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Tarja - What Lies Beneath

The ex-Nightwish singer is back with some gothy overtones...

Rating: 7

Outside of her native Finland, Tarja Turunen is still best known as the original singer for symphonic metallers Nightwish, yet ‘What Lies Beneath’ sees the soprano stepping ever further from out of their not inconsiderable shadow. Recorded in several locations and mixed by a variety of hands, this feels more like a highly accomplished collection of songs than a fully cohesive album, with the majority of the tracks falling into one of a few distinct camps. So, we get the gothy overtones of ‘Until My Last Breath’ and ‘Falling Awake’ (the former highly reminiscent of fellow Finns HIM and the latter featuring a superb star turn from Joe Satriani), the pop-metal choruses of ‘Little Lies’ and ‘Dark Star’ (featuring Phil Labonte), and the piano-led classical balladry of ‘Rivers Of Lust’ and ‘The Archive Of Lost Dreams’. With Tarja’s touring musicians having been recruited for the recording, there’s more of a ‘band’ feel here than on previous album ‘My Winter Storm’, along with a greater focus on crunchy guitars, but this remains very much a distinctly classy showcase for Turunen’s utterly flawless, inimitable
vocals, strong songwriting skills, and admirable desire to neither rest on her laurels, nor confine herself to any particular style.

Pete Withers