The Daily Doug: All the Works of Nature Which Adorn the World (Nightwish) Reaction | (Ep 206) 

English can be such a false friend sometimes. Moors can refer to Muslims, but in this case it refers to the highlands of Scotland, with mist-covered hills and mountains which also go by the same name. (edit) the final vocalist is indeed Floor. She has been singing that part at the end of their recent live shows.

I'd love to hear and see your reaction to "Shoemaker", from the same album..... let's make it happen, Doug? 😃

Yours is a refreshing example of how a reaction can add, a lot, to the listener experience. Thanks. Please keep on doing them.

At the end of Ad Astra, the vocal part resolves, the instrumental part does not. I think this could be interpreted as nature still being there when humankind has disappeared. Thanks for another great reaction. As mentioned before, would be great to see a Shoemaker reaction someday.

Since no one apparently as of my writing this has mentioned it (I scrolled almost to the bottom), It is worth mentioning that "Anthropocene" contains within it Tuomas's interpretation of the oldest known substantially complete work of notated music in the world known as, "Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal", preserved on clay tablets for 3400 years and found in the 1950's in the ruins of Ugarit in Syria (northern Canaan back in the day).

Now I only need you to react to Tuomas' solo work Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge and my work here will be complete. HEHE! 😉 Also if you be willing to reach out to Tuomas, I would b really interested in you doing an interview discussing his compositions. Almost forgot, not sure if anyone mentioned this to you Doug, but Nightwish has released versions of certain of their albums with the orchestral part only. The moors is this case is referring to this definition 'a tract of open uncultivated upland; a heath'. The whispering is saying "Quiet as the snow" in multiple language including French my native language and I think Swedish, but cannot figure out the others. BTW it is Floor & Troy singing and playing on the album.

The whispers you heard: "quiet as the snow" in multiple languages. The whole story:

It is Floor in Ad Astra.

I think you nailed it Doug. We have been separated from Nature. Floor does some of the vocalizations in these pieces. This Moor's is referring to the lonely desolate moors of Scotland. Thus the Celtic sound. It is Floor doing the climactic vocalizations in Ad Astra. Great job Doug. I loved it so much.

I must admit, as a long time fan of Prog, I deeply underestimated the work of Nightwish (even if I had heard and liked some of their songs). I am working on it, thanks to you Doug!

Floor is singing in Ad Astra. In fact this is the outro in the live performances now.

The best word I can use to describe this album is "brave". It's a divisive album in the NW fandom, with a lot of people saying "this is the end of Nightwish", and it's not just Disc 2 - Disc 1 is equally as divisive. Nonetheless, Tuomas proposed it to the band, they went along with it, and then Nuclear Blast released it. Brave on so many levels.

Nightwish likes to surprise, the entire last album was a bit of a surprise to many fans of the band. For me personally it was a very, very pleasant surprise. And this track which you have just listened to is a kind of completion of the first part of the album, showing by the music itself what the album is about and what its message is. It's a great album, and I think you should definitely listen to the songs from the first part as well - as a composer you would have a lot to say. (And us to listen to:-)). You used to listen to the band Epica. I think it is very worthwhile for you to go back to this band and listen to their latest album "Omega". Not only because it's also a great album, but also because every song has an orchestral version in addition to the main album version, and some have acoustic versions as well. I think I'm not the only one who would be very interested in your opinion and analysis. As always good to see you - see you soon!

Hey Doug…of course it’sFloor singing Ad Astra. You can watch it live now. Last month in Oulu. Amazing Floor. Greetings from The Netherlands

It is Floor singing in Ad Astra. She sings the part at the end of the concerts now when they perform!

Love this so much. That is Floor singing operatically in the pieces along with the choirs. She did the Ad Astra live for their virtual concert and it was glorious! You still need to listen to more Nightwish. Their other member Troy plays the Uilleann Pipes on many songs, on stage, as well as Irish Low Whistles, flutes, the Irish Mandolin, acoustic guitar, and the Electric guitar with an e-bow. You did not finish your journey yet ;) Troy ans Tuomas have another project called Auri with Tuomas' wife, singer Johanba Kurkela. Lovely.

A Tuomas and Hans Zimmer collaboration for the next David Attenborough documentary series is the dream I need to come to reality

This album is a masterpiece!! Your reaction is a masterclass!! Thank you Doug!

