On Nov. 30th of this past year, the Finnish band Nightwish released their seventh studio album by the very long and confusing name of “Imaginaerum”. Like great albums such as Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and Queensryche’s “Operation Mindcrime”, “Imaginaerum” tells the audience a story.

The story being spun is of an old composer on his deathbed, reminiscing his youth. The album goes on to weave this tale from powerfully written songs such as “Storytime” and “The Crow, the Owl, and the Dove”, the first two singles off the album. While it was a fun album to listen to and wonderfully put together, there were a few instances where I personally felt like it was a little alien, or dry.

“Imaginaerum” is different in the fact that no two songs are written alike. In the end, it helps move the story along and even furthers the deepness of the album. However, during one or two songs, I felt as though it either stretched on a little too long, or the song just got too strange. For example, the song “Song of Myself”, which ended up stretching on for a little over 13 minutes and featured a 10 minute monologue.

Despite the odd ends of the album, “Imaginaerum” is a wonderful album that in the end should be in any music connoisseur’s collection.