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Nightwish album #10 pre-release discussion


Fugazi

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Apparently there was a small bit of a leak! Mika Jussila, the person behind the mastering for the album, had posted a clip inside the studio and he had forgot to turn off the audio, in which you could hear a bit of one of the new songs. The video has been removed, and I haven't heard the leak, but the Discord group I am in was flipping out about it, and they sounded excited.

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Kai even mentions 'late Fall', which is really dragging things out. 😪

I wonder if there will be another album release to get them touring again in 2026-27, or whether they will simply tour in support of the upcoming album, with a long delay just like the Human Nature tour? Albums in 2024 and 2026 (or 2027) would not be typical of the long Nightwish album cycle we are now used to.

On the other hand, maybe 2026-27 will simply be a 30th Anniversary tour, and not one in support of a new release.

I do look forward to 3 new proper videos, last time they were so video-prolific was on Dark Passion Play.

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A word from James Shearman, new orchestral arranger on album #10 replacing Pip Williams:

https://www.facebook.com/JamesShearmanConductor/posts/pfbid0xGHtn2pXgqH2AzDFTgYGYDCax5tXB1gq2v6NvCeUK2yCfVeRcXxaYRPTCav9mWZNl

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I’ve been working with Nightwish for two decades now! Back in 2004 I had a call from the brilliant British producer and arranger Pip Williams, asking if I was available to conduct the orchestra and choir for a new band he was arranging for. I turned up at the old CTS studios in Wembley, London not knowing what to expect, but I suddenly found myself totally drawn into their musical world, the songs were Epic, very melodic, emotive, dramatic, and I loved it and so continued conducting the orchestra and choirs for all their subsequent albums over the years.
Fast forward to spring 2023 and I get a call from dear Pip suggesting I take on the huge (and daunting) task of writing the orchestra and choir arrangements with Tuomas for the new (10th) album (big shoes to fill indeed Pip!).
So here we are in this picture from last October 2023 at Abbey Road studio two, having just completed recording the orchestra and choir arrangements that I’d had the pleasure of arranging with Tuomas for their 10th Album!
It was a lot of fun, and I’m pleased to tell Nightwish fans that the band are still just as unassuming, kind, musically brilliant and lovely to work with as they were at the very start all those years ago.
Hope you all love the forthcoming new album.🙏
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Mika Jussila commenting on the ongoing mastering process:

https://www.facebook.com/mikamastering/posts/pfbid0RuAvqzAPzs34izG8cqusbLaL5oNrqpS2BoDdrHa7UzASz3nTpD2YMbmKZNGsTyypl

 
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[...] Normally album mastering takes one "actual mastering day" and maybe another for small fixes. But not in the Nightwish case 🙂
I have already done mastering for the whole album when the mixes was about 80% ready so that the overall sound was final but a lot of small balance fixes still undone. This because the production team including me wanted to check all possible changes that happen to mixes during mastering. With those 1.0 files we already did the album timeline editing with Tuomas so that the tracks are in right order with right fades and gaps.
After getting the next mix round 2.0 where files were about 95% ready I did another album mastering from the beginning. Once again for the team and this time for the whole band to check and feedback. I also made precise volume changes to different parts of these files so that we can observe the final dynamics and loudness level.
Next I will wait the 3.0 mix versions for the final mastering which I know already from previous albums that they will not be the finals because we will find something to improve after the final mastering so round 4.0 sure comes 😃
But there will come a day when we let go and enjoy champagne in honor of a new great album. It may also happen that after weeks of listening, the mixing engineer comes up with some cool trick with which he can improve the mixes so we start all over again the whole process 😃
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Also, Mika is throwing a fit at entitled fans:

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I don't mix and the guys that are won't give s**t of people's opinions. Just yesterday we talked about this how tens of people are giving instructions how to do our job, what kind of an album Nightwish should do, who should be the singer and where to go on tour. Nightwish will finish the album exactly the way they want and my job is help them to acchive that target 😂

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On 2/13/2024 at 10:16 PM, Fugazi said:

Also, Mika is throwing a fit at entitled fans:

Wow, some fans are really impatient when it comes to having to wait for the new material! I am impatient to hear the new album as well or see Nightwish tour again, but I don't go and hassle the mastering person and make demands for albums to sounds like "this" or "that". When the band says it's ready, then it will be ready.

