Imaginaerum is the seventh studio album by the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released on 30 November 2011 by Scene Nation Oy and Sony Music in Finland, then on 2 December in Nuclear Blast in the rest of Europe and Roadrunner Records worldwide. According to Nightwish songwriter Tuomas Holopainen, the album is a concept album that tells the story of an old composer who is reminiscing of his youth on his deathbed. The album was produced alongside the movie of the same name, directed by Stobe Harju, who previously directed Nightwish's "The Islander" music video, and the album and the film share the same themes and general story.Nightwish.com - Imaginaerum It is their second and last album with vocalist Anette Olzon, as well as the last with drummer Jukka Nevalainen.
The first single off the album, "Storytime", was released on 9 November 2011 and quickly topped the Finnish single charts. According to Iltasanomat, Imaginaerum sold more than 50,000 copies in Finland on its first day of release. It has been described as Nightwish's best album by Sonic Seducer and was chosen as the album of the month by Dutch metal magazine Aardschok Magazine.
Background While rumours of the next Nightwish album had been circulating for a while, the album was confirmed in the June 2009 edition of the Finnish magazine Soundi, when lead composer and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen stated that he had started work on a new album. In October 2009, rumours about the new album were circulated, suggesting that the title would be Wind Embraced. Lead vocalist Anette Olzon dismissed the rumours as false and stated that the songs for the new album had not yet been completed, with the exception of three songs written before May 2009. Holopainen said in a 2009 interview that "[...]I can't reveal to you anymore but there is going to be a big twist so to say, on the next album." In an interview with uilleann pipist Troy Donockley (who recorded with the band on Dark Passion Play), when asked about his involvement in the new album, he stated "Oh, yes, I will be playing on the next album and, from what Tuomas has told me, it is going to be something extraordinary..."
In early 2010, Olzon reported that the album was half-written, and that fans should not expect anything earlier than fall 2011. In April 2010, Holopainen revealed that he had then finished writing songs for the album, and in June, he had finished recording the pre-production demo. Throughout summer 2010, the band gathered to rehearse songs in the Finnish village of Sävi, and recording of the album started in October 2010 and ended in May 2011, while the finished album stood ready on June 4.
The band announced in late 2010 that more information about the album's content would be released in late January 2011, but on February 1, the official website bore a statement written by Holopainen that there would be a delay in the information being released due to schedule changes. He added, however, that "it still is the Burton-Gaiman-Dalí amusement park we are about to enter." In the same statement, it was also revealed that the album would be themed, and that "mood changes seem to be more present than ever before". The orchestration demos he had received from Pip Williams were described as "beautiful, twisted, tribal and cinematic stuff". In the Finnish version of the statement, it was also revealed that a few songs would not be getting any orchestration at all, differing from their latest album, on which all songs had a major orchestral presence.
On 10 February 2011 Nightwish announced on their website that the new album title would be Imaginarium. They also revealed that the band had been preparing a movie based on the album, which would be released in 2012 and directed by Stobe Harju, who previously directed the music video for "The Islander". According to Tuomas, the name was meant to be related to "the power of imagination and the roller coaster of life". At first he thought of Imagine, but that would be too obvious and similar to John Lennon's song, so he changed it to Imaginarium.
On February 23, three interviews were released on the website - one each with composer Tuomas Holopainen, director Stobe Harju, and producer Markus Selin. Holopainen revealed the origin of the project, and that Nightwish will appear as themselves in the film, with minor roles. On August 31, the band announced that the album and movie had changed name from Imaginarium to Imaginaerum, to avoid mix-ups with other things entitled "Imaginarium". This also led to changing the title of the track with the same name, but the song "Storytime" still includes the word "imaginarium" in the lyrics.
In early September, it was announced that the first single from the album would be "Storytime". A week later, the band released the Imaginaerum cover, track list and commentary on each song written by Holopainen. "Storytime" was released as a CD, download and as a video through YouTube on November 9, and after a mere week the band announced that the single was topping the Finnish single chart, as well as having high positions in Hungary and Great Britain. On November 18, Amazon released 30-second samples from every song off the album, and the band shortly announced on their website that Amazon had done so without their knowledge, and that they recommended that one shouldn't listen to them, if one "want(ed) to experience the true impact of the album".
On November 23, the Finnish Disney comics magazine, Aku Ankka, collaborated with the band in a pre-listening of the song "The Crow, the Owl and the Dove", which was released on Aku Ankka's website and required a code that was given in that week's issue of the magazine. Within hours, unlicensed copies of the song were available on YouTube and various torrent sites. Nightwish confirmed on January 11 that this will be the second single of the album.
