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There are two types of people when it comes to Tarja Turunen.
Those who find her classically trained voice mesmerizing and
her figure erection inducing, and then there are those who
scream and cringe at the first note of her operatic style
while still managing to pop up at her figure. Myself, I've
no shame in admitting I was of the first type. Her performances
throughout early and mid Nightwish were simply breathtaking.
When Once rolled around the originality and beauty she brought
to the table faded, and to my great disappointment only continued
to fade as she pursued her solo career and My Winter Storm.***
Nightwish realized this early on when deciding to use
Tarja as their vocalist; that her powerful voice needs to
be carried by equally powerful music. Even when she's not
showing off her vocal wankery, as heard during Oceanborn,
her voice simply isn't light, but instead carries this naturally
deep tone to it. This is especially present on ballads such
as Sing for Me and Boy and the Ghost. The music on My Winter
Storm, poor as it is, doesn't even begin to compliment her
voice on anything other than the ballads, instead it acts
as a distraction and ends up hindering rather than helping
the album.***
Musicianship is often times where solo albums and side
projects fall short. Typically the other instrument players
need to be brought in on an album-by-album basis unless the
artist is competent with multiple instruments. It's like releasing
a debut over and over, as the temporary members rarely have
enough time to sync with each other. This shortcoming is painfully
obvious on this album, as all instruments fail, though some
more than others. Guitars and drums miss the mark equally;
both offer the same boring, bland, uninspiring and unmemorable
presence throughout the album, with the exception of Die Alive.
Okay, so to be fair, the keyboards aren't terrible, but rather
merely average. Songs like My Little Phoenix, Lost Northern
Star, and Die Alive showcase decent keyboards, while I Walk
Alone and the ballads present mediocre and rather weak melodies.***
My Winter Storm takes one of my major pet peeves with
albums and throws it right back at me four times over. Yeah,
I'm talking about the four utterly pointless intros. What
on earth are you going to accomplish in under a minute's worth
of playtime? This isn't grind, so why not put more substance
in intros who's purpose is to supposedly introduce separate
chapters, sections, parts, whatever the hell you want to call
them? The only positive thing they add are an additional four
tracks to the song listing, because the number of songs is
directly proportional to the success of an album, clearly.***
I can't even give Tarja credit for providing a relatively
full album! If we take away the digipack we lose three bonus
song (And the dumbest song name in the entirely of the symphonic
genre), bringing the count down to 18. The four pointless
intros have to go, as they provide nothing of value, leaving
us with 14. Minus another for the Alice Cooper cover of Poison,
not only a relatively bad 'Cooper song, but also a rather
poor cover in the first place. Down to 13, and I feel perfectly
justified to cut out every other song besides Lost Northern
Star, My Little Phoenix, Die Alive, Boy and the Ghost, Sing
for Me, and Calling Grace. This leaves My Winter Storm sporting
a total of seven (7) decent songs and an album length of a
little over 25 minutes.***
Had My Winter Storm been an EP containing only the songs
above it would have been a respectable release, no question.
The fact is there is simply too much filler, too much pointlessness,
and too much mediocrity mucking up the potential the album
might have had. I Walk Alone, The Reign, Oasis, Our Great
Divide, Damned and Divine, Minor Heaven, and Ciaran's Will
are all examples of the myriad mediocrity plaguing the album,
showcasing nothing that isn't better on the other six tracks.
If anything, they prove that Nightwish carried Tarja, not
the other way around.***
I truly hope this was a mistake Tarja has since realized.
If you really feel the need to express your elation over being
free from whatever it was you felt was holding you hostage
back in Nightwish, then by all means do so, but at least provide
decent music to back it up. Shouldn't 10 years with a respectable
band in the symphonic genre give you a good idea as to how
decent music sounds like?
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