Album review: Tarja – Frisson Noir

Standing alone is a tough thing for anyone to do, and former Nightwish chanteuse Tarja Turunen has been doing that for two decades now. Blessed with a uniquely operatic voice, she’s stuck rigidly to her path, not finding favour with all, but gaining respect in the process. It’s hard to keep track of her solo work as she has balanced metal with classical offerings, but one thing that can be said about tenth album Frisson Noir is that it’s easily the heaviest thing she’s done.

It’s a lengthy album, over an hour, and features guest appearances from fellow ex-Nightwish star Marko Hietala (the not-quite-satisfying Leap Of Faith), an arresting growl-meets-purity contest with Dani Filth (I Don’t Care), and best of all, a brilliant coming together with fellow classical metallists Apocalyptica. The latter, Tango, is a twisty blend of all the things its founders are famous for, with the odd surprise. Elsewhere, and especially on At Sea, a 10-minute epic, you witness commendable enterprise and flawless musicality although (whisper it) the actual song isn’t that great.

In a nutshell, that’s the challenge here. While it’s clear that a ton of thought has gone into this album, using every production trick in the book and enough musical talent to populate a festival, it’s the songs themselves that don’t entirely strike gold. There is of course some great stuff here where greatness gets realised in widescreen, but there is, if anything, too much going on. A resort to simplicity in some cases might have allowed it to hit harder.

That being said, Frisson Noir is its own mighty world and a strong statement regarding its principal creator’s talent. It’s not the sort of album to snare new fans, but existing ones with the required patience will want to bathe in its glory repeatedly. In that sense, it’s mission accomplished.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Epica, Avantasia, Dream Theater

Frisson Noir is out June 12 via earMUSIC.