Tarja – Colours in the Dark (2013)

Three years after “What Lies Beneath”, iconic singer Tarja finally returns with another bombastic release titled “Colours in the Dark”. Ever since her departure from Nightwish, Tarja has constantly been delivering amazing releases filled with her characteristic vocal style and expertly crafted with world class musicians to produce some of the most exciting and lush Symphonic Rock/Metal releases of the last few years.

Opening with the engaging “Victim of Ritual”, we get an excellent balance between catchiness, operatic singing, and explosive musical arrangements. Surrounding herself with musicians of the caliber of Mike Terrana and Max Lilja (ex-Apocalytica), Tarja manages to create very elaborate songs that fit her vocal skills perfectly and allows them to shine to the max. This release is filled with very energetic tracks such as the melancholic “Lucid Dreamer” and the engaging “Never Enough”. Other songs take darker and more classical approach like the excellent “Mystique Voyage”.

It is nice to see that Tarja has always tried to distance herself from her previous band and with every single release of hers she has been defining her own signature sound. With tracks like “Deliverance” and “Darkness” we can clearly hear a marked difference between her current more widely accessible style and what used to be her older material. Not all things are mellow and devoid of heaviness, while there are powerful riffs here and there, tracks like “Neverlight” keep a harder side of things present with powerful guitar work and a playful bass guitar line.

For people looking for epic ballads, “Until Silence” is a song that everybody will greatly appreciate since it is very lush and dramatic. Closing the release with the mysterious “Medusas”, this album comes full circle leaving behind a plethora of excellent tracks and memorable chorus sections. “Colours in the Dark” is a must have release for any Tarja fan, and any fan of Symphonic Rock/Metal. This release is filled with excellently crafted songs that are quite catchy and engaging in nature, making it the best album Tarja has released… so far.

Label: Armoury Records

Release: August 27th, 2013

Genre: Symphonic Metal/Rock

Country: Finland