Tarja – My Winterstorm

Release date: 16-11-2007, Label: Vertigo
By: Nina Mende

  Tarja Turunen is an exceptionally gifted singer who rose to prominence as the
  voice and the face of the Finnish band Nightwish. With her unique tones and
  striking stage presence she was playing a key role in making Nightwish a major
  multi-platinum success. Tarja is ideally placed to take her career to a whole
  new level, both in terms of musical ambition and personal profile; to this end,
  the 30-year-old – originally from the Finnish town of Kitee – has spent the
  past few months working on her first recordings beneath the ‘Tarja’ banner,
  making use of studios in Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and on
  the US West Coast.
  Throughout her career, Tarja has managed to achieve that most difficult of tasks
  – seamlessly joining worlds that, at first glance, would appear to be poles
  apart; in this case, Metal & Opera. Could these two ever really stand shoulder
  to shoulder without one diluting the other? Well… not only did the soprano
  singer drive herself to achieve the perfect balance, with Nightwish-hits such
  as “Nemo” storming the international charts, but in doing so she helped
  to create a style that is currently exerting a huge influence on the Rock &
  Metal scene in general.

  The album, especially the booklet, has a gorgeous layout with great pictures,
  it all looks like a winter fairytale opera play. The songs on the album are
  segmented into four parts that are also short intros: “Ite, Missa Est”,
  which is followed by two songs; then “Seeking For The Reign”, which
  is only followed by one song; “The Escape Of The Doll”, which is the
  biggest chapter on the album with six songs; and the last one is called “Sunset”,
  followed by five songs. The first song “I Walk Alone”, which follows
  right after the short intro “Ite, Missa Est”, starts out with an orchestra,
  and goes on with a slow and soft introduction of the rock elements such as electric
  guitar, bass and drums. The whole album is held in a quite classical style combined
  with some rock and metal elements. The dreamy and very touchy voice of Tarja
  makes you drift off into another world and most songs, not to say all, are structured
  like symphonies and you can feel Tarja’s classical background every second.
  The song “The Reign” is very slow with a very classical style of singing.
  The song “My Little Phoenix” is faster and harsher than the other
  songs, but still has a few toylike sounds that remind you of the doll, very
  soft and with a childish touch. The following song “Boy And The Ghost”
  is a very sad song, very slow and thoughtful. In the Finnish song “Oasis”
  you can feel the loneliness in the dark and cold winter. Tarja has one cover
  song on the album which is “Poison” by Alice Cooper, really interesting
  to listen to this song being sung by a Soprano voice and accompanied by an orchestra.
  “Die Alive” contains distorted electric guitar and reminds you of
  this album being a rock album and not an opera one. Some parts of the song “Damned
  And Divine” reminded me of Apocalyptica. “Clarán’s Well”
  is a very rocking song again. The last song “Calling Grace” contains
  Spanish elements such as the rythm and Spanish guitar.

  A dark, gloomy and melancholic album that reflects the Finnish winter perfectly
  well. A gorgeous piece of art.

Links:

Tarja Turunen official