"While Your Lips Are Still Red" by Nightwish from Amaranth (single)

"Kiss / while your lips are still red…" gently sings Marco Hietala for "While Your Lips Are Still Red." He wrote this song with Nightwish's main songwriter, Tuomas Holopainen, for the Finnish movie Lieksa!. The (slow, for guys) music video comes from the movie, which has yet to be explained in English despite its release this past September.

The almost haunting gentle lament of the violin matches the theme of the song. The minimal unobtrusive music suits the ballad, as do the well-placed echoes. Unless I'm completely misreading the music video, Lieksa! (and this song), the girl involved had a man she loved, but before they kissed she was possibly raped by a different man who murdered the man she'd loved. Now she's getting married, but she still bemoans that first love that turned bitter before it was tapped.

The song suggests that it's better to act now than later. That could be interpreted as don't waste time dallying about marriage, but that's not how they intend it. "A passionate hour`s never a wasted one", Marco sings, along with other lines that make it obvious that they're probably saying it's better to consummate a relationship with someone you love while you can rather than wait for the tomorrow that may never come—or come too late. So Christians might want to be wary. (It helped spawn a novel idea for me, actually, so thank you, Nightwish.)

This gentle ballad will likely draw you back for return listens even if Marco Hietala's accented but soothing vocals aren't your favorite vocal style. He smoothly moves from the gentle to the strong and back again to suit the melodic flow of "While Your Lips Are Still Red".

Nightwish offers the lyrics to their songs on the band website.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"Good Riddence (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day from Nimrod

If my brother's in Mom's car when Green Day comes on, I have to resign myself to not hearing it. He complains till Mom changes the station; and if Mom doesn't to tease him, I still don't get to hear much over his whines and groans. While I can hear why someone might find the band's sound annoying, I can also hear why they're one of a friend's favorite bands.

"Good Riddence (Time of Your Life)" was an experiment as a pop ballad. The guitar, accented by violin, reminds me some of Jars of Clay's "Art in Me", or at least Jars of Clay's musical style in their original CD. It's a very pleasing, soothing sound.

Billy Joe Armstrong provides vocals that you'll likely either hate or appreciate. Like Flyleaf's Lacey Mosley, he sings in an unusual style that accents his band's distinct sound. You've probably heard it at some point; Green Day's been around since I was a toddler.

As one of the less psychotic songs by Green Day—to borrow an adjective some of my friends use to describe the band—"Good Riddence (Time of Your Life)" speaks of how situations suddenly crop up in life that require change. The band's language is clean in this song—for once—though parents might not want their younger children exposed to the imagery of "tatoos of memories and dead skin on trial".

It's a soothing song with an interesting encouragement to make the most of the opportunities for change.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"Lips of an Angel" by Hinder from Extreme Behavior

I used to think I liked this song a little… before I paid attention to the lyrics.

It's the guy's side of a phone conversation with an ex-girlfriend or a woman he wished could be his girlfriend, but she's evidently married or in some other situation that makes them unable to be each others' significant other at this time. Evidently they "never really moved on".

"Does he know you're calling me? Will it start a fight? No, I don't think she has a clue" concisely embodies what I dislike about this song. I'm sure this kind of thing happens, but the implicit deceit and lack of faithfulness makes me dislike it. The man does ask "Honey, why you calling me so late?" but "I gotta whisper 'cause I can't be too loud. My girl's in the next room; sometimes I wish she was you."

There is no swearing or any of that, and they do apparently stay faithful in action if not in heart to their respective partners. But it's that unfaithful at heart that's the issue, here. And evidently, that's mild for Hinder, as their other single title "Get Stoned" suggests.

Austin Winkler's vocals are soothing. Not good, not bad, but soothing. And those are the best part about this song. The music is stock, the only personality to it being the usual band imitation. It's tolerable, but really… Can't radio stations find something better to play?

Hm… Hinder's "Lips of an Angel" or Evanescence's "My Immortal"… Hard choice.

Not.

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Lyrics: 2/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 3/5
Overall: 5/10

"My Immortal" by Evanescence from Fallen

Two versions exist to this song. Those who've heard and disliked the other album single "Bring Me to Life" have often been surprised to learn that this is the same artist, particularly for the regular piano-violin version.

The band version (Fallen's bonus track) climaxes with the addition of drums, cymbals, and electric guitar. You may not recognize this song when it's spoken of, but chances are you'll recognize the song the instant someone starts playing the piano part on the radio.

Different people prefer different versions, though I personally perfer the band version. It sounds better mixed, and Amy Lee's voice is less "fuzzy."

"I'm so tired of being here… suppressed by all these childish fears…" but Amy Lee sadly still can't seem to get past her little sister's death. "My Immortal" and "Hello" are Fallen's tribute to that sister.

The lyrics are clean, like much (though not all) of Evanescence, without a blaspheme or curse. The song laments a loved one's death and the song narrator's inability to get past it. "My Immortal" was meant to refer to Amy Lee's sister, true, but it's written in such a way that it's more universally applicable, as well, which I believe is part of its power.

Amy Lee's voice is at top (digitalized?) quality, at least in the band version of "My Immortal". (I'm not sure if I want to hear her voice live, after the live version of "Going Under" I heard from Anywhere But Home.) "My Immortal" is a pleasing song to hear, but…

I'm still convinced that similar-styled rock ballad beauties like "Eva" by Nightwish and "See Me in Shadow" by Delain are better.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"See Me in Shadow" by Delain from Lucidity

"Standing by the paintings of your dreams that you have awoken, and all the purples and the greens have turned to black…"

Okay, yeah, it's a bit of a dark song at the first glance. But it's admitting how we're all imperfect and have dreams that must be released at some point. It's a very sweet song, like Nightwish's "Eva" and Evanescence's "My Immortal".

