Review Summary: I think 2 chances are enough, sorry Tarja you might as well stick to arias and covers unless you can surprise me with something.
When word came out that Tarja Turunen was going to release a new album, I wasn't so excited for it. After that failed attempt at making things better with "What Lies Beneath' I knew Tarja wasn't so fitting for the metal scene anymore. Her voice didn't go well with the heavy riffs and neither did the melody or atmosphere fit with Tarja's voice anymore. A solo career did sound awesome at first but even the release of "My Winter Storm" (my favorite out of all the 4 studio albums this women has made) failed dramatically.
So with that all in my mind I still had the heart and sympathy to give Tarja another chance. "Colors in The Dark" was released in September and I miraculously went on and took a listen to it. The album begins with "Victim Of Ritual" a single released by Tarja during the summer. This single caught my eyes and ears on Tarja's musical direction. Now although it wasn't exactly a good song or even a unique single, I was still interested in what Tarja was going to create with "Colours In The Dark". But continuing on with the album we hear an experimental sound throughout all the songs.
The next two songs "500 letters" and "Lucid Dreamer" express more of Tarja's basic setting in her previous albums but still have that experimental atmosphere. The orchestral arrangement really sets the experimentation and crossover in all the songs. "Lucid Dreamer" really stands out out of all the songs in the album, once you listen to that song you will understand what I mean.
"Never Enough" is where the downfall occurs. This is my reasoning for not having a desire to listen to Tarja anymore. Her vocals and the mediocre melody instantly kills the mood of the album. The heavy guitar riffs and progressive rock sound fail to handle Tarja's classical voice and vibrato. But we can't blame that for the whole entire downfall, no its Tarja's voice that destroys the song and pretty much the rest of the album.
It seems between "Mystique Voyage" to the heavy metal song "Neverlight" we hear a crossover between something I would hear from "Bjork" and indie rock. To be honest this direction hasn't really made Tarja stand out or sound any better compared to her other albums. Although it doesn't hold her back any further from making a brilliant album, it just makes her image stale. The cover "Darkness" (originally from Peter Gabriel) is the second song that stands out, a nice example that Tarja still has it, but yet again its a cover. "Medusa" is an alternative sound but sadly its too stretched out (as well as the rest of the album).
Now I am not going to sit here and judge this women because she made another average mainstream metal album. I give Tarja props for heading at an experimental pathway with "Colours in the Dark". Tarja released an album that in my opinion many die hard fans will enjoy and appreciate. As for metal listeners and music listeners in general I wouldn't say the same thing. It's pretty much a cherry pick of a couple of good decent songs and leaving the boring tracks there to just sit and rot. On a brighter note this women is collabing with "Within Temptation" so lets see where that goes with Tarja's career.
Pros:
Great orchestral arrangement and musical composition (in terms of instrumental).
Lucid Dreamer honesty amazed me and surprised me that Tarja can produce such a advant garde song. Nice psychological feeling when listening to it.
Pretty much all die hard Tarja fans will like this album.
Cons:
Tarja voice, even though she had improved a lot she still can't compete with the melodies and the heavy metal sound.
She tried too hard, you can hear it when listening to the album.
Gets really boring, many songs are too stretched out.
A bit heavier would have been nice.
