Rock Monsters Romania

The RM Award for The Album Of The Month (April 2020) goes to “Human. :II: Nature.” from Nightwish.

“Human. :II: Nature.” is the ninth studio album by the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Nightwish is the most beloved Nordic metal band. The band made a major contribution to the popularization and development of symphonic metal, as well as to the so-called “female fronted metal bands”. The band’s albums reached the charts around the world, the band accumulating over 60 platinum and gold records, as well as 5 albums and 13 Number One singles.

The album was released internationally on April 10, 2020 through Nuclear Blast. It is the band’s first double album, with the second CD complete with orchestral symphonic music rather than metal.

Following a tour in support of the band’s previous album, “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”, the band took a year-long break in which Jansen was focusing on her first child. Holopainen said in a 2016 interview that the band would continue between the years of 2018 and 2020, with another album that will continue the themes explored in “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”.

The album features a wide vocal collaboration between Jansen, Marco Hietala and Troy Donockley, which “brings a whole new sound in the band”, according to Jansen. It can be reflected for example in first song in the album, “Music”, which describes the history of music, “from the first rudimentary sounds to the music as we know today”. This song starts with a long intro and described as very harmonic and melodic.

The album received positive reviews from music critics upon the album’s release.

AllMusic gave the album a positive review, saying, “Though the work seems part and parcel of the Nightwish aesthetic, on its own it may not appeal to all fans. That said, it does add depth and dimension to “Human. :II: Nature.” which is, with one exception, a consistently and deeply satisfying outing that was worth waiting for.”

Listen to Nightwish’s newest album now on Spotify.

Article by Stefania Marinescu