TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN Has 'Written About 80 Or 90 Percent Of The Material' For Next NIGHTWISH Album

July 19, 2018

Earlier this month, NIGHTWISH keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen took part in a question-and-answer session at the Kitee International Music And Art Festival in Kitee, Finland. You can now watch the discussion below.

Asked about the progress of the songwriting sessions for NIGHTWISH's follow-up to 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" record, Tuomas said: "The next album is well on its way. I've written about 80 or 90 percent of the material so far. All floodgates opened last October when we finished with the AURI project [in which he is joined by his wife, popular Finnish singer Johanna Kurkela, and NIGHTWISH multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley], and I was listening to the album and just something clicked in my head. And I've been really excited about writing songs ever since. And just last night I got another song finished. So it's gonna be 10, 11 songs, most likely. And we're gonna start recording next summer, in July, so if everything goes as planned, we're looking at a spring 2020 release."

According to Tuomas, the next NIGHTWISH album will be rehearsed, arranged and recorded at "the traditional NIGHTWISH summer camp" in Kitee, with the exception of the drum recordings, which will take place elsewhere. "And [then we will go] back to London for some orchestra and some choirs and then we're gonna mix it at Finnvox [studios in Helsinki]," he said.

Holopainen addd that he had a "strong hunch" that the orchestral elements on NIGHTWISH's next album will be used "in quite a different way than before. I just personaly feel that we took it to the maximum on the previous album, but it's such an essential part of the band and the sound of it that we don't want to get rid of the orchestra, I think, ever," he said. "But you wanna search for some new ways of using it so that it doesn't end up sounding the same as before. And we have some good ideas for that."

Tuomas also revealed that there is a lyrical theme tying together all the songs he has written for NIGHTWISH's next record, but he declined to elaborate, saying: "No other bandmembers have heard anything. We've had some discussions over the things and some of the songs, but it's in such an early stage, and I'm still working at home on my own, so… let's keep it a mystery a while longer."

Holopainen went on to say that NIGHTWISH will professionally film and record one of the shows on the group's current tour in support of its recently released "Decades" compilation for a possible DVD release. He explained: "The majority of these songs that we are doing on this tour are never gonna be played again, I think, so it's a good idea to immortalize them."

NIGHTWISH's next album will mark the band's second full-length release with singer Floor Jansen, who has been touring with the group since 2012.

"Decades" was released on March 9.

Find more on Nightwish
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).