THE DARK ELEMENT

Songs The Night Sings FRONTIERS

Sparkling second album from ex-’wish star.

Both blessed and cursed by a brief but eventful stint as singer with Nightwish, Anette Olzon could easily have abandoned symphonic metal in a fit of artistic pique. Thus far, her current band The Dark Element have done plenty to prove that she remains a worthy contributor to the genre, that pure but oddly traditional voice of hers sounding much more at home amid brisk and bright pop-tinged anthems than plonked in the middle of her previous band’s overbearing opulence. As with 2017’s self-titled debut, Songs The Night Sings errs on the side of simplicity, albeit with all the usual high production values and faux-orchestral trimmings that this kind of music demands. From deceptively intricate opener Not Your Monster onwards, it’s obvious that in guitarist Jani Liimatainen Olzon has found the perfect creative foil: these are songs that get the balance between ballsout heaviness, singalong sparkle and finessed experimenting absolutely right. The best of them – the urgent, 80s-saluting Silence Between The Words; the pacey, futuristic melodrama of The Pallbearer Walks Alone – showcase both what a genuinely great singer Olzon is and how TDE are conducting their own subtly revolutionary symphony.