Tarja
What Lies Beneath

Three years after her 2007 solo debut, the well-regarded "My Winter Storm," Tarja Turunen, former vocalist of Nightwish, who left Tuomas Holopainen's band for reasons that are now well-known and which I won't repeat here, decides to make her personal mark on the metal world by releasing an album whose sounds depart from the "wintery" vibes of the previous record in favor of a sound more oriented towards the heavy component that has always been missing even from the band she parted ways with; in doing so, she surrounds herself with more or less renowned guests from the metal world (Joe Satriani with his guitar in "Falling Awake" and Mike Terrana on drums, just to name a few) and avails herself of an outstanding production that makes the record a real pleasure for the ears.

It is therefore unfortunate to note that, despite the great musicians gathered and the fact that Tarja herself decided to step up and play the piano (quite a feat for a production like this), listening to this "What Lies Beneath" one constantly senses a missed opportunity: Turunen has always been torn between the inclination to satisfy fans who want to see her tackling heavy pieces and her natural tendency to use her voice for ballads and more melodic tracks (listen to "Sleeping Sun" from "Oceanborn" and "The Reign" from "My Winter Storm" to get an idea). This results in a schizophrenic album that divides itself into typically metal tracks, like "Dark Star," "Little Lies," and "Crimson Deep," and slow ballads (too slow) such as "Underneath" and "Rivers of Lust"; this wouldn't even be a problem, except that despite the good quality of all the pieces, there is always that sense that a handbrake is constantly being applied to the instruments and ideas, only being released on certain occasions. It is regrettable too that, when this happens, the results are always of excellent quality: "Until My Last Breath," "Falling Awake," and "I Feel Immortal" have perfect choruses (not surprisingly chosen as singles), "In For a Kill" is highly appreciated for its pathos-filled crescendo, "Anteroom of Death," with its harpsichord melody very much à la Emilie Autumn, is an enjoyable experimentation with sounds never before touched by Turunen, and "The Archive of Lost Dreams," with its evocative lyrics, highlights the strong songwriting skills of our artist; it's just a pity that Tarja isn't able to recreate the same magic in the other songs on the album.

The end result is still an enjoyable album that more than adequately passes, given also the fact that at the microphone is always a very talented soprano who, even in "What Lies Beneath," gives us a good vocal performance (although a not-too-pleasant overuse of vibrato is noticeable). However, there remains a slight disappointment in seeing, or rather, hearing a missed opportunity to give birth to a second album of truly high quality that would surpass the nevertheless good "My Winter Storm" (which, moreover, was more cohesive and solid in terms of concept and sound). Therefore, I hope for a better performance with the upcoming "Colours in The Dark," due for release in August, and whose single "Victim of Ritual" seems promising.

Last note: I highly recommend listening to Kerli's version of "I Feel Immortal," the Estonian singer-songwriter who composed the song for Tarja and re-recorded the piece for "Frankenweenie Unleashed!," a collection of songs inspired by Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie."