Flamenco, tango, disappearing people and a Red Hot Chili Pepper? Those unlikely ingredients combine on the heaviest album yet from Tarja Turunen. Finland’s symphonic prog metal queen tells Prog about swimming away from the shore, finally getting to know her former Nightwish bandmate Marko Hietala, and writing without fear on Frisson Noir.
“I want to bring back the riffs,” says Tarja Turunen. In that case, mission accomplished. Frisson Noir is the heaviest release yet from the Finnish soprano, whose return to riffage was born from the desire to replicate the energy of her live performances in the studio.
“When I perform live with my guys, my band sounds heavy,” she says. “I have a big voice, so I want them to sound heavy to support me. I feel comfortable in that wall of sound. I’ve been missing that sound.”
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It’s been seven years since Turunen’s last foray into prog metal with In The Raw. After self producing that album, she wanted someone who could build that wall of sound she hears onstage. The right man for the job was Neal Avron, whose production and mixing credits include Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park and Serj Tankian.
“It was the best decision ever,” says Turunen. “Neal did an amazing job. It was challenging for him to work with a symphonic orchestra and choir; all these symphonic songs, progressive songs, but he loved it.”
Turunen’s symphonic and progressive proclivities are fully displayed on the first single, the 10-minute epic At Sea. “When I’m writing the songs I’m not really looking at the timer: I’m really letting myself go nowadays, which is a very beautiful feeling,” she says.
Pushing her label to release the longest song first was a gamble that paid off.“The fans really sat down to listen, which people do not do nowadays. We do not have the patience any more to listen or pay attention. It’s like everything is fed to us. The whole world, we miss so much because we don’t take the time, so I felt like I wanted to give my fans an experience, let’s call it, to feel a bit.”
As the title implies, At Sea was inspired an environment where Turunen, a keen scuba diver, can leave her worries behind. “It’s a majestic, powerful, eternal, incredible thing. I feel like I’m somehow connected with it,” says the singer, who lives near the coast in Marbella.
“I feel I need it, and I miss it when I’m gone. In At Sea, the story is about leaving the safety of the shore and facing the storm without knowing the outcome – whether you’ll survive or not – but nevertheless you go for it. I wanted to make people think, even though the risks might be horrifying, you should still take that leap. It’s a sign of the internal strength that we all have. We just need to find it. I feel like I’m like the song itself; I put it out without knowing the outcome.”
The full progressive scope of Frisson Noir can be appreciated in the array of guest performers, from Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth on I Don’t Care to Apocalyptica, who bring their strings to Tango. “We Finns love tango,” Turunen says. “I remember, in my youth, dancing tango with my dad at summer parties; it’s a very important part of Finnish culture.”
She invited viral shamisen sensation Sayo Komada to play on The Trace Outlives, a song inspired by jōhatsu, the Japanese word that describes people who choose to vanish from their established lives, often due to a sense of shame. “Some organisations help people disappear,” Turunen says. “It caught my attention; I wanted to write about the effects when something like this happens, and the emotions involved.
“I wanted to find something from Japan to include in the song, then I discovered the shamisen, which is and incredible instrument – it’s like a percussive guitar. Komasa is insanely talented, playing heavy metal with the shamisen in Japan. It was beautiful that she took part.”
Back then I felt, ‘It’s not the time for this song.’ I’ve grown. I’ve moved around, met beautiful people. I found that song and I feel it now
Anemoia – meaning nostalgia for a time or place that one has never experienced – showcases the playing of flamenco guitarist Julián Bedmar.“Who the hell uses flamenco guitars in a metal album?” Turunen asks. “I do! The fact is, why not?”
While Sayo Komada was halfway round the world, Bedmar was much closer to home. “I found him 10 minutes from my place here. I sent him the piano demo and he played insanely beautiful guitar over it. Why flamenco? This is my 10th year in Spain; my family found a beautiful home here, people that we love and care for. Flamenco is a huge cultural aspect of Andalucia, and I wanted to say ‘thank you.’”
Against The Odds is a song a decade in the making. It was originally in contention for 2016’s The Shadow Self, an album that features Chad Smith guesting on drums. He was brought into the sessions by bassist Kevin Chown, his fellow funkster in Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats.
“Back then I felt, ‘Hm, it’s not the time for this song,’” says Turunen. “When I write a song on piano, I start producing it, I send it to my musicians, they come with their input; the song changes and then we mix it. Then we go to the live performances and the song is changing all the time. My emotions also change – so the song lives; it evolves naturally.
“During the years since The Shadow Self I’ve grown. I’ve moved around, met beautiful people. Everything in my art is about my life, where I am, how I feel. I found that song and I feel it now. Why not then? There must have been a reason; but now it feels like ‘Yeah, let’s go!’”
Leap Of Faith reunites Turunen with fellow Nightwish alumnus Marko Hietala for the second time, after they duetted on Hietala’s song Left On Mars last year. She says collaborating has presented the chance “to get to know him for the first time ever. He’s not the same guy he was; neither am I. We are somewhere else now in our lives, and it’s been really nice to reconnect.” They’ve toured together, “supporting each other like never before, I mean, seriously.”
Frisson Noir is an album of grand drama, rich colours and textures, unafraid to take risks emotionally and stylistically. For Turunen – who studied at The Sibelius Academy in Finland and Germany’s Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe – the journey has been about embracing the freedom to follow her instincts and realise her vision.
“That’s what I’ve been struggling with: to free my mind when it comes to compositions,” she says. “I’ve learned so much. finally I feel it’s happening; that I’m becoming free with my music; it’s a feeling I don’t need to be afraid of. There are no mistakes I can make here.
“I hope I can come up with something great in the future, but for now I’m just happy with the album. Let’s see what people think – whether they like it or hate it. But I’m happy with everything.”
Frisson Noir is on sale now.