The language is very clean, and "See Me in Shadow" admits how no one's perfect, all "our lives do have our imperfection". Having "eyes wide open but still blind to see what really matters" is sadly more common than we like to remember.

I'm not sure, though, if "Forget yourself and who you are; another life is not that far" is meant to refer to restarting one's own goals in life or a reference to reincarnation. The music video has the wedding-garbed singer looking over the holdovers from her wrecked wedding before heading into a lake. So literally, the song might be talking about reincarnation, but it might be intentionally symbolic. The listener will have to decide how to accept that.

For anyone who's heard "Frozen", it's similar instrumentation. "See Me in Shadow" mixes rock music with the lovely piano and violin that opens the song and covers the verses, with electric guitar and such appearing for the verses.

Charlotte Wessels has a nice voice that is only slightly hindered by her Dutch accent. It mainly appears in slight sounds that she has an accent, but it's no biggie. Her voice sometimes echoes or changes a note in a verse to suit the song.

If you've liked such songs as "My Immortal"—this is better melded than that one's band version—or "Eva" I suggest you check it out.

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

"Eva" by Nightwish, an Internet single

Yay! I finally get to review this song!

"In this cruel children's game, there's no friend to call her name," draws me to this song time and again. I think Eva's either in a bad home situation and leaves in her imagination or she's dead. I'm kinda lost on this one.

At any rate, with the new singer Anette Olzon, Nightwish sounds very different now. No opera singer is Anette; she sounds much more similar to Sharon Den Adel of Within Temptation in her voice type than she does to Taarja Turunen, though her Swedish accent is a bit more pronounced. It's still a lovely voice that shows hints of being as "versatile" as Nightwish was seeking when it opened to tape submissions to find a new singer. Since the band picked Anette Olzon from over two thousand submissions, I'm betting she has some vocal tricks up her sleeve that will make their appearance in the current studio album.

Many old Nightwish fans are complaining about the change in sound, particularly with this Internet single, which is softer, like Evanescence's "My Immortal". (Other song samples on Nightwish's MySpace page shows that they are not changing overall with the classical-influenced heavy metal.)

But people who would flee their other music might like this softer single. "Eva" uses a few different instruments together to produce a softer ambiance of reminiscence, even with the electric guitar bridge and orchestra that comes in at the bridge. (I know, that sounds weird. It, like Nightwish in general, is hard to classify.)

I've already said these lyrics leave me clueless, likely because I know I don't understand some references, and other points of the song likely have double meanings that I'm missing. (What's Swanbrook?) At any rate, it's still a lovely song if you don't require a hard beat to like a song. But I don't see any reference to the moral ambiguity that kinda bothered me about the previous Nightwish songs I've reviewed.

Overall, it's a pretty song that's at least worth listening to if you liked one of "My Immortal"s versions. In fact, I'd call this better—the blending and choices of sound are all very suitable to the point that nothing sounds potentially out of place, even with the double layer on "escape" in "Time for one more daring dream before her escape, edenbeam." The "edenbeam" makes Eva's escape her blessed ray of light, of hope, and the music accents that.

It's hard to find something to legitimately not like about "Eva," and though it may not initially strike you as something amazing, you may, like me, find yourself drawn back to it time and again. (I specify "legitimately" because many hearers are complaining about it not being Taarja's Nightwish—well, duh.)

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

"Hello" by Evanescence from Fallen

Those who like Evanescence's hit "My Immortal" will likely enjoy the sound of this soft lament for Amy Lee's lost baby sister and her struggle to come to terms with it.

"Has no one told you she's not breathing? Hello?!" she asks. Her sister is missing from life, where she should be, and one seems to realize it. She might tell others she's fine, but "I'm the lie, living for you so you can hide… Don't cry." If you're not disturbed by someone's obvious lingering scars from a sibling's death, you'll likely enjoy this song and its clean lyrics.

The piano is lovely, that element alone making it one of Evanescence's best on the music. A slightly "wet" (echoing) quality further encourages the image of emptiness developed in the song, with accents of the type of sound that make "Haunted" sound so much like the ghost story it is. The accents are just enough to give the imagery that someone's likely died without making you feel like someone's physical ghost is supposed to be present.

Amy Lee has an excellent voice (on this album), and she uses it well in this lament for her baby sister. "Hello! I'm still here—all that's left of yesterday…"

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

"Gomenasai" by t.A.T.u. from Dangerous and Moving

Some songs have lovely parts that hint that the song could've been so much better. "Gomenasai" from t.A.T.u.'s album Dangerous and Moving is one of these, despite the Japanese "I'm sorry" ("gomen nasai" that I know would make some people like it outright.

The music, particularly the piano at the beginning, attracts notice to a pretty ballad. The development from there could have been so much better, but the end result was pretty forgettable for me. The breathy vocals are lovely, but I don't get a sense of them meaning what they're singing. They're just singing.

On the bright side, the lyrics critique the standard self-sufficient independent idea. Relying on herself, she's alienated her friends, and she now sees the problems with her situation. "When I wanted to tell you I made a mistake, I walked away." Now in need of friends, she realizes all she can say is "I'm sorry," "Gomen nasai."

The Russian singers also lack heavy accent while singing; they are highly understandable in the song. Even without looking at a set of lyrics, you can identify what they say, unlike some songs. "Gomenasai" has been one of t.A.T.u.'s top songs since its release on Dangerous and Moving.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 6/10