TARJA TURUNEN Performs New Song at Halloween Concert: WITCH-HUNT (Video)

Comments

1. This song is wonderful!!
   So dark...

   evspko wrote on 31.10.2009 at 14:13

2. Beautiful song!
   I can't wait for the new album!

   Me wrote on 31.10.2009 at 15:15

3. Very dark and atmospheric. And the vocal lines in the chorus are more challenging than MWS. :-) Too short though...

   TheSeer wrote on 31.10.2009 at 15:38

4. Wow, I immediatly fell in love with this song. I didn't expect that, usually I need some time to like her songs. But it's really beautiful, much like a film score and it has an amazingly dark and sad atmosphere. :)

   Earwen wrote on 31.10.2009 at 16:10

5. perfect for movie or musical:) Tuo beware!

   Isabell wrote on 31.10.2009 at 16:28

6. Amazing voice, as usual. Unfortunately, the song seems too similar to some of her other songs...
   
   Also, "Witch-Hunt" seems like it should be a song that's much more "metal" than this. Just my opinion though...

   Max wrote on 31.10.2009 at 16:31

7. OMFG!!!
   It's absolutely amazing I love it !!!
   Gooo Tarjaaaaa !!!!!
   

   Devy wrote on 31.10.2009 at 16:35

8. Tolles Lied, aber hat man etwas anderes von ihr erwartet. Ihre Stimme ist einfach atemberaubend, aber sie hat auch schon viele bessere songs gesungen, wie "I walk alone" oder "Die Alive".

   Erdgeist wrote on 31.10.2009 at 16:56

9. Great song! I like the way, that it sounds a little bit like a soundtrack!

   Tillhelmina wrote on 31.10.2009 at 17:29

10. OMG, OMG, OMFG!!!!!!!!!
    
    THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOO AAAAAAAMAAAAAAZIIIIING!!!!!!!
    
    It sounds so dark and creepy... OMG...
    
    *feint*

    Who? wrote on 31.10.2009 at 17:38

11. what a nice atmosphere has this song!!! OMG! I wanna hear the original version in the album right now!! lol!!! I love the music, the lyrics, her voice... wow...
    
    
    
    ======WinterStormMexico======
    http://tarjaturunen-mexico.foroactivo.net
    

    eLiZa wrote on 31.10.2009 at 18:18

12. Sounds good, but personally, I find it totally pointless trying to form an opinion about a song I only have three minutes from and that might well be much longer. Or not. I just don't know. At this point I don't even get if this one is supposed to be one of the ballads (though it would seem like that, given that she said symphonic and metal songs won't mix on WLB). The song could conceivably become much heavier or faster from that point on, I don't know what the chorus is supposed to be, etc. So I reserve judgment on it for now, pending further excerpts or information. I do agree, though, that the orchestra parts sound amazingly dark and sinister, as befits the theme.

    Almagest wrote on 31.10.2009 at 19:49

13. great chorus line indeed, where can I listen to "In For a Kill" ?

    TT wrote on 31.10.2009 at 19:58

14. Awsome!!!!!! I cant wait for the new album!!!!!!

    Ragnarök wrote on 31.10.2009 at 20:55

15. TT:
    
    There are no recordings available yet for "In For a Kill", but some people in Tarja's forum (people who attended the show, of course), said that "In For a Kill" was a heavy song. Sounds cool... XD

    Who? wrote on 31.10.2009 at 22:07

16. Almagest, stop to play the killjoy and to speak like a book or I will make you eat your beard ! :)

    TT wrote on 31.10.2009 at 22:16

17. This song is just Awesome! Hope that WLB is more in this style then the MWS style. Not that MWS is bad, but I like the more heavy stuff.
    
    Can't wait until the new album comes out!

    Sorcha wrote on 01.11.2009 at 00:51

18. I can't wait for her new album any longer! : )

    Zwergenkönig wrote on 01.11.2009 at 14:20

19. I like the atmosphere here and orchestrations here :)
    It indeed sounds like movie soundtrack ;)

    Corey wrote on 01.11.2009 at 17:14

20. I've read some comments saying that In For A Kill is Oceanbornlike song - heavy and high. ;-)

    TheSeer wrote on 01.11.2009 at 18:47

21. love it !

