"Amaranth" by Nightwish from Dark Passion Play

"Tears of snow-white sorrow…"

Not many bands produce dark songs with upbeat music and tones. Nightwish combines an almost-light pretty pop tone with some dark symphonic and gothic-influenced undertones. The symbolism in "Amaranth" and the music video confuse many viewers, but at least the video stems from the picture "Wounded Angel" by Hugo Simberg.

The "Amaranth" video interprets the picture (two boys carrying a blindfolded sitting angel on a stretcher) as the boys finding the girl unconscious, her eyes bleeding. They bind her eyes and carry her home to treat her, but in the process they pass by the elderly neighbors who see the angel. The neighbors become a mob who swarm the house, drag the boys away, and set the house on fire with the trapped angel inside. The angel escapes up to heaven.

"Amaranth" and I think the angel symbolize eternity in the song, so I think the song's talking about how some people welcome the idea of eternity and some seek to destroy it when it doesn't conform to their expectations. Some people believe "but what [they] see", it says. But some "dare" to go beyond. (Not that any of this is really clear without the video.)

You might think that pop rock added to Nightwish's symphonic metal would sound strange, but the band melds it so it flows naturally. None of it feels out of place.

Anette Olzon reminds me of a mix between Amy Lee and Charlotte Wessels in "Amaranth". Sometimes she sounds comparable to one, sometimes the other. But she does have her own sound that's definitely different than that of Nightwish's old singer, Tarja Turunen.

Overall, it's a fun pop rock song with some metal aspects and more thoughtful lyrics than most bands produce.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 9/10