Tarja - What Lies Beneath

Tarja Turunen is the Marmite of the symphonic metal world. Either you like her vocal style, or you hate it. Having been a fan of Nightwish before her acrimonious split with the band in 2006, I've been intrigued to see what she makes of her solo career. With this week's launch of What Lies Beneath, her second English studio album, she continues to define her own style. A genre unto herself, this one promises more of the experimental classical metal she is famous for.

Despite some pretty mixed reviews about her somewhat lacklustre first album, I actually quite liked it. I didn't even mind the utterly bizarre cover of Alice Cooper's Poison. It didn't blow me away, but it was good stuff. Being a fan of metal and heavy rock and enjoying a bit of classical now and again, maybe I was in a position to better appreciate it. The problem, though, is that her voice is so distinctive, and so powerful, that it eclipsed the music that was supposed to be supporting it.

Thankfully with this new release, that problem is a thing of the past. With better songwriting, much better mixing, and a simplification of styles the music manages to shine through beyond the obvious presence of her multi-octave vocals. Swinging between very heavy rock tracks (although I hesitate to call it metal) and softer, more balladic songs, it's a good showcase for both her vocal and songwriting talents. That being said, I don't think that even this one packs the punch of the albums put out by Nightwish during her tenure with them. Tuomas Holopainent's songwriting style more completely encapsulates her vocal and, in turn, makes for more powerful songs.

There is a host of talent brought in for this album, including Joe Satriana on Falling Awake, and Phil Labonte on Dark Star. Given that Falling Awake contains the lyric "All that remains", maybe Phil should have had a part on both? Aside from these two, the German a capella metal band van Canto play on Anteroom Of Death and Max Lilja, formerly of Apocalyptica, plays cello throughout.

Speaking of Anteroom of Death, I can't help but think that it's a very brave track to put as the album opener. The first time the timing shifted to the mind-bendingly rapid chorus I thought my ears were going to explode. It's certainly nothing like any of Tarja's previous songs, and is possibly the hardest to listen to on the whole album. After that somewhat explosive start, it settles down significantly and there are some very good songs on the remainder of the album.

While some of the tracks, specifically Falling Awake and In For A Kill, are reminiscient of My Winter Storm, the rest stand out as being solid heavy rock songs. The harder, heavier tracks are great to listen to and the softer interludes make the album feel more coherent than it would if it were one hard-hitter after another. It's not, perhaps, as cohesive as My Winter Storm but the songs don't feel out of place together.

This album is definitely a step forward in Tarja's career as a solo artist. The whole thing feels a lot more polished than My Winter Storm, and the songs pack more of a punch than her earlier work. Whether or not anyone will enjoy this album, really, boils down to whether they think a voice like Tarja's is a good fit for a metal album. If so, this is a good album. If not, then there's not a lot to save it from its rather strident centrepiece.