Anyways, that's the end of my short rant. Still, the album is going to take a little longer to come out because of the vinyl pressings, so in the end - it is still estimated to be a summer to fall release for the album.

Edited by Moondance
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just for fun, here are the official release dates for the previous albums. Some albums have seen staggered releases in different countries, but I'm giving only the very first date of release. We're probably looking at an August to October time frame for the 10th album.

  • Mar 27: Endless Forms Most Beautiful
  • Apr 10: Human Nature
  • May 19: Wishmaster
  • May 25: Century Child
  • Jun 7: Once
  • Jun 25: Over The Hills And Far Away
  • Sep 26: Dark Passion Play
  • Nov 1: Angels Fall First
  • Nov 30: Imaginaerum
  • Dec 7: Oceanborn
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  • 2 weeks later...

https://blabbermouth.net/news/nightwish-re-signs-with-nuclear-blast-records

Well, well. Some news of the day. Looks like Nightwish is still sticking around with their label Nuclear Blast for a little longer than expected, and it is even their 20th anniversary with them since they signed with them back in 2004 around the time Once came around.

Edited by Moondance
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I wonder how many albums this 'multi-album' deal involves. 👀 It's something that will probably remain confidential though.

It it a coincidence that this announcement comes on the heels of the completion of the album recording and mastering? Was the label waiting for the finished album before signing a deal?

Of course now that it was down to actually promoting the album and manufacturing the records, the band needed the label's resources. I have a strong feeling that the recording was paid out of pocket by the band and that they will retain all rights to the music, unlike their previous albums.

And while on this topic, Delain's Martijn Westerholt has posted again from Finland and has had a chance to listen to the new album!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nightwish.family/permalink/4070136159879707/

Quote

Being a big fan of Nightwish I wanted to take the time to post a message in this wonderful community here 😄. Being in Finland I had the honor to listen to the new Nightwish album. Its not my place to say anything about it, but one thing I would like to share. Its absolutely stunning! What a fantastic piece of art! I think it will make a lot of people here very happy!

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Many people know what Nightwish or Children of Bodom sound like, but few know that their sound is the work of Mikko Karmila

 

Mikko Karmila is currently mixing Nightwish's album to be released this year.

https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000010135718.html

Helsingin Sanomat, by Mikko Mattlar February 2, 2024 (Google-translated)

 

Recorder-mixer Mikko Karmila had a hand in the game when Finnish metal music reached the wider world. He has been creating the sound for many bands with international careers, starting with Nightwish and Children of Bodom.

Most of my working career has been spent recording, mixing and producing domestic metal records. They still employ Karmila. He is currently mixing Nightwish's album to be released this year.

Cooperation with the band began with their second album Oceanborn in 1998, and since then Karmila has been involved in every studio album.

"When I made the first Nightwish album, I wish there were 40 tracks on it. When I opened the first song from this session, there were 500 tracks. This has become a bit wider, and of course it slows down the work", says Karmila.

His job is to mix the tracks into a whole that sounds good. The work takes place in the Finnvox studio, but most of the recordings are done elsewhere these days.

The drums for Nightwish's new album have been recorded in Hollola, the other instruments in Kitee and the vocals in the soloists' home studios in Sweden and Britain. Audio files come to Karmila on a memory stick or via the Internet.

"Recording the album in a studio with a friend was more comfortable. It had its own feel, and it's a bit of a shame that the band doesn't come to one place anymore. But that's how it is these days."

Mikko Karmila is a private entrepreneur, but he mixes Nightwish's new album at the Finnvox studios on Helsinki's Pitäjänmäki. "The variation in the amount of work is really big. Sometimes it's terribly busy and sometimes it's not."

