Symphonic metal veterans NIGHTWISH have released the official music video for “An Ocean Of Strange Islands”the third single from their upcoming album, “Yesterday”due on September 20, 2024 via Nuclear Blast. It marks the band’s tenth studio LP, following on from the release of “Human. :II: Nature.” in 2020.
NIGHTWISH keyboardist Tuomas Holopainenwho once again composed most of the material, states: “The song ‘An Ocean Of Strange Islands’ gives you sheer heaviness with its massive guitars, epic orchestrations and phenomenal vocals by Floor Jansen. Classic NIGHTWISH at its best! ‘An Ocean Of Strange Islands’ takes us on the ultimate musical island-hopping adventure, reminding the adventurer that happiness is most joyous when shared.”
Holopainen previously said about the new NIGHTWISH LP: “‘Yesterday’ took more time to make than any previous NIGHTWISH album. The new album was intensively worked on for three and a half 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, ‘Yesterday’ 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 after a career of nine classic albums.
“‘Yesterday’ is an experience that takes time to digest,” Holopainen explains. “The gravid ingredients of the songs are easily recognizable, but beneath the surface lies a large number of intriguing details and features.”
He continues: “It’s interesting – but not surprising – that ‘Yesterday’ you have 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 himself?
“To me, ‘Yesterday’ sounds, tastes and feels strongly like the true essence of NIGHTWISH — enriched with new moods and flavors.”
The lyrics of “Yesterday” 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, ‘Yesterday’ 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’,” he continues, “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? Tuomas says: “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 Vuorinendrummer Kai Hahtobassist Jukka Koskinen and multi-instrumentalist/singer Troy Donockleyit 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,” Tuomas says. “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,” Tuomas says. “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!”
“Yesterday” track listing:
01. Yesterwynde
02. An Ocean Of Strange Islands
03. The Antikythera Mechanism
04. The Day Of…
05. Perfume Of The Timeless
06. Sway
07. The Children Of ‘Ata
08. Something Whispered Follow Me
09. Spider Silk
10. Hiraeth
11. The Weave
12. Lanternlight
“Human. :II: Nature.” was released in April 2020. The follow-up to 2015’s “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” was a double album containing nine tracks on the main CD and one long track, divided into eight chapters, on CD 2.
In August 2022, NIGHTWISH announced the addition of Jukka Koskinen (Wintersun) as an official member of the band. Koskinenwho made his live debut with NIGHTWISH in May 2021 at the band’s two interactive experiences, they had spent the previous year touring with NIGHTWISH as a session musician.
In November 2022, Jansen revealed that she was “cancer free” after undergoing surgery to have a tumor removed following a breast cancer diagnosis.
Photo credit: Tim Tronckoe (courtesy of Nuclear Blast)
