have never been ones to think small, but their upcoming 10th album, , is bigger, bolder and more ambitious than anything they’ve done before. Written over several months in 2021 and 2022, and recorded between keyboard player/songwriter Tuomas Holopainen’s hometown of Kitee and London’s fabled Abbey Road Studios, the 12-track record may not feature any side-long epics, but in every other respect it is, as Tuomas puts it, “a big one”. "It’s probably the biggest album we’ve done.
It complements the lyrics and the stories we want to tell. In the song , there are more than 600 tracks. That’s a lot.
It was hell for the mixing engineer.” “The major theme of the album is time - going back in time, recognising your own mortality. It’s about history, being human, but it’s optimistic.
Despite all the bad stuff, we have the chance as a species to get together and survive. That’s the core message and essence of the album.” “In late 2020, I discovered the world of black and white photos that had been coloured – the best example would be Peter Jackson’s [colourised WWI documentary] .
When I see them, it gives me a sensation I cannot describe – a connection to the past. I couldn’t find a word in any language to describe it, so I said to Troy [Donockley, multi- instrumentalist], ‘Can we make up a word to describe this?’ I came up with ‘yester’ and he immediately said ‘wynde’. ‘Yesterwynde’ - it was perfect.
I don’t know what the meaning is. It just feels right.” Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! “I find it amazing to think that we all had a father who had a father who had a father who had a father.
.. and this has gone on for millions of generations unbroken.
That blows my mind – it has to be unbroken. If my great-great-great-great grandfather in the Stone Age had been eaten by a cave bear, I wouldn’t exist. Every one of them had to live long enough to pass on their seed.
The chances that I’m alive are ridiculous.” “That song is based on a real-life story I read about in a book called , by Rutger Bregman. It’s about six young kids from Tonga who were marooned on a deserted island called ’Ata and spent 15 months there.
It was like a reverse - they lived there in total harmony. They were the perfect example that we can actually get along. We found five Tongan singers living in London to sing on the song.
They wanted to meet me before: ‘This story is sacred to us. Why do you want to do it?’ I told them that it was a story of optimism. They were really relieved.
" “The album is coming out in September. We’re not going to do any shows. The reasons are personal, we’re not going to go into it, but it was something that had to be done for this band to continue.
There’s no bad blood between the members, nothing like that. We just have to take a long breather.” “Personally, I haven’t really given it much thought.
I don’t know how long the break is going to be. We just signed a multi-album deal with Nuclear Blast, so that is evidence there are going to be more albums in future. Nightwish are definitely not going to stop, so everybody stop worrying.
We just need a breather from touring.” Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on and , Associate Editor on magazine and staff writer/tea boy on , not necessarily in that order.
He has written for , the and the totally legendary . He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago. "Emails were exchanged with Ian Anderson, containing something that could be described as music": Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt is unable to tell you what he'd like to tell you "The woody base of papyrus and patchouli leaves the senses longing for more in a rhythmic exchange of back and forth": Yes, Tony Iommi has released a new scent "I can't do it!" Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain reveals which classic song he has to play differently live since his stroke in 2023.
