Source: Sonic Shocks

TARJA - What Lies Beneath (Album)

Spinefarm Records UK - 6th September 2010

Translating emotions into music it’s hard enough, but in words? Tough job, believe me.  Let me give you a bit of the nerdy facts about Tarja’s new album “What Lies Beneath”, then I’ll try as much as I can to give you a taste of such a sublime listening experience.

Produced by Tarja herself and created in studios all around the world, “What Lies Beneath” features some very special guests, like Joe Satriani playing guitar on ‘Falling Awake’ ( Jason Hook from Five Finger Death Punch took care of the single version), Phil Labonte on ‘Dark Star’, Will Cahoun on ‘Crimson Deep’ but most of all German acappella troupe Van Canto, making opener ‘Anteroom of death’ so majestically unique.

Enough. I’ll spare you the rest of the technical stuff. You can Google it, Wiki it, but however good and prestigious the mixing and engineering may be, let’s just close our eyes and focus on the soul of “What Lies Beneath” and that of its inimitable creator, Tarja Turunen.

“What Lies Beneath” explores a world ‘below the surface’, diving into depths well beyond appearance, and none of this terms is really a coincidence, as Tarja is a more than keen scuba diver and that ‘below the surface’ refers as well to the depths of the ocean and the underwater world. Now, if any of you has ever been listening to their own breath suspended in the infinite blue, forty metres below the chaos and noisiness of human kind, my job is done with you: no need to keep reading, and I know you’ll be queuing outside your record store on September 6th.

For those of you who never had the guts to explore any depths, marine or human, prepare to be shaken to the core. “What Lies Beneath” will penetrate your heart as soon as it explodes in all its glory after the first few seconds of ‘Anteroom of Death’, and will make it pump like it never has before. May feel like someone is punching then squeezing your stomach at first if you’re not used to it, but relax: it’s only emotions, and soon you’ll find it so pleasant and addictive you may even enrol in your first PADI course.

‘I Feel Immortal’ will give you the most uplifting sense of power, that power that comes from absence of fear;  with Tarja’s take on James Bond ‘In For A Kill’ you will experience the adrenaline thrill of danger; ‘peace’ is probably the best word to describe the feeling ‘Underneath’ will leave with you; ‘Falling Awake’ will make you breathless fighting tears of emotion. Very few albums in the world will give you anything close to this, and very few artists will allow you to reach so deep inside their soul.

Close your eyes, press play, and you will finally see what lies beneath.
10/10

Review by The Wicked Witch