Karmila has been watching the industry from behind the mixing desk for over forty years. His interest in music began when he got a guitar at the age of 11, and even then he wanted to record his playing. I was also interested in recording my own bands.

"I made the first recordings with my stepfather's interview recorder. Just put the microphone in the middle of the room and play. We played with my band in our living room in an apartment building, and it must have been incredibly great for the neighbor to listen to," Karmila recalls with a laugh.

"From there it slowly expanded, when my friends' bands also wanted me to record them. When I got to the first dune places, I bought a four-track tape recorder, which cost several months' salary. It caused a bit of a stir at home, but I recorded about a hundred demos with it by somewhere around 1990."

Karmila's teenage years were spent in Kerava, where there was lively band activity. The young metal band Stone played at the same training camp. Sekin wanted Karmila to record her demo, and with the band, her way into the industry opened up.

"I also mixed Stone's gigs, and we toured the whole of Finland by bus. I was even with them when they took their demo to the label. When Stone made his first album in MTV's studio in Ilmala in 1987, I was in a proper studio for the first time."

At gigs, Karmila gave people in the industry demo tapes of what she was doing, and in 1989, the band Kolmas nainen wanted her to record their album.

“I tried to educate myself as an engineer, but it seemed boring, and I dropped out of school almost as soon as The Third Woman fell for me. A really nice group, good songs and good players, that's all you can hope for."

Stratovarius's Dreamspace and Waltar's So Fine , which came out in 1994 , were published abroad. Karmila was making both albums, and his name began to appear in the world, but he did not see it as a milestone in his career.

"I just thought that it would be nice if it would do. I also went to record a couple of Stratovarius' gigs in Italy and Greece. It was exciting to go to a foreign country, and there were about 5,000–8,000 people per gig, who were digging like hell.”

The albums of Sonata Arctica, Amorphis and many other Finnish metal bands were also exported. Karmila's cooperation with many has continued since the 1990s until today.

He does not take credit for the success of the albums, even if he is listed as the producer responsible for the whole album.

"I've taken it a bit in the way that we go to the studio with friends and make a record. In that, no one terribly bosses anyone, but we work together, and from that comes what comes."

Karmila has not studied producing and recording, because in her youth there were no schools in the field in Finland. Studying in Britain or the US would have been so expensive that he had no chance of leaving.

Professional skills have been accumulated by working, and versatile music listening has also helped. Karmila does not define a clear sound ideal that she would aim for with his records. More than that, he listens to how the band sounds.

"I like both the Beatles and Metallica, and they are quite different soundscapes. I don't know if anything has to sound like anything else. As long as it sounds like itself - that's quite a lot."

That's what he tries to capture as well as possible, and maybe that's what has made him one of the most respected studio professionals in Finland.

 

Mikko Karmila

  • Born 1964 in Lohja, grew up in Helsinki and Kerava.
  • Recorder, mixer and record producer. Been making 452 records since 1988. The most famous bands, e.g. Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Amorphis, Sonata Arctica, Stone, Stratovarius, Kotitellisuus, Don Huonot, Kolmas nai and Waltari.
  • As a musician in the bands Moon Cakes and East Germany.
  • Lives in Helsinki. He enjoys photography and playing the guitar.
  • Turns 60 on Saturday, February 3rd.

What would you tell your 20-year-old self? "You could study recording a little more. But I was 20 years old in 1984, and at that time it was still quite difficult in Finland."

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Mikko is a damn good mixing and mastering engineer. I look forward to hearing how the new album sounds with all of the double mastering he is doing at the moment.

On 3/13/2024 at 12:45 AM, Fugazi said:

And while on this topic, Delain's Martijn Westerholt has posted again from Finland and has had a chance to listen to the new album!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nightwish.family/permalink/4070136159879707/

Well, when Delain returns to North America (if it happens this year), I will have to ask him how the album sounded.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/26/2024 at 12:01 AM, Fugazi said:

Let's see now which happens first: the album release, or Delain returning to Canada? My bet is on Delain! 😁

I'd say that Delain returning is most likely to happen. You never know though, anything is possible.

