Nightwish keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen has shared new details about the band’s upcoming single, Perfume Of The Timeless.
The track, due for release on May 21, will be the lead single of the Finnish symphonic metal idols’ impending 10th album Yesterwynde, out on September 20.
Perfume… will be the first new Nightwish song in four years, since the release of their ninth record Human :||: Nature in 2020.
In a new interview with Kerrang!, Holopainen has revealed that the single is “eight-and-a-half minutes long” with a chorus that doesn’t kick in until the three-and-a-half-minute mark.
“[W]hen we had the first meeting with [Nightwish’s label] Nuclear Blast, talking about the new album and singles, I told them, the first single will be a song called Perfume Of The Timeless, and it’s eight-and-a-half minutes long, and the chorus comes in at 3:30,” the musician says.
“And they were like, ‘Perfect!’”
He explains: “I think that has to do with the fact that we have a long legacy. You know, we can do whatever we want, and I do, but it says something that we can do that, when I heard that for Spotify it’s good to have the vocals start after 15 seconds, or people skip it, they don’t have the attention span anymore.”
Holopainen also spoke about Nightwish’s ongoing hiatus from live shows, which they announced in June 2023.
The band explained that the reasons for the touring break were “personal” but separate from singer Floor Jansen’s then-pregnancy.
Jansen gave birth to her second child in October.
Holopainen tells Kerrang!, “[P]eople shouldn’t get worried. It’s not the end of the band.
“[I]t doesn’t feel weird [to not be touring],” he says. “It just feels right.”
The keyboardist later adds: “We just signed a multi-record deal with Nuclear Blast, so there will be more music coming, definitely. But as far as shows, we’re just gonna have a long breather now and see what happens. That’s all I can say at the moment.
“We got our fair share in 2022 and 2023 when we did a lot of shows. So that helped.”
The album art and track listing of Yesterwynde are available below.
Nightwish – Yesterwynde track listing:
1. Yesterwynde
2. An Ocean Of Strange Islands
3. The Antikythera Mechanism
4. The Day Of...
5. Perfume Of The Timeless
6. Sway
7. The Children Of 'Ata
8. Something Whispered Follow Me
9. Spider Silk
10. Hiraeth
11. The Weave
12. Lanternlight