    Pepe Manshon wrote on 01.11.2009 at 20:16

22. It somehow sounds exactly as expected. It's not a bad song, but it still kinda lacks that "surprise element" which she is in need of. I hope "In for a kill" and the other songs on the album are gonna be better, more metal like someone said, otherwise, it won't be any better than MWS for me.

    Cristabel wrote on 01.11.2009 at 21:06

23. I thought this was a great glimpse of what's yet to come from Tarja's new album and it sounds like a cool song. I have to agree with Almagest though; it's hard to judge right now because this isn't the song in it's entirety, and it's possible that it has been amended for an orchestra and might not be how it's played on the album. But I think it's promising!

    CanuckFan wrote on 02.11.2009 at 01:25

24. I don't think that "element of surprise" quite strikes at the heart of the matter; in reality I think it's much simpler. Excitement. Speed. Everyone is waiting for the promised rockers, but she keeps throwing ballads or slow songs at us. As beautiful and well-done songs like "If You Believe" are, we've had enough of them already. To compensate for MWS, WLB would not simply have to continue in the same vein, but instead, feature lots of fast, rocking songs and perhaps a few more varied, epic songs with extensive, complex arrangements, and no more than two (preferrably power) ballads. And please, no groove/alternative/nu metal or *core, or overly pop-oriented songs! It needn't absolutely be strictly metal (although I stick to my opinion that neo-classical/prog/power metal à la Symphony X or Rhapsody, with a larger emphasis on guitars than soundtrack-ish orchestrations simply fits her voice and style best and still leaves enough room for experiments, while it would offer everything anyone fans could ask for and keep the music accessible enough), but is straight-up hard rock or real epic progressive rock so much to ask for? MWS worked well enough in its own right, and its shortcomings (guitar and drum parts) could be tolerated and mentally edited out (since they were mostly not prominent and just part of some "background noise") but once the "heavy" part is amped up, more care needs to be invested in the songwriting and instrumentation, and simplistic riffs or bad guitar tone will more than stick out like a sore thumb - they will be hard to ignore when there are several guitar-oriented songs and likely ruin them for a lot of people.

    Almagest wrote on 02.11.2009 at 04:20

25. Anyway, seeing how Tarja calls herself a metal/progressive rock/experimental artist in interviews now, I can freaking expect something that is actually true to those labels!

    Almagest wrote on 02.11.2009 at 04:24

26. There's also the risk involved in experiments, namely that they can, and often do, fail (it's just that we tend to remember the successful experiments more), especially if the artist is inexperienced, insecure, trying to fulfil too many contradicting expectations at once (such as trying to be commercially successful and courageous at the same time), there are too many songwriters involved ... So if I was in Tarja's shoes, I'd play it safe and write a straight-up power metal album for a start, together with a competent guitarist and songwriter, and leave the experiments for later, when I have collected more ideas and motifs and feel that I have mastered the art of rather basic rock/metal songwriting, which I'm sure is hard enough already.

    Almagest wrote on 02.11.2009 at 04:52

27. TheSeer said: "I've read some comments saying that In For A Kill is Oceanbornlike song - heavy and high."
    
    Oceanbornlike? Boy, does she know who her fans are and what they want. ;D
    
    Although I am interested to see how she would take a song in the style of Oceanborn now that she has enough experience under her belt. Tarja has said before that she didn't like how her voice turned out in Oceanborn, going so far as to call it "terrifying." Yet Oceanborn was such an incredible album, so just imagine how she would do with it now that she has done six studio albums and god knows how many concerts.

    Jeremy wrote on 02.11.2009 at 06:18

28. hm.

    mermaid wrote on 02.11.2009 at 11:22

29. Compelete version (Witch-Hunt)
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoivPC_Xll8&feature=related

    Witchboy wrote on 02.11.2009 at 12:50

30. thx Witchboy, we can see she's acting too... I can't get all the lyrics though, can someone transcribe them ?

    TT wrote on 02.11.2009 at 19:03

31. In For a Kill
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2VpVTLLJWA

    Almagest wrote on 02.11.2009 at 19:06

32. I don't know if someone already posted it, but this is "In for a kill": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2VpVTLLJWA
    
    My humble opinion is good about this song, I hope that with guitars will be even better.