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There hasn't been any announcement yet from Delain, although there seems to be a window of opportunity in September and October. This is about the same period I expect the Nighwish album to be released. If I was to guess, I would say that the release date (and track list?) will be revealed with the first single in a month or two.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Many theories floating around on the Internet... One being that there will be some sort of announcement on April 30, 2024 because the latest social posts have featured 30 cogwheels ⚙️, 4 roses 🌹 and 24 butterflies 🦋.

Also, on TikTok (!) Nightwish have posted "Which album are you, based on your birth month?"

https://www.tiktok.com/@nightwish.official/photo/7361467999439637792

...with a different album cover picture for each month of the year, except for May where it says 'Our next album' and a big question mark. Are they suggesting an album release as soon as May? Unlikely, but perhaps an album name or even a single in May would be possible.

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This is it! 🤘

yesterwynde.thumb.jpg.7437e416b62d519a5442a38cce122a40.jpg

"Yesterwynde is a fantastical voyage through time, memory, and the better angels of human nature. Three years in the making, we’re thrilled beyond words to share our tenth album with the world on September 20th!

Single 'Perfume Of The Timeless' will mark the beginning of this new era and will be released on May 21st. Pre-Save the single now: https://nightwish.bfan.link/perfumeofthetimeless.fpo"

1. Yesterwynde
2. An Ocean Of Strange Islands
3. The Antikythera Mechanism
4. The Day Of...
5. Perfume Of The Timeless
6. Sway
7. The Children Of 'Ata
8. Something Whispered Follow Me
9. Spider Silk
10. Hiraeth
11. The Weave
12. Lanternlight

More details here:

https://www.kerrang.com/nightwish-album-yesterwynde-interview-tuomas-holopainen-first-look

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Ok some quick highlights from the interview with Tuomas:

  • "The whole theme of the album is time, history, humanism, mortality. And it has a really optimistic vibe going through it all."
  • "There's going to be an atmospheric mix of the album and the orchestral version of the album.”
  • "There were two journalists yesterday who said, ‘I was expecting something much more metal. This is a really mellow album.’ Really?"
  • "The first single will be a song called Perfume Of The Timeless, and it's eight-and-a-half minutes long, and the chorus comes in at 3:30."
  • "And this album was born from a certain sensation that I felt really strongly, but I couldn't find a word in human language to describe it. [...] It was something like time, memories going black and white, sepia, and I said, ‘something yesterday’. Then [Troy] said, ‘How about Yesterwynde?’ That's perfect! But yeah, it's just a made up word to describe what the album is about."
  • "Jukka [Koskinen], the new bass player, is such a grounding personality that it's so easy to work with him. And his bass playing skills are tremendous, quite different from how Marko played the bass, which also brought a new spice into the music."
  • "People shouldn't get worried. It's not the end of the band. We just signed a multi-record deal with Nuclear Blast, so there will be more music coming, definitely. But as far as shows, we're just gonna have a long breather now and see what happens."

Also, I really like the cover image. I don't know if it's still ToxicAngel, but it looks like hand-drawn art instead of computer graphics, and in a world of fake AI imagery I appreciate that they went back to what looks like human-made art like in the Oceanborn-Wishmaster-Century Child period.

And the 'X' right next to the Nightwish logo, like a reminder this is the 10th album... Well played! 👍

I wonder if the first song 'Yesterwynde' is a full song or just an introduction to the album, perhaps instrumental?

'An Ocean Of Strange Islands' reminds me of the islands poster Tuomas and Joanna have in their home where each island is a short or long term goal.

According to wiki, "Hiraeth is a Welsh word that has no direct English translation. The University of Wales, Lampeter, likens it to a homesickness tinged with grief and sadness over the lost or departed, especially in the context of Wales and Welsh culture. It is a mixture of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness or an earnest desire for the Wales of the past."

I find the song names have more of an Auri vibe than anything Nightwish, but it may be misleading if the music is really heavier. 🤔

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