Tarja on her previous work climax!

At the latest with this album Tarja can not reduce in Nightwish on their now just eight years earlier time; it has long been far more than the ex-singer of the leading symphonic metal band. Your three rock solo albums can be read as a learning and development process towards its own, distinctive style and different from its predecessors may apply Colours in the Dark is the first mature album: Tarja has arrived. What it does from now on, should no longer be associated with Nightwish.

Among the titles:

Victim of Ritual is a classic opener with Drive and catchy, which is able yet to convince its complexity; the Bolero motif used is indeed picked up something, but you forget after a few seconds. Again to seek inconsistent manner but the comparison with the old Nightwish times: This song strikes the Gassenhauer Nemo actually hands down, even what radio capability in terms (of the pure song length apart times, but since you could do so a radio edit of it ). The content is about the breaking up congealed routines that can make our lives hell for colorless.

500 Letters is probably meant to be single. A catchy, cute, but musically quite harmless song you like to listen to and whistles, is in the long run but also forgotten. Never mind, Tarja needs to sell records and generate GEMA fees yes. It is far less harmless to topic Stalking content.

Lucid Dreamer is a first indication of what I call with a mature style. Tarja likes to associate spherically-electronic arrangements with Nu Metal Guitar musical sound and the characteristic for them, narrative voice. In previous works, these elements occurred often separated even for songs; eg recalls this title many of Naiad from her second album, What Lies Beneath, which, however, the symphonic elements and the guitar accompaniment are integrated. The harmonious interplay of strongly contrasting style elements makes the mature sound of Tarja. A little unbalanced, however detailed electronic-spherical central portion which is somewhat reminiscent of those of Echoes of Pink Floyd, but not as good as there fit into the overall structure of the song seems to me (to?) The; there would be less might have been more. The content is about lucid dreams.

Never Enough emphasizes again the crashing metal sound and is one of the simple knitted songs; especially the almost endless repetitive metal riffs at the end make the song be bulky and some fans repel. I think it's good that not everything with Tarja ends in harmony and melancholy, but sometimes as a thorn is set. This also has something to do for me with balance, which precisely does not mean boredom.

Mystique Voyage begins with a spoken introduction Tarja that it is not my thing. But after that unfolds a squiggly-baroque musical jewel with a beautiful melody that brings good Tarja's classical singing voice to express and back ends in an electronic soundscape ala Naiad; for the characteristic contrast to this arrangement ensures here the drums rhythm, what you might not noticed really on first listen. Content wants to take us with this song in the world of her inner experience Tarja.

The cover of Peter Gabriel's sinister feat (Mark Bell man in his Tarja-review on plattentest.de) Darkness Tarja will be taken again terribly ill; was not different from the Poison cover of Alice Cooper. I got me both versions (original and cover) several times alternately consulted and can not see anything scandalous. On the contrary: The song fits perfectly in this album and Tarja experimented here with an outstanding natural electronic voice distortion, which we will certainly continue more often hear from her and it was not so far with her. Peter Gabriel's great lyrics about the difficult psychological integration nightmare-like flashbacks and a conscious identity undermining desire in a mature character form in which I let my fears and have, so they can no longer take possession of me, are in any case the best things 50 years rock history have produced in this regard.

But what follows is from my humble point of view, the absolute highlight of the musical creation Tarja: Deliverance presents itself to me as a complex, grand, epic song on the way to the metamorphosis and individual wholeness, longing, love and inner liberation is: Symphonic Metal at its Very Best! Just listen, over and over again to hear and enjoy! Already alone for this piece, the album deserves 5 stars. Tears come to my otherwise really more chopping onions, but this lyrically-musical work of art she has let it flow abundantly. But enough, that's all also colored very subjective.

The transition to Neverlight could not be more rugged. A Metal Firecracker musically and lyrically extremely bulky, although it contains a clear structure and a good melody; Ciaran's Well from the first album Winter Storm comes as the comparison probably the closest. The text can be about many things, but I associate with it most likely experience the threat of mental dissociation and decompensation. Striking a great symphonic arrangement in the middle part, which flares up but unfortunately only very briefly.

Until Silence comes as a classic power ballad that could have come as a single song as good old Nightwish times; I'm just not it, where NW-song it resembles so much. Lyrically, it contains the subject of the album title Colours in the Dark and acts of everlasting love, farewell and death. A thoroughly nice song, but in which one gets the impression that they had heard the kind of Tarja already frequent in their Nightwish times that this only applies to a song on the entire album, is actually proof enough for its originality and creativity.

Medusa forms as the longest song the worthy conclusion of this great album. Lyrically it processed the Greek legend of Medusa, whose face was instantly to stone every man. Very nice duet with the open with his psychological problems prompt singer and all-rounder Justin Furstenfeld (Blue October), the case probably the Medusa-slayer Perseus is that his prowess (he headed Medusa) only by capable was that he merely a reflection of the Medusa looked in his mirrored shield, not herself. An atmospheric, landscaped as sound paintings song with occasional contrasting guitar riffs, the vocals a bit reminds me of Whitewater of Epica.

Wow, what a varied and yet very comprehensive album. The best thing I've heard rock music in recent years in the field! Tarja has found the courage to more complex compositions and also simply longer songs that really are usual in the genre, with her so far but rather were the exception. But clearly, you have to like this genre itself and his own penchant for pathos and epic, which in many metal adherents is not the case and so Tarja beyond blocking the way for mass compatibility. Who but symphonic metal like there is no way on this album. 5 stars are actually too little.