Tarja Turunen - My Winter Storm (2009)

CD1
1 Ite, Missa Est 
2 I Walk Alone 
3 Lost Northern Star 
4 Seeking For The Reign 
5 The Reign 
6 The Escape Of The Doll 
7 My Little Phoenix 
8 Boy And The Ghost 
9 Sing For Me 
10 Oasis 
11 Poison 
12 Our Great Divide 
13 Sunset 
14 Damned And Divine 
15 Die Alive 
16 "The Seer" (Deleted Scene - UK Bonus Track) 
17 Minor Heaven 
18 Ciaran's Well 
19 Calling Grace

CD2
1. "Enough" 
2. "The Seer" (feat. Doro Pesch) 
3. "Lost Northern Star" (Tägtgren Remix) 
4. "Wisdom of Wind" 
5. "The Reign" (Score Mix) 
6. "Die Alive" (Alternative Version) 
7. "Boy and the Ghost" (Izumix) 
8. "Calling Grace" (Full Version) 
9. "Lost Northern Star" (Ambience Sublow Mix) 
10. "Damned and Divine" (live in Kuusankoski) 
11. "You Would Have Loved This" (live in Kuusankoski) 
12. "Our Great Divide" (live in Kuusankoski) 
13. "Ciarán's Well" (live in Kuusankoski) 

Acoustic Guitar – Kiko Loureiro
Arranged By [Electronic Arrangements], Sound Designer [Ambient Music Design] – Mel Wesson
Arranged By [Orchestral And Choir Arrangements] – James Dooley 
Bass – Doug Wimbish
Cello, Cello [Electric] – Martin Tillman
Chorus – Czech Film Choir
Chorus Master [Choir] – Jan Brych
Conductor [Orchestra] – Jiří Kubík
Drums – Earl Harvin
Electric Guitar – Alex Scholpp 
Keyboards, Programmed By – Torsten Stenzel
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Tarja Turunen
Orchestra – Czech Film Orchestra
Piano – Izumi Kawakatsu
Violin – Lili Haydin

Here she comes, here she comes, we've been waiting for so long. Indeed, the ex-Nightwish wonderwoman Tarja Turunen is back striking the audiences with an enormously long album "My Winter Storm", filled with numerous bonus tracks and even an Alice Cooper cover "Poison". Tarja's solo project was spellbinding even during the days when she was still singing for Nightwish. After her departure both "Dark Passion Play" (by Nightwish) and "My Winter Storm" were among the most anticipated albums of the year. Nightwish's new album met enormous success. Tarja's solo project seems to be more modest. But we'll see what her album has to offer.

Tarja always stated she was an opera performer after all. Therefore it is visible that the style she's making now is somehow similar to Sarah Brightman. However, compared to the more experienced Brightman My Winter Storm cannot be considered a sensational masterpiece. The positive sides of the album do resemble Brightman. The beautiful choruses, the string ensemble melodies and the mild percussion make the music very enjoyable and create a perfect romantic atmosphere. Nevertheless, when it comes to producing symphonic metal, then the album loses some of its quality. There is not a drop of Nightwish style here. Tarja isn't obviously writing all of the music and has a crew of producers, managers and other people to do the job. Since so many people are working at the music then it's sad but true that the stitches joining the ideas start to unravel in some places. That always happens when it comes to industrial production of music. The minus of the album is that the metal background becomes monotonous by the end. A major danger while composing long releases.

However, Turunen has always been a good singer and she does a fine job on this album as well. We will definitely see her making more good music and developing her own fine style. My personal favourites among the songs of My Winter Storm would be "Die Alive", "The Reign", "My Little Phoenix" and "Lost Northern Star". The beautiful Finnish language ballad "Oasis" is also one of the best tracks of the album. Though I like Mozart's "Requiem" a lot I don't think that using bits of it in the two opening songs of the album would add much to it. Her "I'm never tired when it comes to praising myself" attitude isn't a plus either but at the same time Dark Passion Play features it as well and whether we want it or not this is an essential attitude for most celebrities.

As a result I'll make a nice clear conclusion. Tarja's My Winter Storm isn't exactly the best album of the year but it shows great potential and I'm sure that a grand future lies ahead of Tarja and she has the talent to create best music. I'll be waiting for her new releases in the future and why not hope for a Nightwish featuring Tarja Turunen project. The hopes are high and for the moment now My Winter Storm receives a magical 7.7. ---Ernis, metalstorm.net

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