Very good album ... but below Imaginaerum.

The reason for the 4 stars is in the title. Yes, this new Nightwish album is very good. There is even excellent pieces such as aggressive "Weak Fantasy" very Celtic "My Walden" or the beautiful "Our Decades In The Sun". I also like the surprising "The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula" which is a very quiet instrumental. Surprising because we would have rather seen appear on the solo album Tuomas ("Life And Times Of Scrooge") on a disk Nightwish is quite in style.
Orchestrations side is always HUGE ("Shudder Before The Beautiful," "The Greatest Show On Earth").
Floor sings very well, more in style than Tarja Anette. That is, we did not ask him to sing lyrically. We did hear some operatic vocals that make the beginning of the title River, "The Greatest Show On Earth" (24 minutes!). Note we hear much less Marco Hietala on the two previous albums. It has against a new player is Troy Donockley singing on the beginning of "My Walden."
But because there is a but ...
I think all in all, this album is less inventive than the last. Riff recycling We already have already used in Nightwish ("Shudder Before The Beautiful", "Your Hope Is An Empty", "Alpenglow"). These songs are good, but one can not help thinking that we have already heard that somewhere. I also regret (but that's of taste) the Celtic side is not more pronounced. Indeed, with Troy hired as a permanent member, I expected there to be more use of Celtic instruments. Certainly there ("My Walden", the single "Elan", "Edema Ruh", "Alpenglow") but no more than on "Imaginaerum", eventually.
And then there was the last song, "The Greatest Show On Earth" mentioned above, which might have won not last so long. Already, he puts loan 5 minutes really started. Then when you think it finally starts, there is a narrator who comes to speak ... If he act in concert, I feel that they will keep the central part (between 5 minutes and 16 minutes 50 30) which itself farts good (especially the chorus is very classy). The rest of the piece is again very quiet, at the piano accompanied by some orchestrations and flute and the narrator intervenes again (it's a little long there too), it's a little upset at the orchestrations and ends on waves (and the narrator again ...) and animal noises (also found in the central part) In short, you guessed it, on those 24 minutes, I remember most 11 minutes plants .

It is not the slap I expected. Small disappointment ... but small. Nightwish is still the master of Symphonic Metal, no doubt about it. And this album will, like its predecessors, very often on my plate.
16/20