This album, Tarja’s second solo outing may well have her name emblazoned on the cover but it should come as no surprise that there is a cast list of hundreds involved here. Firstly her band displays a wealth of talent; we have Doug Wimbish on bass who has played with everyone from Joe Satriani to Madonna and The Stones, Max Lilja cellist with Apocalypica, Mike Terra drummer to a host of German power metal acts and Alex Scholpp of The Farmer Boys on guitar. Colin Richardson has mixed, The Slovak National Symphony Orchestra and Choir have got in on the act and there are a host of special guests who I shall touch upon later. Needless to say if you are looking for something that is overblown and far from minimalist you probably won’t find much to touch the expansive scope and arrangements on this album out there at the moment.
Dispensing with unnecessary introductions to the belle herself we enter to the sound of orchestra tuning and chamber music as the albums most eccentric and flamboyant track opens proceedings. ‘Anteroom Of Death’ would be a great title if it had the words ‘Dr Who And The….’ before it and as a song it is a completely manic and theatrical affair throwing a giddying amount of ideas into it. The guests here are Van Canto and despite an obvious chorus their later acapella pomp turns this into pantomime and really sets the listener up for a challenging album. The opener certainly gets attention but (and probably thankfully) the rest of the album is simpler in structure as I think the whole thing in this style would be a bit of a headf..k (sorry it seems wrong using a swear word in a Tarja review). ‘Until My Last Breath’ the albums first single is a much simpler defined gentle rocker with Tarja’s beguiling vocals leaping out. It has the sparkling, safe and acceptable feel we would expect from the singer, it’s a strong ‘lighters out’ number that will have her legions of fans swaying live. There are always going to be a ballad or two and the first of these is ‘I Feel Immortal.’ It’s all very Andrew Lloyd Webber meets Elaine Paige; completely harmless and enjoyable if you can stomach it. This is not really any criticism as I can but I simply can’t throw words like beautiful and breathtaking into the mix here.
‘In For A Kill’ strikes as odd as the jagged strings are totally familiar, basically the orchestra has taken their cue here from Stravinsky, this is essentially from ‘Rite Of Spring’ and the film world has also taken this sort of thing liberally too, from Hitchcock to Jaws. I personally think it’s a bit cheeky but it makes for the backbone of a good song and adds a splash of danger from the prior ‘safer’ song environment. ‘Little Lies’ is a simple song with a hooky melody burgeoned by choir parts, I caught myself reminded of Kate Bush at times by Tarja’s clean singing. ‘Rivers Of Lust’ is perhaps ‘the beauty’ of the album, warm, touching and gentle, a bit like a lullaby and a perfect number to soften the hardest of hearts. Eastern chants and masculinity both flavour ‘Dark Star,’ the latter provided by All That Remains Phillip Labonte. This does inject a bit of an upbeat flavour although I find myself comparatively thinking of Within Temptation’s ‘What Have You Done’ and although not being similarly blown away think this could be a grower and possibly single number two if going for a bit of a risk? The jaunty ‘Falling Awake’ is an album highlight complete with a scorching Satriani guitar solo but the next song ‘The Archive Of Lost Dreams’ ballad number four is possibly a step too far. Putting back in some orchestral might we end on a high note with ‘Crimson Deep’ with rousing operatic parts from the singer seeing us out. Naturally there is apparently a 2 disc version with an extra three songs including Whitesnake cover ‘Still Of The Night’ and a talk about making of the video for the single. Think I can happily live without that though.
Would I have bought this? Probably not as there are a stack of albums I would rather spend my money on. Have I enjoyed it? Yes certainly, this had everything I would really have expected from a Tarja album and is a very good follow up to ‘My Winter Storm’ and an album that her legions of fans are going to absolutely love.
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