And let's not forget to send a big thank you to Sensei Music Videos for the awesome unofficial video visualisation. It adds so much to the experience of this composition.

Nightwish: "Shoemaker". You NEED to hear this one! You will not regret it! Look for the official lyric video.

Found Nightwish around the same time you did and really have become to love their music. Toumas is a beautiful composer. Thank you for doing this!

Must admit that I had not listened to this album right through Doug, just the singles and one or two other tracks. All good but this is quite an incredible piece of music, absolutely magical. Thanks for putting me onto it and for pointing me at the wonderful video Doug. It is beautiful, superb images, with the music so supremely evocative. Well done Nightwish and wonderful reaction as always Doug, I really can listen to your music analysis all day! Keep doing what you do!

That ending, Doug, is like life itself. There's so much going on, so many sounds and experiences then, all of a sudden, is all quiet again, just like before we were born.

You almost got it right. It is indeed the musical sign for repeat. Indeed it separates human from nature, but in a slightly different way than you mentioned. As you mentioned it is a double album and the first disc contains all songs which all in some way have humans as a subject. So the first disc is about humans. The instrumental part on disc 2 is Tuomas’s homage to Nature, so the second disc is Nature.

Doug is THE man when it comes to orchestral stuff. It was great to listen to the record again, alongside the Professor!

Cello? Metal? Apocalyptica.

That was absolutely another magnificent piece of music from the wizard Tuomas.

Did I see you starting to well up there during ad astra? I don't know what it is but that piece of music has me in tears everytime... Everytime without fail. Floor does the vocals during the piece so wonderfully.

The whispering in "Quiet As The Snow" is the title of that piece in different languages.

Thanks, Doug! I'd never even heard of Nightwish and this is a wonderful intro to this remarkable band. For the most part, I cannot get into anything proggy since 1979; it all sounds derivative of the creative masterminds of the 70's, much as the musicianship is usually strong. But this is new and innovative, while melodic and unabashedly beautiful. Love it!

I’ve been avoiding watching reactions to this piece. Mainly because I don’t want to watch sapiens mindlessly nod along to it and pretend that they are knowing what’s going on…or pretending that they don’t hate it because it’s not heavy. This one I watched because I know Doug will both love and understand it. It was a pleasure. Thank you.

I love it how the music representating nature is left unfinished but human singing, while beautiful, comes to an end.

Thanks again for a great reaction. About the ending; maybe it ended that way because our story is not at the end and future is open? And not doomed or everything will suck or whatever. Tuomas has this "positive poet" inside of him although many of his compositions are lyrically sometimes in the darker side of life. To me his message is "for some most beautiful reasons, we are here and we can decide what or future will be.

In "Moors" the piano is playing "The Great-est Show On Earth" in 6 notes. Tuomas does this often: In The Greatest Show On Earth he added other names of songs via instrumental notes.

Perhaps the album ending without resolve is a reference to the idea that this spec of dust suspended in a sun beam can go out in any moment, resolve or not.

Doug the Moors have very unpredictable weather patterns the strings that you liked represented the wind blowing across the open moors it is remarkable how much they sound like the wind whistling through them The music really represents the changing weather pattern on the Moors

You’d be surprised (as a non-metal head) at the relatively large amount of people who enjoy metal AND classical music. Also, a pretty large percentage of hardcore metal fans have played “classical” instruments themselves. I mean, there’s a reason Symphonic Metal got so popular in the first place; love metal + love classical music = Symphonic Metal :)

Thank you! This is the piece I most wanted to get your reaction to. I love how intertwined All the Works of Nature is. The end theme of Moors is the same as Floor’s vocal in Ad Astra, Quiet as the Snow reprises the cello from Vista as well as using a very similar pattern of harps and strings from The Green, and the mechanical (Sorcerer’s Apprentice) passage from Anthropocene is the theme from The Blue. I think that’s why the tempo is the same throughout. In fact, I’m pretty sure the entire suite hovers right around 100 BPM and the entire thing is 4/4. This feels very intentional to me since Tuomas is usually not shy about changing up tempo and time signature. It makes the piece as a whole a little same-y, but also contributes to the continuity and the sense that the piece is meant to be listened to without breaking it up. I think it also makes a statement that nature has a constant presence and rhythm even when overlaid by the tension and tremolo of the anthropocene and when we look beyond to the stars.

