ENDLESS FORMS MOST BEAUTIFUL

Description

Their studio work “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” is the first album by Nightwish with singer Floor Jansen. Here, the Finns reflect on the meaning of life, theories of evolution, and the individual beauty of all living beings and all species. Their vast musical universe seems in part harder, more folk, but above all more experimental. Powerful, ballad-like tracks alternate with truly catchy anthems. The highlight is certainly the 24-minute title track “The Greatest Show On Earth.” The song is based on the title of a book by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and deals solely with the development of planet Earth. Given the 1.6 billion years that this takes, 24 minutes make for a very condensed summary. There are also a few spoken passages by Richard Dawkins on “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” in which he quotes the writings of Charles Darwin and his own books. The collaboration with Richard Dawkins surprisingly caused a storm for Nightwish. Songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, who as a child wanted to become a biologist himself, is surprised by the reactions. Apparently, evolutionary biologists are more shocking these days than satanism or drug excesses. “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” is a concept album about science. For Tuomas, who has read many scientific works by Richard Dawkins, Brian Cox and Carl Sagan in recent years, there is a lot of poetry and beauty in scientific observation. Nightwish gives its symphonic metal an unusual conceptual approach with the new album “Endless Forms Most Beautiful.” The result is once again incredibly beautiful, inspiring and captivating.