Tarja What Lies Beneath
by Joe Mis
Staff Writer
What Lies Beneath is the third solo album from well-known Finnish singer-songwriter Tarja Turunen. Perhaps best known outside of Finland as the operatic front person of symphonic metal masters Nightwish from 1996 to 2005, Tarja continues to rightfully gain following as a solo artist.
The classically trained singer and pianist joined forces with a few friends in 1996 and formed the powerhouse metal band Nightwish after realizing that her voice was too powerful for most other soft rock styles. During her tenure with Nightwish, she also continued to perform in many operatic and classical music festivals, earning the respect of many outside of the rock/metal world. After parting ways with Nightwish, Tarja continued to work independently both as a rock and classical vocalist. She released a Christmas album in her native Finland, and then in 2007 put out the successful rock CD My Winter Storm. After much acclaim and numerous awards Tarja is back with What Lies Beneath, this time helped by a broad range of musicians ranging from Joe Satriani to The Slovakian Orchestra and Choir.
Tarja’s unique vocal stylings are undoubtedly powerful and sweeping, and she carries a great deal of feeling in every line. Despite the unusual power of her voice, Tarja’s operatic style seems to be perfectly suited to the songs she writes. She has also served as a major inspiration to a number of other powerful female singers and influenced a great many power/orchestral/symphonic metal bands. She is a true groundbreaker.
The campy and somewhat Queen-style vocally over-the-top “Anteroom of Death” opens the CD with numerous hackneyed orchestra tune-up sounds and ultra classical instrumentations that suddenly switch to a pounding chorus. This song could have quite easily dropped, and one may wonder why this track is even on the album since it is so radically different from the rest and frankly seems out of place. “Until My Last Breath” is much more representative of the rest of What Lies Beneath. It is filled with strong power-metal guitars, keyboards and sweeping rhythms, and features a nice mix of Tarja’s vocal skills from full on operatic to soft and clear. “Dark Star” is probably the best track on the album – fabulous lyrics, great performances across the board with some excellent growls and duet vocals with Phil Labonte (All That Remains, Shadows Fall, Perpetual Doom). “Underneath” changes up the tone with some simple and melodic piano lines, and allows Tarja’s pure and powerful voice to take canter stage. This track also features some of the finest guitar soloing on the CD.
The moody and crunchy “Little Lies” pumps up the electronics and energy with an almost thrash metal grinding guitar opening that fades into a bouncing bass driven groove before blossoming into a mutli-layer choral vocal feast. Full on orchestration and classical overtones fill the soft and smooth but bitter ‘Rivers Of Lust” while more power rolls into the heavy and sweeping “In For A Kill.” Tarja next switches to Spanish to perform the haunting piano-driven “Montañas De Silencio,” exclusive to the North American release. “Falling Awake” is a blistering full-on symphonic rocker with some awesome guitar work provided by Joe Satriani. Contrasting nicely is the sweetly performed “The Archive Of Lost Dreams,” and the powerful “Crimson Deep”, where Tarja is joined by noted jazz and funk rock drummer Will Calhoun (Living Colour).
On the whole, What Lies Beneath is an interesting album, encompassing a number of styles and genres. Tarja’s voice is the driving force, but the musicians around her perform like the proverbial well-oiled machine. The music is nicely balanced and engineered, and all the performers get their moment in the spotlight.
Any fan of Tarja, Nightwish or the myriad of female-fronted metal acts will find something enjoyable here. The mix of styles may be disorienting to some, but check it out if you want to spend some time with one of the most influential and unique talents in the business.
Genre: Operatic Metal
Band:
Tarja Turunen (vocals, piano)
Alex Scholpp (guitar)
Marzi Nyman (guitar)
Doug Wimbish (bass)
Christian Kretschmar (keyboards)
Mike Terrana (drums)
Will Calhoun (drums)
Max Lilja (cello)
Jyrki Lasonpalo, Pauline Fleming and Rémi Moingeon of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra (violin)
The Slovakian Orchestra and Choir
Guests: Toni Turunen, Timo Turunen, Phil Labonte, van Canto, Julian Barrett, Joe Satriani, Maria Ilmoniemi, Markus Hohti
Track Listing:
1. Anteroom of Death
2. Until My Last Breath
3. Dark Star (feat. Phil Labonte)
4. Underneath
5. Little Lies
6. Rivers Of Lust
7. In For A Kill
8. Montañas De Silencio
9. Falling Awake (Feat. Joe Satriani)
10. The Archive Of Lost Dreams
11. Crimson Deep (feat. Will Calhoun)
Label: Universal Music/The End Records
Website: http://www.tarjaturunen.com/
Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10