I've really been looking forward to you digging into this masterpiece. I love that its not been compressed to hell and back There is a genuine dynamic range to the piece from quiet as the snow to the ending. After listening to this piece the Cello was cemented as my favourite orchestral instrument (tied maybe with the french horn ). You're right that its a brave decision to include it in the album. It has divided people slightly (I love it and would happily buy more of Tuomas classical stuff), but to my its Tuomas ultimate reminder that Nightwish is just *good music*. Yes its the uillean pipes (actually pronounced "ill-ee-an" apparently) A MOOR is a flat plain at the top of hills (also a GLEN). Not sure how far that work has travelled, but its common in the british isles. Yes, the final vocalist is Floor. She does this bit live now. As usual Tuomas will add tension or anger with the arrival of humanity in his works (anthropacene). If it was a metal track, it would be time to get super heavy. Here I love the use of the tremolo to bring that tension. Interesting comments on lack of a fast moment. I think that's fair. I love the 30 mins as is, because its chilled and beautiful. Maybe next time he'll add something faster. The conclusion of the piece is typicially Tuomas (its the same as the main part of Greatest Show on Earth), an explosion / timpani hit. Either its "Blast off" or a monumental explosion. I Dare say that Tuomas is challenging us to affect which one of these it turns out to be. The future is yet unwritten...

I think you were absolutely right to do the reaction without the fan-made video and add it on after. Although the video is a visual masterpiece, it's also pretty distracting from the music on a first listen. Other reactors I've seen are often commenting more on the visuals than the music itself, and of course the visuals are approved by Nightwish but weren't created by them and so don't necessarily represent exactly what Tuomas envisioned. Mind you they probably didn''t have the knowledge to comment that much on the composition by comparison anyway!... Really enjoyed it and I'll put another vote down for Shoemaker from the Human disc although compositionally Pan might be the one that would grab you the most.

"The Earth is in B flat" made me laugh because I was imaging Tuomas trying to tell the World that the Earth is flat and I was like "Nooo! Not from all the people..."

My favorite of these ”sections” is Quiet As The Snow, the wishpers are the title in different languages. Tuomas has painted with instruments all the different kind of snowy days and nights into this one piece of amazing music. I’m getting emotional every time I listen to it, this music just pulls my heartstrings the right way.

Tuomas seems to write music for whatever feels deserves it. He did release "Music inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge" album under his own name because didn't fit with the band.

Moors are undulating uplands with low growing plant life, heathers, grasses, shrubs, etc. Probably the best known are the ones in England, but they're common around the world. The changes in the music during the "Moors" reflects the changing weather that is typical of moors. The soloist was Floor. She is capable of so many voices, it's sometimes hard to recognize her at times, for example, the siren calls in her cover of "Into the Unknown" don't quite sound like her at first. And finally, "Ad Astra" played live recently as their show closer: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tDr7LwlvEYQ.html. As you can hear, the soloist is most definitely Floor. That sustained note at the end is epic.

From 29:25 -> onwards that string tremolo is a very Sibelius vibe, maybe a nod from Tuomas to our national composer? :) Loved your reaction

Apart from the magnificent compositions credit to the fan who did this video to go with the music. Toumas has seen it and loved it so much that he included it in the official Nightwish exhibition at their museum in Kitee, Finland.

i just love your knowledge of music

The :II: is not pronounced. Apparently, according to Floor the album title is just Human Nature.

Wonderful! Ad Astra leaves me in tears and wanting more (and that voice has to be Floor).

nice one, thanks a lot! I really do love this piece, although I do sometimes feel conflicted in calling it a Nightwish track, since it only features Tuomas, Troy and Floor. But then again it works pretty well a contrasting piece to the first CD of the album. And yes Floor was in it^^ singing both in the first part (Vista) where you didn't think it sounded quite like her, and in the last part (Ad Astra) where you said it sounded like her but didn't think it was her^^. At the time of the album recording (2019) she wasn't on a break due to giving birth. The break was in 2017, which the guys in the band actually wanted to take after 20 year of work, so she and her husband decided, might as well be a good time to get a child, lol.

