Tarje- 'At Sea' Reaction

Can I just say how brave it was of Tarja to release a 10 minute song as a first single, especially in today's world and since it also had been 7 years since her latest rock album. And I think that risk payed off very well. I personally think that this song is a masterpiece. Some of Tarja's own songs can be classified as symphonic metal/rock, especially it seems that now she is kinda returning to that and her sound is becoming heavier. However she has done quite a lot of different things with her solo career and I personally can not really say what genre it is, mix of many things. The piano part that starts the whole song is actually from an old Finnish classical composition named Merellä (means At Sea in Finnish) by Oskari Merikanto. Tarja borrowed parts of that melody in this song. When Tarja was in Nightwish she didn't write any songs. The first song she ever wrote was for her first solo album. However, in Nightwish, according to Tarja, she did do some vocal arrangements for the songs. So all her songwriting skills, she has learned after her time in Nightwish. Tarja is also a big part why Nightwish became a metal band. Tuomas decided to form Nightwish as a metal band once he realized the power in Tarja's voice and understood that that kind of big voice needed a bigger sound to back it up, hence a metal band. Also, Emppu and Tuomas already had some background in metal so it felt like a natural change. I would say that their earlier albums had more of a power metal feel to them. Then all of that later on developed into symphonic metal as we know it now.

When Nightwish was first conceived, it was more as mood music. Tuomas hadn't realized how strong Tarja's voice had become and soon transitioned to what was the beginnigs of what became their symphonic metal sound. She is never credited, in those early days as compositional co-contributor. Emppu and especially Marko are. So, I don't think she actually had much to do with the actual creation of the music, though she certainly did in the eventual direction it took. But, good musicians grow and evolve as they mature and I think we see that with Tarja. These are the contributing musicians -- Budapest Art Orchestra & Choir. Key session musicians on the track include drummer Alex Menichini, guitarist Julian Barrett, bass player Pit Barrett, violinist Mervi Myllyoja, and pianist Niklas Pokki. Interesting that you classified this as an art song considering the orchestra and choir that performed.