Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2LP) - Clear w/Gold & Black Splatter Vinyl

Nightwish’s Endless Forms Most Beautiful arrived in March 2015 on Nuclear Blast with the kind of confidence only a band on its third life can muster. It’s the first studio album with Floor Jansen at the mic and Troy Donockley as a full-time member, and it features Kai Hahto on drums while Jukka Nevalainen stepped aside for health reasons. That alone would mark a major pivot, but Tuomas Holopainen didn’t just change voices. He lit the fuse on a concept steeped in Darwin, Dawkins, and the poetry of evolution, borrowing its title from the famous closing line of On the Origin of Species. The result feels both grand and grounded, like a nature documentary scored with power chords and a full orchestra.

“Shudder Before the Beautiful” kicks off with Richard Dawkins’ spoken word, the “lucky ones” passage that sets the scale of the record. What follows is a surge of cresting strings, Emppu Vuorinen’s crisp rhythm guitar, and Floor’s clean, bracing top line. It’s a statement of intent: science and wonder, not swords and dragons. “Weak Fantasy” hits harder, riffing with a muscular bite while Marco Hietala’s harmonies tangle with Floor’s leads. Then comes “Élan,” the early single that drew fans in from every corner. It’s a folk-lifted anthem with Donockley’s uilleann pipes and low whistles threading through Holopainen’s keys, like mist rolling over a valley before the drums kick in.

That Celtic color deepens on “My Walden,” which practically dances out of the speakers. Nightwish have flirted with these textures before, but here they feel integral. Donockley’s presence stabilizes the band’s palette, so the orchestra (arranged once again by Pip Williams) isn’t a coat of gloss, it’s another limb. When the choir rises behind the band, especially in the song’s closing passages, it’s hard not to picture a camera swooping across ridgelines.

There’s heart amid the spectacle. “Our Decades in the Sun” stands out as a tender ballad, widely discussed at the time as a tribute to the band members’ parents. Floor keeps it simple and human, and that restraint pays off when the strings bloom. “Alpenglow” swings back to speed with a chorus that seems purpose-built for festival fields. And “The Eyes of Sharbat Gula” stops the album cold in a good way, an instrumental built around a slow, haunted motif that nods to the famous National Geographic photograph. It’s a reminder that the album’s fascination with life and time isn’t abstract. There are real faces behind the themes.

Then there’s “The Greatest Show on Earth,” a 20-plus minute suite that has become a modern Nightwish touchstone. It’s where the evolutionary arc goes full panorama, from primordial stirrings to human voices and back to silence, with Dawkins returning to frame it. You can hear Holopainen’s love of film scores and symphonic rock threading through each movement. For all its length, the piece never loses the plot. It feels earned, like the capstone the record keeps pointing toward.

Production-wise, Endless Forms Most Beautiful benefits from familiar hands and smart choices. Williams’ orchestrations and the London sessions give the choir and strings a real-world punch, not a plug-in sheen. Kai Hahto’s drumming is both precise and alive, and that matters when the arrangements get dense. Hietala’s bass tone is chewy and supportive, his vocal counterpoints still the band’s secret weapon. Floor holds the center with a mix of clarity and steel, switching from operatic lift to rock grit without showboating. If you’ve waded through Nightwish albums on vinyl before, you know how much these dynamics matter when a record gets loud. This one breathes.

It landed well. The album topped the charts in Finland and made a strong showing across Europe, which felt like validation for a band embracing science as mythos. ToxicAngel’s artwork ties it together: roots, bones, stars, a sense of becoming. If you’re crate-digging for Nightwish vinyl and spot Endless Forms Most Beautiful vinyl in a gatefold, don’t overthink it. It’s the sound of a veteran group finding a new thesis and nailing it.

For anyone building a symphonic metal shelf, this belongs next to Once and Dark Passion Play as a different kind of triumph. If you can’t find a copy at your local Melbourne record store, you can always buy Nightwish records online. Either way, spin it loud. The sweep suits the format, and these songs reveal new edges with each play. A small note to international shoppers hunting vinyl records Australia might appreciate: patience pays off, because this album’s dynamic swells and quiet interludes really shine on a clean pressing.