Have all the metalheads heard the new Nightwish single? The one with the new singer, Anette Olzon? There are samples of it and a few other tracks that are presumably from the new album here. What do you think of her?

You can buy the single here, but I have no idea how that works for us Americans. I won’t be buying it – I’m waiting for the physical album. I like having liner notes and more than one song. However, if you buy it from America, be sure to post and tell me how the process went.

Meow Meow, here is where I get catty. I am honestly not sure what I think of the new singer. I asked Harknell what he thought and he said she sounded shrill and weak compared to what we’re used to.

On first listen she sounds generic to me. Sure it’s good metal, but with Tuomas and Marco, it’s almost impossible to NOT have good metal. You could put a fucking monkey in there and have some hot monkey metal. In my opinion, Charlotte Wessels from Delain has a more distinctive voice. Why didn’t they just get her? There is one part at the end of the new Nightwish song Amaranth where it just sounds like Anette is doing her best imitation of Tarja for a second, but she just can’t handle it. It makes me think I just want Tarja back.

Is it good? Yeah. Will I buy it? Yeah. Duh. But it’s NOT Nightwish.

The bottom line is what I’ve always said. They should have changed the name. Call it Nightwish 2 or something stupid. Anything different. It’s not the same band without the same singer. That would also allow the fans to judge Anette for her talent and not compare her to Tarja. And for chrissakes don’t have her dress like a Tarja poser. Have her do something dark but different. Tarja did the stark black hair thing. Have Anette do something elvish with greens and reds and bodices. Softer, but still dark and appropriate to the subject matter.

Certainly Anette can sing OK. It’s just different than what made Nightwish famous. I wonder if she has as strong a classical background as Tarja, because it does not sound like it to me. I went and listened to some of her old work in the band Alyson Avenue and still feel that way. I remain skeptical as to how she’ll be able to handle the old songs and not blow out her voice. Tarja was a fucking master and the tour schedule was even hard on her.

Now let’s talk about image. Image is everything in the music business. As catty as it seems coming from me, image is part of the reason she was hired. I don’t personally feel she is nearly as cute as Tarja. And, judging from these two pictures of Anette, they went overboard trying to make her look like Tarja. You be the judge:

Anette with her old band, Abba: Super Gay Man Edition Alyson Avenue:

Anette dressed up as Tarja for Halloween the new Nightwish singer. Click to see larger:

It certainly should be interesting. In the meantime, Tarja is finishing off her solo album and there are some things on her myspace. Please tour America, Tarja. Don’t make me fly to Finland.

Here is a pic of Tarja for good measure:

See what I mean? I think the dark image just suits Tarja a bit better than it does Anette. Anette should be an elf. For reels.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 10:15 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.