Sunday, February 1, 2009

Finnish symphonic rocker Tarja Turunen has revealed that the working title for her new album is What Lies Beneath. The album follows on from 2007’s My Winter Storm.

“With My Winter Storm, I chose the name of the album in the early stages and that helped me to create the concept for the album. With the new album, I decided to do it the same way, so I searched for an inspiring title and all the songs are one way or another related to it,” Tarja explained.

My Winter Storm was Tarja’s first album after she left the Finnish symphonic power metal band Nightwish, which she fronted. On the day of the album’s release – November 14, 2007 – it was certified gold in Finland for sales in excess of 15,000 copies. On January 2, the album was rereleased in a 2-CD format with 32 tracks, including a guest appearence by Doro Pesch and an unreleased song recorded in China that features the Beijing Philharmonic and the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra.

Regarding her next effort, she said “In the last months I’ve been writing a lot of music for my new album. Songwriting is always an amazing learning experience, and it has been a pleasure to discuss music with different people.

“The album process is still going on and I have more songs that are in the working. It is sounding very promising. The songs are absolutely more mature, wild, and emotional and they sound more me, if I can say so.”

The album is tentatively scheduled for release in September, but Tarja has commented that this is not set in stone. “The biggest difference in preparing this new album is that I will be taking the time that I need until the songs are in a shape that I am happy with,” she said “No matter how long it takes. I want it to be perfect for me. No hurry; no pressure.”