NIGHTWISH’s ‘Storytime’ Single Tops Finnish Chart

“Storytime”, the new single from Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH, has topped the official chart in Finland.

“Storytime” was released as a single on Friday, November 11 via Nuclear Blast Records. The song comes off NIGHTWISH’s new album, “Imaginaerum”, which is due in North America on January 10, 2012 via Roadrunner Records. The CD is the band’s first since 2007’s “Dark Passion Play”, which was then-new singer Anette Olzon’s debut.

The band examined its catalog when sitting down to write what would become “Imaginaerum”. The songs for the album were written between 2008 and 2010, after the “Dark Passion Play” tour cycle ended.

At that point, NIGHTWISH knew they wanted to do something different, new and unique, which is
exceptional for a band whose career has been defined by words like
different, new and unique!

The band consciously wanted to do
something so big, crossover, detailed, innovative and, well, “nuts,”
that it would leave the band, and hopefully the people experiencing it,
completely awestruck. It would be a situation where fans and/or critics
would either love it or hate it, but they’d be left awestruck
nonetheless. That’s when the band realized another dimension, namely
video, was necessary for the project.

Instead of a concept album, the band set the album to a film.

“The original idea I had was to film 13 short stories related to the songs with a connected storyline, shot by Stobe Harju,” keyboardist/songwriter Tuomas Holopainen said. It was Harju’s idea to turn the 13 stories and visions into more of a connected
cinematic piece — essentially, a film. It would have a clear plot,
script, dialogue and real actors in an ambitious effort to create
something wholly unique.The film was shot in September of this year.

The
movie is based on the album and its 13 tracks, honoring the original
ideas, but having evolved radically from the initial plan. Holopainen said, “Still, it was important from the very beginning that the album
would work as its own individual piece of art, as well. It is a thematic album about life itself, about imagination, love, goodness and beauty,
with a touch of darkness and melancholy, which are strongly included in
all of those things mentioned.”

The band will have but a small part in the film. A 2012 premiere date is being eyed.

“Imaginaerum” release dates:

Finland: November 30
Europe: December 2
Australia: January 6
North America: January 10
Japan: January 11
New Zealand: January 16

NIGHTWISH will kick off the “Imaginaerum” world tour in Los Angeles. The very first show of the trek will take
place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on
Saturday, January 21. This will be the biggest NIGHTWISH show production ever on North American soil and strictly a one-off — there will be no U.S. tour until later in 2012.

Source: E-Prog