I have this human:||:nature album, but I hadn't listened this album yet, not before this day. I've been sort of waiting that special moment to enjoy this orchestral piece. And immediately when I saw this Doug's video, I thought this might be the occasion where I should listen to this and the decision I made, I didn't regret that. Thank you Doug for this enjoyable journey of Nature album.

In this case moors refer to moorlands, the habitat/landscape you find in, among other places, northern Europe. I always associate it with Great Britain, but Finland got those too, if I am not mistaken.

When you think of it from a thematic point of view, it makes perfect sense that the piece doesn't resolve, because human history (which was basically the theme of the album, nature and how humans fit in it), still isn't over. Once you have explored Earth, you set off to the stars and where we go from there is yet to be written. That's why I really hope Nightwish's next album has something to do with space, sci-fi or just the future of humanity in general. It would be an incredible ending to the story they started in Endless Forms Most Beautiful :)

Thank you, really enjoyed this and all the musical information you gave. I was really surprised how much negative feedback this second cd got from the public, like this is not Nightwish aso. I am too very glad Tuomas decided go ahead to put this out with Nightwish. He is one of the greatest composer's there is, and I love this cd listen to it almost everyday. If you haven't do Shoemaker by Nightwish, another great piece by Tuomas and Floors singing.

So lovely and such a great reaction. I approached the second album reluctantly because of how much I love Floor performing with Nightwish. But this instrumental album has become one of my favorites for meditation or just as background listening. Tuomas is wonderful in his creativity. Another one of his orchestral pieces that invokes similar feelings for me is "A Lifetime of Adventure", from his album "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck". Loved this.

We would love to see your reaction to "Shoemaker" 🙏

You look so happy. This makes it even more fun.

For me moors has to do with moorland not "the moors" (the person). This disc is the "nature" part of the album, the first disc is the "human" part.

One some point it would be interesting if YOU can react to NIghtwish "Turn Loose the Mermaids" studio version. It's a nice folk song, but very cool midle part that pays homage to Ennio Morricone western music in my opinion - creating very interesting blend.

Excellent review. Now its time for you to review something that you have written in your career! Take us through one of your musical journeys.

Wow finally you've done the longest Nightwish song reaction.

Here is a suggestion for metal Monday, Consign to Oblivion by Epica.

I think it was about the landscape type, also called moors.

Speaking of 'movie music', you might enjoy listening through any of Thomas Bergersen's albums. I believe he released one recently with Humanity as its theme.

If you were a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes, the word "moors" would bring to mind: Moor -- a noun, mainly British -- - a tract of open uncultivated upland; a heath (e.g.: a little town in the moors). - a tract of open land preserved for shooting (e.g.: a grouse moor). Comes from the old-English "mōr" , of Germanic origin.

Hi Doug, it seems we have the same birthday, although I have had quite a few more than you ;) In this piece I believe “Moor” refers to a kind of habitat found in upland areas, the British Isles are covered in moors, as in Exmoor and Dartmoor, the Yorkshire moors and the moors of Scotland. They are covered in low-growing vegetation as in grasses, shrubs and notably in Scotland, heather. Wikipedia has a great article on it. This music is very similar in style to Tuomas’ “soundtrack” to the graphic novel, “The Life and Times of Scrooge”, one album, ten tracks, something Tuomas wrote a few years back when Nightwish took a year off. Well worth listening to. Really loved your reaction, thank you.

Yeah Doug, it was Floor all the time

This is a great piece of art. Simple and clear. Great reaction and analysis. You are a special one.

Interesting for Aurorae you said more American Western- to me it had a feeling of Irish Dance songs as I imagine the lights dancing through the sky. Maybe similar inspiration to Moors with the Celtic element?

Ad Astra always hits me in the feels..

Man, I can never hear Ad Astra without tearing up. :) I only have the album in digital form, so I didn’t even know about it being two cd’s divided into the human and nature sections. I thought it was just a single album throughout.

Thanks for making me listen to this and for your comments!

Enjoyed the reaction. This is just an incredible album.

Thanks for including the wonderful video. I hope you had the chance to subsequently listen again with the video as it is a visual feast. Moors refers to the moorlands of the UK wide open heathland with heather and gorse and broom often grazed by sheep.

