Track Listing

1. IWALKALONE
2. LOST NORTHERN STAR
3. THE REIGN
4. MY LITTLE PHOENIX
5. BOY ANDTHE GHOST
6. SING FOR ME
7. OASIS
8. POISON
9. OUR GREAT DIVIDE
10. DAMNEDAND DIVINE
11. DIE ALIVE
12. THE SEER*
13. MINOR HEAVEN
14. CIARAN'SWELL
15. CALLING GRACE*BONUS TRACK FOR THE UK

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15039 in Music
• Released on: 2007-11-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Customer Reviews

A beautiful project that was well worth the wait!
MWS is an incredibly varied, adventurous and atmospheric album and one of the most beautiful I've heard in years. Tarja admits to being heavily influenced by cinematic soundscaping and each song has been given its own individual feel through sound textures in addition to the music and lyrics. The heavier pieces will appeal to a lot of us who found her through Nightwish - Ciaran's Well, which very much feels like the bit of fun she intended it to be, and Lost Northern Star, which reminds me of Rammstein. On the softer side, her very own composition, Oasis, is a lush and serene piano/cello/voice combination, and she has some very haunting slower pieces such as Minor Heaven and Our Great Divide. As the other reviewer said, Poison is a decent cover, and I hope she does it live as it will be quite fun for both the band and the attendees!

The nice thing about Tarja is that even when her material is less than brilliant (there are a couple of songs that were a bit bland - My Little Phoenix, Calling Grace), she's still better than most! She has also gained a wider ability with her voice both in style and tone, and her enunciation is much improved from her Nightwish days.

A bit of advice: this album makes the most sense if you take the time to sit down and listen to it in one go. The songs themselves are less like... well, songs. They are like individual stories that fit together and I found that the straight-through listen gave the album a cohesion that is very rare in modern music. A theme begun in this song pops up later on, and image here surfaces again there. Tarja has put a lot of thought into the feeling she wanted to convey, and it really shows.

Overall, I have not loved an album so instantly before - it is beautiful from start to finish, and there is that real mixture of intensity, serenity and energy that made Tarja so appealing during her time with NW.

And look, I've resisted comparing MWS to DPP :)

A Very Tarja Album
When Tarja said her album would contain elements of heavy metal, I thought there would only be one or two up-tempo tracks to keep the Nightwish fans happy. This is not the case.
The album contains plenty of hard-hitting symphonic metal, my favourite being the very tasty 'Ciarán's Well'. The guitars are as vicious on this album as the melodies are haunting. That being said there are no shortage of slow, moving songs here. It did take me a few listens to fully appreciate the slower songs as I found them a little overbearing and monotonous at first.
Looking through the lyrics, and seeing as the album is split into three acts, I've come to realise that there is a narrative running through the songs, especially since Turunen uses various archytypal metaphors such as the Dead Boy and the Phoenix. It makes for a very compelling listen.
The orchestration isn't extremely complex, but it does its job in bringing the new songs to life while the choir provides its own chilling moments. Tarja's performance itself is flawless, probably her best ever recording on an album as she mixes her contemporary technique with her unmistakabe, incomparable operatic voice.
I couldn't be happier with Tarja's solo debut. It captures the majesty of her voice and the flare of her vision while taking you on a dark, emotional and atmospheric journey. I was also glad to find out that my personal favourite 'Oasis' was written solely by Tarja herself.

Does she walk alone?
Yes, it's a great album. No, it CANNOT be compared to Nightwish. As Tarja already said this album is a classical one but with some metal arrangements, and that's true in "ciarrens well", "poison", "lost northern star", "my little phoenix" and "die alone". However, we will have to admit that it's not as heavy as nightwish once was (not anymore), but it still is a great album. As you might already know Tarja composed "Oasis" and as for my oppinion is the best track in the whole album. I rated the album as 4 stars simply because it's not a heavy metal album (and i love heavy metal).

For those who like her beautiful voice and really great musical arrangements this is the album for you.

p.s- don't expect tracks like "over the hills and far away". This album is simply not that kind of album. Tarja is not trying to be Nightwish. Tarja is Tarja and this is it.

Regards.