NIGHTWISH releases music video for new single 'An Ocean Of Strange Islands'
12-09-2024
Symphonic metal veterans NIGHTWISH have released the official music video for “An Ocean Of Strange Islands”, the third single from their upcoming album, “Yesterwynde”, due on September 20, 2024 via Nuclear Blast. It marks the band’s tenth studio LP, following on from the release of “Human. :II: Nature.” in 2020.
Watch “An Ocean Of Strange Islands” below.
NIGHTWISH keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, who once again composed most of the material, states: “The song ‘An Ocean Of Strange Islands’ gives you sheer heaviness with its massive guitars, epic orchestrations and phenomenal vocals by Floor Jansen. Classic NIGHTWISH at its best! ‘An Ocean Of Strange Islands’ takes us on the ultimate musical island-hopping adventure, reminding the adventurer that happiness is most joyous when shared.”
Last week, NIGHTWISH have released the fifteenth part of a documentary about the making of the band’s upcoming album, “Yesterwynde”, due on September 20, 2024 via Nuclear Blast. It marks the band’s tenth studio LP, following on from the release of “Human. :II: Nature.” in 2020.
Watch the fifteenth episode below.
Watch the previous episodes below.
Previously NIGHTWISH have released “The Day Of…” as a single, the second one from their upcoming album, “Yesterwynde”, due on September 20, 2024 via Nuclear Blast. It marks the band’s tenth studio LP, following on from the release of “Human. :II: Nature.” in 2020. Now the band can present the supporting music video for the same song.
Watch “The Day Of…” and the previously released “Perfume Of The Timeless” below.
Asked if he had to adjust his writing style because “Yesterwynde” marks NIGHTWISH‘s first album since 2002’s “Century Child” without bassist/vocalist Marko Hietala, Tuomas said: “No, it doesn’t really change anything, except that now we had two voices instead of three, only Floor [Jansen, lead singer] and Troy. But that’s it — it really didn’t change much at all. And Jukka [Koskinen], the new bass player, is such a grounding personality that it’s so easy to work with him. And his bass playing skills are tremendous, quite different from how Marko played the bass, which also brought a new spice into the music. So nothing but positive things to say about it all.
“There are many bands in the world that don’t have a single original member anymore,” he continued. “And I think it comes down to the fact that if the music is good, then that’s all that matters, in the end. Maybe for some people, certain bands are so holy that they can stand if they don’t have certain members in it, even though the music would be good, but I don’t really think like that. I just listen to the music, not the personnel behind it. That’s all that matters to me.”
Holopainen also addressed the fact that NIGHTWISH has no plans yet to tour in support of “Yesterwynde”. The band previously explained that the reasons for the touring break were “personal” but unrelated to Jansen‘s then-pregnancy. (Jansen gave birth to her second child in October 2023.) Asked if it feels weird to be talking about an album that, for the first time, he won’t be supporting on the road, Tuomas said: “No, it doesn’t feel weird. It just feels right. But people shouldn’t get worried. It’s not the end of the band. We just signed a multi-record deal with Nuclear Blast, so there will be more music coming, definitely. But as far as shows, we’re just gonna have a long breather now and see what happens. That’s all I can say at the moment. We got our fair share in 2022 and 2023 when we did a lot of shows. So that helped.”
“Yesterwynde” track listing:
01. Yesterwynde
02. An Ocean Of Strange Islands
03. The Antikythera Mechanism
04. The Day Of…
05. Perfume Of The Timeless
06. Sway
07. The Children Of ‘Ata
08. Something Whispered Follow Me
09. Spider Silk
10. Hiraeth
11. The Weave
12. Lanternlight
JANSEN revealed in 2022 she is undergoing treatment after a successful operation fro breast cancer. The treatment continued in January.
— Nightwish (@NightwishBand) December 5, 2022
When Floor Jansen revealed that she was “cancer free” on November 18th, she said in a statement:
“Great news! I am cancer free. The surgery took everything cancerous out and it hasn’t spread! I’ll get local radiation therapy in February to make sure everything stays out.
“I’m getting my energy back after the surgery and feel a huge relief to know it was successful! I’m not back to a 100% but I have no doubt the shows will give me the power push I need to rock with all of you on the upcoming European tour.
“Thank you for your amazing support and well wishes”.
Great news! I am cancer free 🤩 The surgery took everything cancerous out and it hasn’t spread! I’ll get local radiation therapy in February to make sure everything stays out.
— Floor Jansen (@FloorJansen_) November 18, 2022
📸 Black Halo Photography pic.twitter.com/zZvsxi1gEN
Thank you for your amazing support and well wishes 🙏🏻🙏🏻
— Floor Jansen (@FloorJansen_) November 18, 2022
Jansen revealed her diagnosis in October. At the time, she wrote: “A letter to you, Life comes in waves, with ups and downs. I have had the joy of riding many highs, and I have shared these with you through social media and the many many shows worldwide throughout the many years of my career.
“But now a new wave hit me. Not a good one. I have breast cancer. It was diagnosed a little over 2 weeks ago and I will have surgery tomorrow to remove the tumor. My prognosis is very good!!! It seems to be a non-aggressive cancer, which seems to not have spread. I will keep my breast. And I will be cancer free after this surgery, plus a local radiation treatment that will take place three months after this surgery, hopefully. We will know more after the surgery to see if this positive prognosis stands.
“The word cancer is a shocker. All that you found important in life before this diagnosis changes radically within minutes. Now I just want to be healthy again. I want to see my daughter grow into a woman; I want to live! And the scariest part of this diagnosis is that I thought I was healthy! I didn’t feel the cancer, I didn’t know it was there until I, as a 40+ woman, went to a standard mammogram checkup. Something many countries offer, for free even for the lucky ones. Had I not gone there, the tumor would have gone undetected. In a year from now this could have grown much bigger. The thought of that makes me share this story with you. A mammogram is lifesaving! It’s uncomfortable and you might think that you won’t have something in your breasts anyway but GO! And for the men reading this: remind your wife, girlfriend, mother, sister to go and get checked. Even without the luxury I as a western woman experience with free mammogram checkups: GO! Luckily, there are many organizations that offer information about self-detection if you do not have access or funds for a mammogram.
If I might inspire you to take good care of yourself, then something good will come out of this cancer diagnosis.
“If all goes as planned, I will be up and running in time for the European tour with NIGHTWISH, that will start on the 20th of November! And I am optimistic since my prognosis is good!
“I promise to take good care of myself.
“I will be off the grid for a while to focus on myself.”
Besides her work for finish gsymphonic metal band NIGHTWISH, she also has a successfull solo career, which was ignited by her participation in the Dutch t show De Beste Zangers (the best singers) in which she gave an interpretation of the ‘Phantom Of The Opera’, alongside operatic singer Henk Poort.
Four months ago, Floor was asked in an interview with FaceCulture if she is planning to eventually release a full-length solo album. She said: “There are a lot more songs ready. There’s not an album ready, but also because it would make no sense to have one. Due to the pandemic, there’s an entire NIGHTWISH still not done and still yet to be done; as it looks like, we actually are gonna do that now. So before that, I cannot say, ‘Okay, I come [out] with a solo album.’ ‘Cause then you also would like to do some more [solo] shows and do the right promotion and all of that, so there’s no time for that — which is a luxury problem on itself. But it’s fun. And that’s also a big difference with this pop music thing — you can release singles. It’s not an album-based world; it’s completely different.”
Jansen went on to call “Fire” “a statement and “the kick-off of everything. And from there I’ll keep releasing singles. And the aim is to release the album in ’23,” she explained before clarifying that there are a lot of variables involved that could affect the timeline of the LP’s arrival. “But the ambition is there. And everything is geared up to do that.”
Jansen is best known as the frontwoman in the multi-million selling and internationally successful symphonic metal band NIGHTWISH. As part of the band, Jansen has landed two number one albums in Finland, and Top Five albums in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
Born in the Netherlands, Jansen joined her first band, one of the world’s first symphonic metal bands, AFTER FOREVER, when she was only 16 years old. The group went on to release five albums from 2000 to 2007, before they broke up in 2009.
Jansen‘s next band, REVAMP, released two albums in 2010 and 2013, before she joined NIGHTWISH as a full-time member. NIGHTWISH‘s first album with Jansen as the lead singer was 2015’s “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”, which landed in Top 10s around the world. This was followed by 2020’s “Human. :II: Nature.” , which was also an international success.
Jansen has toured extensively with the band and appeared on three of NIGHTWISH‘s live albums “Showtime, Storytime”, “Vehicle Of Spirit” and “Decades: Live In Buenos Aires”.
In 2019, Jansen participated in the popular Dutch TV show “Beste Zangers” where she scored a big hit with “Phantom Of The Opera” together with Henk Poort. She was recognized with a Dutch Popprijs award — a prestigious accolade for artists that has made important contributions to Dutch music. In the same year, her first solo tour sold out in less than 24 hours.
Jansen performed live with NIGHTWISH for the first time on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band’s lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon. Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013.
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