    Kiri wrote on 02.11.2009 at 19:19

33. Tarja's new song: In For a Kill
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2VpVTLLJWA
    
    Enjoy, IT SOUNDS AMAZING!!!!!
    
    TAARJAAAA RUUUULEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

    Who? wrote on 02.11.2009 at 19:20

34. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
    We all posted the same thing... XD
    
    MFF: we're doing the job for you!!!!

    Who? wrote on 02.11.2009 at 19:53

35. Witchboy said: "Compelete version (Witch-Hunt)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoivPC_Xll8&feature=related"
    
    My only wish is fulfilled! The song is longer! Thx Witchboy. :-)

    TheSeer wrote on 02.11.2009 at 23:42

36. Jeremy, but Oceanborn was more than operatic soprano vocals, there were swirling keyboards, fast and melodic riffs and solos and classically inspired melodies ... not a normal power metal album, more atmospheric and ethereal, dreamy and almost psychedelic - to me it transcends its genre and has a quite unique sound. All the elements are in balance.
    
    Those kinds of albums are a rare occurrence, a lucky strike, and trying to produce them in a planned way doesn't work - no other female-fronted metal album sounds like it; the closest I can think of is perhaps Tristania's first two albums. You cannot invent the same genre multiple times, but perhaps the true reason why this album has never been matched is that few people have fully perceived its glory, uniqueness and otherworldly quality - indeed, it does not sound familiar at all, it sounds distinctly exotic. Like Tiamat's Wildhoney, you get the impression that the ideas descend from the stars and inspire imperfect (but at the time, open-minded enough) musicians, and they simply execute them, acting as a medium to convey them to mankind. Only truly great musicians produce more than one lucky strike like this. Someone called Angels Fall First a UFO among metal albums, and I agree with that sentiment, but its successor sounds like it came out of nowhere, jumped out of Athena's forehead, not through some kind of natural development. Even Wishmaster sounds much more ordinary, like your regular Euro-power metal album, good, but not really SPECIAL. Genius is something that you just cannot force, and when you begin to earn your living with it, the sensitive muses of inspiration tend to retire. That's why the masterpieces of classical composers are usually not works for money, designed to fit an employer's mundane taste, but private "side projects" that composers pursued against all odds, just because they believed in them and their unusual ideas.

    Almagest wrote on 02.11.2009 at 23:53

37. Oops, I think that would have been Zeus's forehead that Athena sprang forth from, fully-formed. :-p

    Almagest wrote on 02.11.2009 at 23:57

38. Apart from the elusiveness of historical landmark albums, another is that few bands have actually used Oceanborn as inspiration - usually their music sounds like they take Century Child or at best, Wishmaster as their model. I'm just listening to Skyfire's "Esoteric" and even though on the surface, it sounds nothing like Nightwish, playing as they do progressive neo-classical melodic death metal, and will probably appeal more to old-school COB fans, I hear some of my favoured qualities of Oceanborn in them. If they were listed on here, by their sound alone nobody would become suspicious. They play the Finnish variant of melodic death metal even though they are from Sweden. Also, Andromeda's (same guitarist, curiously), Adagio's or Wintersun's debuts have much more in common with that sonically, to my mind. Or just listen to Borknagar's "The Stellar Dome", again there are symphonic influences and an over-the-top voice but not much more, but this is amazing just in the same way as Oceanborn is to me.

    Almagest wrote on 03.11.2009 at 00:30

39. @Almagest
    
    Well, of course Oceanborn was more than Tarja's voice. I just found it interesting that she didn't like how her voice turned out. Oceanborn was the perfect storm, the aligned planets, the secret ingredient, the...okay, I'll stop now.
    
    What I meant in the last post was that I wonder what Tarja would do if she went for an album IN THE STYLE OF Oceanborn. She couldn't recreate it, but she could go for something somewhere in the vicinity of it, and she could fix whatever problems she had from before.
    
