Tarja
Colours in the Dark

July 2013
Released: 2013, earMusic
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Metal-Rules.com UK Team

The connotation of the third self written studio album is always a daunting task, as the dust has cleared from the first two hurdles of determination, all eyes have turned to the anticipation of the third, this is often where most musicians fall over. This however, is not something that the beautiful both in and outwardly, angelic soprano solo artist Tarja Turunen has fallen over.



The artist who has been on a vast musical journey from her initial Christmas and classical music themed album “Henkäys Ikuisuudesta” [2006] via the re-direction of her talents back to the darker sides of music with her solo previous works “My winter storm”[2007] and “What lies beneath” [2010] has grown musically. With Latest offering “Colours in the Dark” [2013] she is back with a release that is a creative combination of her strongest, darkest and exploratory vocals, lyrical theme and musical dynamics to date.



Really exploring the key fundamentals of the dark aspects of the album, with the winning combination of strong the vocal melodies and musical harmonies that sound like listening to beautiful crushed velvet which serves to soothe and enlighten the listeners with a commandment of great magnitude.



The album has great journey’s into the souls of stories with slices such as “500 letters” that bursts in the sultry rhythms of musical sadness and soaring vocal line combination. While other tracks such as heavy classically laced opera piece “Mystic Voyage” and contrasting “Darkness” whose themes show the conflictions of the human psyche from a fresh and illustrative perspective. The first single released “Never enough” hits like a slab of metallic delight and prowess with a delightful sing along able chorus and crunching head-bangable breakdown.



Becoming like a book that you don’t want to put down the album harbours a nature that wants you to return as soon as possible, as the finale gravitates you towards a re-listen of seamlessly propelled deliverance of a raconteur style of delicate stories.



As an artist and solo musician her radical departure from the first album “My winter storm” has given Tarja the confidence with song writing and has been granted a power that gives her access to the full throttle charge that lies behind “Colours in the dark” By keeping this delicate balance between a full on metal album at bay with the beauty of her flight filled vocals of that are both symphonically bombastic laced with the definitive style of gothic tales and operatic natures.



Review by Ashlinn Nash