Tarja – Act II album review

Operatic singer extraordinaire Tarja shines at different scales in Act II

By Malcolm Dome
( Metal Hammer )
published
Tarja - Act II cover

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Talk about a tale of contrasts. What Tarja does on the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the multi-format Act II is to bring together both an intimate performance at Metropolis Studios in London and a grandiose presentation from Teatro della Luna Allago in Milan. 

However, the CD and LP formats of this release focus on the Milan show. This spans her entire career, even dipping into the Nightwish era for Ever Dream, Slaying The Dreamer and The Riddler. It also has a stylised cover of Muse’s Supremacy and an astonishing take on the classic James Bond Goldfinger theme. 

Tarja’s operatic vocal prowess is certainly ideal for the overblown symphonic approach in Milan, and this is when she’s at her best. But she can also rein back and allow the musical emotions to percolate. A true quality display. 

Buy Act II from Amazon.

Tarja – Act II tracklist

CD1

1. No Bitter End
2. 500 Letters
3. Eagle Eye
4. Demons In You
5. Lucid Dreamer
6. Shameless
7. The Living End
8. Calling From The Wild
9. Supremacy
10. Tutankhamen/Ever Dream/The Riddler/Slaying The Dreamer

CD2

1. Goldfinger
2. Deliverance
3. Acoustic Set: Until Silence/The Reign/Mystique Voyage/House Of Wax/I Walk Alone
4. Love To Hate
5. Victim Of Ritual
6. Undertaker
7. Too Many
8. Innocence
9. Die Alive
10. Until My Last Breath

Malcolm Dome
Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.