It has been over two years since Nightwish released their Human. :II: Nature. LP, and it sounds as if we'll have to wait just a bit longer for it's follow up, according to keyboardist and main composer Tuomas Holopainen in a recent interview with Rock Sverige.
"I've got all the songs done during the pandemic. [I thought] I might as well use that time," Holopainen said. "We listened to the demos for the first time with the whole band about three weeks ago when we were in America. Things are rolling."
According to Holopainen, he wrote the new tracks over the course of a year, and then revealed that "We're hitting the studio next summer, so in about a year from now" is when we can expect some new music from Nightwish. About the new music, Holopainen said, "lyrically there's a couple of things that reflects the pandemic, but not in the way you would expect."
So, that's what we know so far about the album. Earlier this year, Nightwish lead singer Floor Jansen released a pair of solo singles. The first track, “Fire,” was released in March, and at the time, we noted that while it wasn’t much of a departure from Nightwish, we were definitely fond of the track and applauded its chillout tone. Floor was asked in an interview with FaceCulture if a full solo album was in the immediate cards for her, and it didn’t seem likely—largely because of Nightwish's schedule, and hinted towards a new album from the band.
“[I have] a lot more songs ready, [but] there's not an album ready… because it would make no sense to have one,” Jansen said “Due to the pandemic, there's an entire Nightwish [album] still not done and still yet to be done. As it looks like, we actually are gonna do that now…. So there's no time for [a solo album] — which is a luxury problem on itself. But it's fun. And that's also a big difference with this pop music thing—you can release singles. It's not an album-based world; it's completely different."
Nightwish and Beast In Black played Terminal 5 in New York City on May 8, and our photographer Rodrigo Fredes was there to capture all the action! You can check those images out here.
