NIGHTWISH: “Imaginaerum” - release date, cover & tracklist.

ALBUM “IMAGINAERUM” 
Friday release: 02.12.2011/ GAS
Monday release: 05.12.2011/ EUROPE

TRACKLIST:

1. Taikatalvi
2. Storytime
3. Ghost River
4. Slow, Love, Slow
5. I Want My Tears Back
6. Scaretale
7. Arabesque
8. Turn Loose The Mermaids
9. Rest Calm
10. The Crow, The Owl And The Dove
11. Last Ride Of The Day
12. Song Of Myself
13. Imaginaerum

ALBUM FORMATS:

Jewel Case CD (2789-2) 727361278922                      
2CD DIGI BOOK (2789-0) 727361278908   (will include poster, the digi will be packed in slipcase!)    
2 LP- PICTURE (2789-9) 727361278991  (will include poster, packed in Gatefold)
2LP - colored (2789-1)     727361278915   (will include poster, packed in Gatefold)

SINGLE “STORYTIME”
Friday release: 11.11.2011
Monday release: 14.11.2011

SINGLE FORMATS:

CDS DIGI (2801-0) 727361280109 
VINYL 10” (2801-9) 727361280192  

Track-by-Track teasers by Tuomas Holopainen:

"Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it."
- Henry David Thoreau

1. TAIKATALVI
This world is but a canvas for our imagination.

2. STORYTIME
How would it feel to take a midnight flight with a snowman through the most wondrous landscapes, like in the classic animated Yuletide film? The meaning of our very existence is created though stories, tales and imagination. They are at the very core of humanity.

3. GHOST RIVER
LIFE is the ultimate privilege; a river filled with wonders and horrors. Love, sorrow, beauty, evil and temptation. And we need them all to survive and enjoy the journey.
Good, Evil, Pain and Pleasure - members one of another.

4. SLOW, LOVE, SLOW
Truest love needs no words, demands or promises. It is wordless territory, and thoroughly unconditional.

5. I WANT MY TEARS BACK
Longing for things long gone, but still possible to bring back.

6. SCARETALE
Monsters in the closet, squealing pigs, hordes of spiders and flesh-ripping harpies. A peak into childhoodґs unforgettable nightmares- a vivid and twisted circus sideshow.

7. ARABESQUE
A catharsis to a nightmare. Giving birth through a death-dance.

8. TURN LOOSE THE MERMAIDS
We quietly witness as her dying loved one takes his last journey...forever now, a haunting moment of beauty and comfort.

9. REST CALM
Memories and hope are two things no-one can ever take away from you. The sweetness of my own past is a bottomless chest of comfort and inspiration.

10. THE CROW, THE OWL AND THE DOVE
"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me Truth"
- Henry David Thoreau
Love is everything, and only Truth is our guide to a deeper state.

11. LAST RIDE OF THE DAY
The theme park is just about to close, but the rollercoaster runs one more time and you get to take the last ride by yourself. It`s dark and the fireworks have just started. Moments such as these are portals to infinite dreams, of deep realisation, and ultimately the thrilling awareness of being a speck of dust in this vast swirling cosmos.

12. SONG OF MYSELF
Our homage and version of Walt Whitman`s transcendental celebration of life and existence, delving deep into a personal catharsis.

13. IMAGINAERUM
Thank you for sharing the ride and we hope to welcome you back soon. The stage is lit, and the Magnificent Play is beginning...

The cover artwork:

"Originally, this was supposed to be the centerfold image of the album but once I and some mates saw the final image, we immediately knew that the hunt for the actual cover artwork was over. I believe this is Toxic Angel's finest piece of work yet, capturing the deepest essence of what Imaginaerum is all about. The power of imagination and places of wordless wonders, magic and awe, of longing and the surreal.

I emphasized from the start that not a single living thing should be seen in the picture, and Toxic was able to create that sublime but desolate, "all this waiting for you, and you only" - feeling.

All you need is the courage to enter."
Tuomas Holopainen