Production The planning phase of the album started in the beginning of 2008, while Holopainen was on the Dark Passion Play World Tour (October 2007 - September 2009). In May 2009 he had the concept clear, as well as three or so finished songs. In March 2010, Holopainen finished writing the music for the last song, while some lyrics still were unfinished, and on June 2, the pre-production demo had been recorded. In the summer of 2010, the band (except for singer Anette Olzon, who was pregnant at the time) gathered for rehearsal in the Finnish village of Sävi. Olzon would later join the band on September 6 to rehearse and record her vocal demos.
At this time, there were twelve songs planned for the album. The last one, the title track, was later decided to be cut into two separate songs, "Song of Myself" and "Imaginaerum". Holopainen has described the situation as similar to the song "The Poet and the Pendulum" on Dark Passion Play, and its final part "Mother and Father", which was also discussed to be cut into another song, but decided to be kept as a single track.
The first proper recording for the album was drums, which Jukka Nevalainen started recording in October 2010. On October 20, all drum recordings were finished, whereas Emppu Vuorinen started recording the guitar tracks. Around New Year, Vuorinen had finished all comp tracks and about half of the leads to the album, planning to record acoustic and solo sections after the orchestral and choir sessions in February. At the same time, Marko Hietala had finished all his bass recordings throughout December.
In February 2011, the orchestral and choir parts were rehearsed and recorded in Angel Recording Studios in London. Most players of the 53-piece orchestra had already worked with the band on the previous albums Once (2004) and Dark Passion Play (2007), including the orchestral arranger Pip Williams. One difference from earlier orchestra recordings were the decision to record all rhythmic instruments separate from the rest of the orchestra, making it easier for the mixing process. Around this time, the decision had been made to divide the title track into the two separate "Song of Myself" and "Imaginarium",The song (and the album) "Imaginarium" would later change name to "Imaginaerum" in the summer of 2011. and the orchestra and choir recorded 13 songs, not 12 as had originally been planned. It was also around this time that the band had settled on an album name - Imaginarium, which later changed its spelling to Imaginaerum.
Anette Olzon's vocal recordings were originally planned for 7 March 2011 but plans changed when she fell in her home a few days before and broke her rib, and the date was changed to early April. Male vocalist (and bassist) Marko Hietala was instead called in to record his parts early, so to not waste the booked studio time, but before being able to start recording, Hietala as well slipped and hurt his rib, and had to hold several days before starting the recording. At the same time, recording engineer Mikko Karmila was home sick, and the day after Hietala had slipped, the other recording engineer Tero Kinnunen was run over by a horse and cart. Holopainen would later refer to this as "the Curse of the Mummy".
Towards the end of March, according to Hietala, "the mummy's curse [...] seems to have lifted a bit". He had by this time finished all but one male vocal tracks, and Holopainen had finished all his keyboard, piano and hammond parts, alongside a great portion of soundscapes. Through the end of March and the beginning of April, the band recorded "final touches" for the album while waiting for Olzon to get well enough to record her parts. This included some additional percussion and tribal drums, as well as the guest recordings of Troy Donockley and Pekka Kuusisto. By April 9, Olzon had still not recovered completely, but she was well enough for it not to affect her singing, and by mid-April all her vocals were finished.
On 4 June 2011 the crew had finalized the album, and Holopainen listened through it from start to finish. He wrote of it:
Concept and storyline
Connections between the film and the album The album is produced alongside the film with the same name, directed by Stobe Harju and described as an "emotional fantasy-adventure", and feature the same basic themes and ideas, though told in more detail and with more extensive characters in the film than in the album. According to Holopainen, the film has evolved radically from the original plan, while still retaining the main spirit of the foundation. To Holopainen, it "was important from the very beginning that the album would work as its own individual piece of art" that would "work on its own without the film". According to drummer Jukka Nevalainen, "this is not a concept album per se", but it's "a coherent package from the beginning to the end".
The foundations to the music were developed before the pre-production of the film, during which Holopainen and Harju collaborated in developing the characters and the script.
Musical and lyrical content The album has been described as following a natural development from Dark Passion Play, inspired greatly by film scores. Like Dark Passion Play as well as Once and Century Child it features a live orchestra, again orchestrated by Pip Williams. The orchestrations have been described as "beautiful, twisted, tribal and cinematic", but will not be featured on every track as it was on Dark Passion Play. Bassist Marko Hietala has emphasized that the album is heavier than the predecessor. Imaginaerum is the first Nightwish album since their debut that features no music written by the guitarist Emppu Vuorinen. The reason for this, according to Vuorinen, is that after the long and exhausting touring for Dark Passion Play, he had no interest in touching his instrument for months.