Nightwish Debuts on U.S. Billboard Chart at #27 with "Imaginaerum"

The latest album from symphonic metal band Nightwish is an unlikely entry into the Top 30 of the American Billboard charts. But there Imaginaerum sits - with all its Tim Burton on a heavy metal bender grandeur: crushing guitars and choral flourishes, double-bass drumming and orchestration, a female lead singer. Imaginaerum debuted at Number 27, far higher than I anticipated.

It's also the first album that band leader/keyboardist/compost Tuomas Holopainen wrote specifically for vocalist Anette Olzon. She had the huge task of succeeding former vocalist Tarja Turunen, whose powerful, classically trained voice was the Nightwish symphonic metal signature. Olzon stepped into the Nightwish void, straight into an album written before her arrival. Skeptics ravaged her for having the temerity to get the gig - as if she personally deposed Turunen - and for her more pop-oriented vocal style.

Imaginaerum, the first Nightwish album since 2007 and soundtrack to a movie of the same name, is certain to polarize. Holopainen describes it as "Hollywood landscape metal." Nickleback has the only record in even remotely the same sonic area - but Nightwish at their heaviest hits far harder than Nickleback.

Here are some of my observations about Imaginaerum.

"Slow, Love, Slow" is a huge departure from what Nightwish fans expect from their favorite symphonic metal band. It's a slow, jazzy number; drummer Jukka Nevalainan took lessons to play the gentle brush strokes on the snare. Olzon's note choice is fantastic, and the first few notes of Emppu Vuorinen's guitar solo tricked me into hearing a saxophone. You won't find anything like this from any other band in symphonic metal.

When I got to "Scaretale," I had a lot of conflicting thoughts. I loved Olzon's transformation into a sneering, diabolical backwood witch - she spits the creepy lyrics out with abandon. But the circus ringmaster portion about halfway through the song? It continues to jar me - it's effective as part of a movie soundtrack, but it's a bit over the top. But then again, Nightwish is all about bombast.

Everything about "Ghost River" is awesome. The portions of the song where the vocal melodies of Olzon and bassist Marco Hietala interweave are some of the highlights of Imaginaerum. My first listen to "Ghost River" left me with a feeling of chaos and disorder, but then something clicked. I got it. I get it.

"Last Ride of the Day" is the sleeper of the album. I'd start every show on the tour with this … well, after the Finish-language intro of "Tailatalvi." Maybe it's the mountain biker in me that loves anything with the word "ride." More likely, it's that the song has a fairly quiet first portion of the verse, with another section to pump it up before a monstrous symphonic metal chorus.

"Turn Loose the Mermaids" is another high point of the album. One blogger called Olzon's Swedish accent in the song "cartoonish." No - it adds regional charm that's natural and right for a Scandinavian singer in a Nordic band. There's some endearing oddness in the song, too: On one hand, you have trumpet flourishes that make me think of a spaghetti western. Then you'll get a dose of Celtic-infused melodies.

"Song of Myself" is going to have mixed review. Listeners might be bored at the end with the spoken-word portions. I can understand why - but give it a chance. The delivery of the words and the instrumental portions under them make it a very powerful piece. And the earlier portions of the tune are heavy-hitting, epic symphonic metal fun.