Finnish symphonic metal giants NIGHTWISH have posted the twelfth in a series of studio videos documenting the creation of their new album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful. The album is due March 27 in Europe and March 31 in the U.S. via Nuclear Blast. The cover artwork for the CD was created by the band’s longtime collaborator Toxic Angel.
NIGHTWISH keyboard player and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen comments: “There’s a kind of scientific approach to a lot of things on the album. Songs like ‘Shudder Before The Beautiful’, ‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’, ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ and ‘Alpenglow’ all somehow reflect the bliss of existence. It’s temporary character. Evolution… Maybe you could even talk about the poetic nature of science. Natural science and its paradigm seem to represent something cold and boring to a lot of people. Hopefully we can illustrate with this album — that science can even be something profoundly spiritual.”
Adds drummer Kai Hahto: “It’s a perfect theme to an album. Like, how did we come to be? And when our time here is done, what kind of mark do we leave? It’s a pretty amazing theme.”
Endless Forms Most Beautiful features eleven new songs and will be released in different formats:
* Standard CD
* Digibook (including instrumental CD)
* 2LP (vinyl in gatefold) in different colors
* Earbook (including instrumental and orchestral CD)
* Earbook (deluxe version including bonus vinyl)
* Download
Pre-order your copy here.
Endless Forms Most Beautiful track listing:
Jewelcase
1. Shudder Before The Beautiful
2. Weak Fantasy
3. Élan
4. Yours Is An Empty Hope
5. Our Decades In the Sun
6. My Walden
7. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
8. Edema Ruh
9. Alpenglow
10. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
11. The Greatest Show On Earth
2LP black vinyl / 2LP picture vinyl as gatefold
Side A
1. Shudder Before The Beautiful
2. Weak Fantasy
3. Élan
Side B
1. Yours Is An Empty Hope
2. Our Decades In the Sun
3. My Walden
Side C
1. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
2. Edema Ruh
3. Alpenglow
4. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
Side D
01. The Greatest Show On Earth
Digibook incl. instrumental CD
CD1
1. Shudder Before The Beautiful
2. Weak Fantasy
3. Élan
4. Yours Is An Empty Hope
5. Our Decades In the Sun
6. My Walden
7. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
8. Edema Ruh
9. Alpenglow
10. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
11. The Greatest Show On Earth
CD2 (instrumental)
1. Shudder Before The Beautiful
2. Weak Fantasy
3. Élan
4. Yours Is An Empty Hope
5. Our Decades In the Sun
6. My Walden
7. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
8. Edema Ruh
9. Alpenglow
10. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
11. The Greatest Show On Earth
Earbook incl. instrumental & orchestral CD
CD1
1. Shudder Before The Beautiful
2. Weak Fantasy
3. Élan
4. Yours Is An Empty Hope
5. Our Decades In the Sun
6. My Walden
7. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
8. Edema Ruh
9. Alpenglow
10. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
11. The Greatest Show On Earth
CD2 (instrumental)
1. Shudder Before The Beautiful
2. Weak Fantasy
3. Élan
4. Yours Is An Empty Hope
5. Our Decades In the Sun
6. My Walden
7. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
8. Edema Ruh
9. Alpenglow
10. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
11. The Greatest Show On Earth
CD3 (orchestral)
1. Shudder Before The Beautiful
2. Weak Fantasy
3. Élan
4. Yours Is An Empty Hope
5. Our Decades In the Sun
6. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
7. Alpenglow
8. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
9. The Greatest Show On Earth
The Endless Forms Most Beautiful title came from Charles Darwin’s “The Origin Of Species” book, where he wrote: “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, while this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
Commented NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen: “This classic quote is where it all began. We set sail for the ultimate journey in March 2015. Join us!”