So Tuomas Holopainen, the primary songwriter and keyboardist for Nightwish, is writing an album's worth of music based on a Disney comic book called "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck." As you can probably guess, the comic tells the story of everyone's favorite wealthy, Scottish, anthropomorphic duck.
Based on what Holopainen has said on his website, you probably shouldn't get your hopes up for a symphonic power metal cover of the Ducktales theme song:
"There will be a total of 10 songs, with running time between 55-60 minutes. Six of them will feature vocals, both male and female. It's quite difficult to categorize the genre of the album, but to my ears, it's somewhere between film music, folk and classical, echoing distantly the works of Vaughan Williams, Enya, Mike Oldfield and Michael Nyman. Loaded with keys, piano, orchestra, Metro Voices and ethnic percussion, it will also feature acoustic guitars, banjo and some human voices."
Got that? It's an album of orchestral music, banjos, and ethnic percussion that sort of sounds like Enya…and it's about Scrooge McDuck. I'm trying to avoid ridiculing the guy though. This is clearly something he's passionate about, and children's stories don't have to be completely bereft of emotional depth or complex themes. Have you read Charlotte's Web? A funeral doom band could definitely squeeze a concept album out of that book.
Halopainen really sounds like he believes in this project, and, I have to admit, his enthusiasm for the material has me curious about hearing the music he's written. I sort of want to track down the comic after reading this quote about it, too:
"This is a book about life itself. What an unfathomable privilege it is, what are the things that truly matter during our existence. It's about the immense beauty of the world and its possibilities seen through the eyes of a very relentless, honest and complex character. It's about love and family, gain and loss, darkness and rebirth."
It's also about a grumpy duck who wears a top hat and swims in a giant money bin full of coins. I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. There's no word on a release date yet, but recording and mixing is supposed to start in August. If this project turns out to be as good as Tuomas makes it sound, the only fitting word to describe it will be Quacktastic!
I'm so, so sorry for that.
[via Metal Hammer]
