Out June 12, 2026
Via earMUSIC
Words by: CECILIA PATTISON-LEVI
Finnish soprano Tarja Turunen delivers a dark nocturnal shiver with her new album Frisson Noir. The songwriter, composer, and former Nightwish vocalist performs her new songs that move between intense symphonic elements and heavy, modern metal power while being dramatic and unapologetically dark. The dark shiver is all about the voice. How the voice is framed, the work it can do, and the people Tarja Turunen has decided to work with as a direct point of contrast. It’s her classical vocal beauty pitted against their distinctive voices and the sounds that are produced are the unpredictable spark that delivers unique musical art.
The album opens with the title track Frisson Noir and its delicate piano melody and percussion as the drama builds into huge drum beats and violins. The song is an opus of intent and tone that sets the direction for the next nine songs. It is vital to note that Tarja Turunen has a three-and-a-half octave vocal range and she focuses in on that natural gift as her beautiful voice rounds out the lyrical narrative of the spark that makes her a performer.
The following The Eternal Return has a more metal heart with the drums and big guitars combining with the spectral vocals to deliver a chugging heavy metal soundscape. Leap Of Faith featuring Marko Hietala from Nightwish has the violin and electronic synths combining with organic instruments to produce a spooky song about the veil between the living and the dead. His voice is beautiful and strong next to Tarja Turunen’s. Then, the huge song that is 10.18 minutes long, At Sea, featuring Mervi Myllyoja and Niklas Pokki and it is s short symphony. It is the core of the album as it moves through emotion that drives her operatic vocal power with massive orchestral melodic textures. The song was inspired by a classical piece titled Morelli, written by the Finnish composer Oskar Merikanto.
The song Blaze Forever is a traditional melodic heavy metal track with its huge electric guitar riffs, strong bassline and drums and that European symphonic metal sound and the piano melody is never far away and is obvious by the end as the soprano voice floats above the mix. Then, The Trace Outlives featuring Sayo Komada with its Turkish sounding melody underpinning the heavy track. The harmony in the song is just divine as the medieval chanting and heavy instrumentation pounds. Tango featuring Apocalyptica has that violin pulse that has spiccato and bowing interplay as the vocals soars and drips in melodrama.
The classical Spanish guitar introduces Anemoia featuring Julián Bedmar and Valter Freitas before the piano melody cuts in and the instruments intertwine. Tarja Turunen’s vocals are crystal clear and this is a beautiful song about ‘fading’ and memory as the violin adds pathos and reflects the past. The following song I Don’t Care featuring Dani Filth from Cradle of Filth is surprising as electronica underpins the gothic track. Its heavy with the drums and guitars and it’s embedded in the idea of contrast. Dani Filth has a truly unique sound and the two performers sound great together. Tarja Turunen’s soaring soprano collides with Dani Filth’s guttural voice with his razor-sharp screams, creating a striking chemistry between elegance and chaos in sound. The album closes with the ballad Against The Odds featuring Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and it’s another piano and violin dominant song with an orchestral arrangement that celebrates “the voice so clear”.
Tarja Turunen continues to paint pictures with her music. The ten songs on this album celebrate the human voice and that breath as it hits the microphone; slight imperfect, raw, and ladened with uncontrolled emotion. The voice is the pulse of creation that delivers the shiver that “allows the spirit to fly”. It is Frisson Noir that you find in real music. And this album will excite music lovers from a variety of musical genres, (classical, metal, alt-rock, electronica and new age), that understand why individual voices matter “as the voices bind” to create art.
This album in a word: beautiful!