Thank you for this. I enjoyed all of this and in particular the discussion of resolution in the compositions. It was 2 days ago, another reactor, MTR, went into great detail about chord changes and realized resolution (and why it works) in the Wacken performance with Floor compared to the lack of resolution in the album version of Ghost Love Score. It is quite a coincidence that both of you are discussing this issue with respect to Tuomas' compositions at the same time.

Thanks for an informative and interesting reaction, enjoyed this a lot. I recommend that you also check out the official music video for Ad Astra, it's beautiful and important. Also for future reactions I recommend to you "film music" by Tuomas, "Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge", which is an album based on the Scrooge McDuck comic books. Tuomas is a big fan, so am I, and the music is beautiful and cinematic. Tuomas is a storyteller, which is why I enjoy his music.

To my ears, the cello theme in "Blue" reminds of "Peltoniemen Hintriikan surumarssi", which is a Finnish folk song for violin. Lyrics were added 1964.

Shivers up my spine, tears in my eyes, no words. Thank you Doug

Thanks for making this video!

You have to listen to the other tracks to fully understand everything. Also do them as Tuomas intended them to be listen from beginning to the end. You will find a new Nightwish, 3 people singing beautiful harmonies and Troy and Marco even have their own dedicated songs. Use their Music Videos and also watch and understand their visuals. It has lots of very important references to even understand more about this whole album....

What a wonderful. Tuomas is a brilliant composer. Definitely you need to hear some of the long-duration pieces from Rhapsody of Fire. You'll surely like that stuff.

I have been HOPING you would do this!!! Finally yayyy!!! I'm so excited :D had to comment even before I watched

This was a wonderful reaction even without you watching. I personally prefer people doing their first reaction to this without distracting themselves with the undoubtedly gorgeous visuals anyway because yes, it sure does send you on a mental journey. ♥ Anyway, glad you liked it and to have heard your professional thoughts on it! Thank you for your good work!

Thanks for the extra insight into this, Doug, I really appreciate that you are willing to dive into these longer, more complex pieces of music. Keep it up. This piece gets better every time I listen to it, especially as you start to hear more and more of the repeated motifs that help tie it together. And I'm pretty sure there's a nod back to Procession in some of the chord sequences in Ad Astra. I get definite Howard Shore vibes in some of the choral parts - having just re-watched Lord of the Rings, some of the harmonies leap out at you. I'll just repeat a request for the first side of the album England by Amazing Blondel. It's called "the Paintings - three pastoral settings for voices, flute, guitars and orchestra". I really think you'll like it.

GREAT reaction Doug!! :) Thoumas is mostly the "Metal-Mozart", but as we hear he can allso be the "modern-mozart". I will recommend his homage to Don Rosa and "Scrooge McDuck" Its called "A lifetime of adventure" - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JWwSVOo5K_k.html Toumas wife sings on this song and she got a beautiful voice. Keep beeing great Doug! :) Greetings from Norway Tor

Thanks Doug, this was so beautiful ( never heard it)! Great thoughts and reaction.

Hi Doug! Any chance to get a reaction from you on Untouchable (Part 1 & Part 2) by Anathema? There is a version on RU-vid in the ancient Roman theatre of Philippopolis where the band were joined by the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra. Cool stuff.

The Green is my wake up alarm ever since it came out

Floor is the female soloist on ‘Nature’ .

Thank you Doug.

Amazing, Doug! Kudos to you, as always!

This has me itching to see you break down the first half of the album. In order. There’s definitely enough musically in each song to talk about!

Doug it was all Floor besides the orchestra. She sings this at the end of Shoemaker. She has done it already at one of their concerts already. 1 or 2 weeks ago.

It's definitely Floor.

This was an awesome experience! You should check out Dream Theater's "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" live version from their "Score" concert for more symphonic goodness!

Yes, I think that it is the repeat sign but I interpret it as the circulation of life: new life is being born from the dust of bygone lives and when it dies it becomes matter potent with life, and this circulation can be found in nature and even universe (stars, galaxies).

Yes, the instrument in the beginning of "Moors" is Uillean pipes.

This classical musical suite , improves Tuomas , is a great film music and classical branded genious ... I wish to meet him one day , to take some tips of his musical and orchestrating writing ... Cause and I love film scoring too ... !

What a beautiful music

Doug they mean moor like a highland grassland lol en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorland