be reckoned by fans. Although almost decade away from her departure from Nightwish, Tarja did not left symphonic metal scene entirely. She managed to pulled out three studio albums, along with some other releases. Now with Colours In the Dark, Tarja marked her fourth solo tourney, singing in more colorful styles, and more metal, with her sopranic voices.

As shown in first track, Victim of Ritual, Tarja demonstrated how easy to combined both operatic singing into metal. The song flows naturally it seem, from theatrical orchestra setting with soprano singing then joined by distortion forces, without much contrast, in fact sounds very familiar by now. It's a good opening, blending almost classical, metal and electronic music altogether. Then comes 500 Letters, a melodically song, very much my favorite song on this album, it show my favorite Tarja's style similar to many Nightwish songs. Tarja also decided to show off some experimental elements, as improvized on third song, Lucid Dreamer. In Never Enough is modern feel hardrock song, interesting enough when blended with operatic singing. A more conceptual song is in Mystique Voyage, in a style of mystique Pink Floyd-ish. In interview Tarja told that life has many range of 'colors' and dark absorb all of them, it seems Tarja's musical experiment also colorful and Peter Gabriel's Darkness maybe her exploration most far away from metal. In Neverlight, Tarja provided a raw rocking riff template for her to conquered into this style. Most decorated pieces could also found in last track, Medusa. In this 'progressive alternative rock' pieces, she was in duet with Justin Furstenfeld (Blue October).

Rich and colorful eclectics materials found in Colours In The Dark. For some reason, Tarja departures into 'free' world has benefit her fans on bigger scenes. If you like to connected with Nightwish, the first two songs can be yours, but the rest is just exploration between classical, operatic singing, alternative metal and power metal itself. In the musician line up Mike Terrana is the leading name. Although no double pedal drumming needed, the multi-styles setting in this project must be enough challenge for Mike. Alex Scholpp, guitarist from Stuggart continued being line up to provided guitar parts. The second guitarist is Julian Barrett, virtuoso called from Argentina. Technically, the album mixed well by Tim Palmer, you can enjoy Tarja's voices blend smoothly into the music. Colours In The Dark comes as bigger slice of cake for everyone to enjoy, not only by Nightwish followers but also those interested in serious combination of operatic singing and heavy metal in general.

Metal Harem class: ********* nine stars out of ten

Tarja - Colours In The Dark (2013)
Buy It Here - Amazon

1. "Victim of Ritual" Tarja Turunen, Anders Wollbeck, Mattias Lindblom 5:54
2. "500 Letters" 4:22
3. "Lucid Dreamer" 7:28
4. "Never Enough" Tarja Turunen, Johnny Andrews 5:20
5. "Mystique Voyage" 7:14
6. "Darkness" Peter Gabriel 5:38
7. "Deliverance" 7:27
8. "Neverlight" 4:33
9. "Until Silence" 5:03
10. "Medusa (feat. Justin Furstenfeld)" 8:12
Bonus for iTunes:
 Neverlight (Full Orchestral Version)
 Until Silence (Orchestral Version)

Tarja Turunen - Lead vocals and piano
Alex Scholpp, Julian Barrett - Guitar
Kevin Chown, Doug Wimbish - Bass guitar
Christian Kretschmar - Keyboards
Mike Terrana - Drums
Max Lilja - Cello

Guests
Thomas Bloch - Glass Harmonica
Saro Danielian - Duduk
Justin Furstenfeld - Vocals ("Medusa")
Caroline Lavelle - Cello
Naomi Cabuli Turunen (Tarja's daughter)
Mel Wesson


Tarja - Colours in the Dark Album Review
Tarja Album Cover Artworks


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