    Although I wonder about what you said concerning how Oceanborn was a "lucky strike." In that case, wouldn't that validate NW leaving the power metal style behind? I mean, you did say that Wishmaster was good, but nothing like Oceanborn, so wouldn't that mean that every album in that style would be declared "NOT OCEANBORN" by the critics? Lightning can't strike twice. You'd be better off trying out new things rather than running your band into the ground.
    
    I guess the moral of the story is that you shouldn't make your masterpiece at the start of your career, cause you will be chained down by it. I'm looking at you, George Lucas.
    
    Woah, boy, look at me inviting another fight over Once. I'm so prone to starting Internet Backdrafts. Let's just say that if you compare any NW album to Oceanborn, it's gonna lose. I just judge each one by its own merits. Hey, Tarja does that.
    
    Btw, no offense to you, Almagest, but trying to respond to your posts makes me feel like an idiot. *facepalms*

    Jeremy wrote on 03.11.2009 at 05:12

40. @ Almagest: Gee, do you think you could be any more specific??? :)

    CanuckFan wrote on 03.11.2009 at 08:15

41. Well, I think part of the awesomeness of Oceanborn is the fact that the instrumental and of course also vocal parts are relatively technical and STILL coherent, with a killer atmosphere, which either means that Tuomas outgrew himself (therefore lucky strike; you could also say that he realised his full potential - just as everyone else in the band -, but artists don't usually realise their full potential, for a variety of reasons, expectations of record labels just being one of them; though I think that a greater talent would produce more than a single album of that quality, and I'm thinking of Therion again, or perhaps it's not so much an issue of talent than persistence, lack of complacency or unwillingness to water one's style down) OR it is a testimony to Tuomas's talent WHEN he is inspired. It still shines through in the epic longtracks, whe he throws all commercial considerations into the wind. But here is the crucial point: Inspiration and commercialism. How could I mind artistic development and experimentation with new elements? But regression is not that, as I have repeated again and again. Beauty of the Beast and Ghost Love Score put the new element "orchestra" to good use, but the new albums don't consist only of songs of that caliber, not even close, if they did, the criticism wouldn't be there. Hell, he even keeps emphasising that the longtracks are SO MUCH EASIER to write for him!
    
    But why did Tuomas suddenly start to despise classical music and the sound of his synthesizer, get rid of the classical influence and technically challenging parts and dumb his music down, exchanging the classical and Stratovarius influence for soundtrack-esque and Disney-esque cheese which just happens to sell better? Why did he stop putting himself down and fall into the other extreme of self-aggrandisement and putting down criticism? Probably the lack of anything near a healthy self-view, and self-assurance.
    
    You know what annoys me most? When artists begin to hate on their early albums just because the fans worship them and don't like the new stuff nearly as much. Why can't artists simply accept that fans consider their early work masterpieces and not everyone likes their new stuff better? If you are a self-assured artist, again, you can live with the fact that not everyone who is like that is unredeemably stuck in the past or an idiot, close-minded or doesn't "get it", and your fans will respect you so much better for that. But exactly when you put your early work down and offend people who prefer it (even if indirectly) you invite suspicion that there were other reasons for the change in style than simply changing tastes or "development". Why can't bands at least be witty like Dimmu Borgir and admit that they've sold out, in order to spread their message further? Why do they always HAVE to insist that their current album is "the best", instead of letting the fans decide for themselves? I think that is terribly offensive, because it makes you look like you think your fans are too stupid to form an informed opinion of their own. Every work of art is an offer, and every fan is free to embrace or reject it.
    
    I mean, you can't go around and call for tolerance but limit it to people who agree with you.
    
    "Btw, no offense to you, Almagest, but trying to respond to your posts makes me feel like an idiot. *facepalms*"
    
    I'm not sure what you mean. I know that I can be annoying and come across like a smart-ass, and hell, I probably am, but ...
    
    "@ Almagest: Gee, do you think you could be any more specific??? :)"
    
    Again, I'm obviously too stupid to get what you mean. >_<

    Almagest wrote on 03.11.2009 at 19:46

42. Beautiful, dark, atmospheric...

    Christine wrote on 11.01.2010 at 16:41

43. AAHHH this album is gonna be so sick, cant wait need it now llz. nyone kno if lyrics have been released for the track yet?

    James wrote on 12.01.2010 at 05:48