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"To be placed at the foot of the Christmas tree, "Dark Christmas" sees Tarja deliver covers of dark, icy Christmas carols in which the standards of the genre appear in a new and often captivating light."
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4/5
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Christmas albums you either love them or you hate them. They're the pretext for a rehash of songs so hackneyed that it's hard to derive any pleasure from them. But when Tarja Turunen tackles the exercise, our curiosity is piqued, given the symphonic metal jack-of-all-trades' tendency to turn everything she touches into gold.
"Dark Christmas" is aptly named, as the approach is dark and cold, an unusual tendency on this exercise, notwithstanding the wintry context conducive to icy ambiences. Starting with the opening track 'The First Noel', which, despite its conventional lyrics and melody, immediately sets the mood for a horror movie. The same atmosphere prevails on most of the tracks, including the eponymous 'Dark Christmas', where Tarja once again shows off her magical, bewitching voice, draped in black like a winter priestess.
The orchestrations sound like something out of a winter painting, with snowy landscapes enveloped in a melancholy atmosphere of languorous violins, as on the eerie 'Frosty The Snowman'. The children's choirs themselves are not enough to lighten the mood on the symphonically arranged 'Jingle Bells Rock', and even more so on 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer', whose softness competes with the dark, icy atmosphere.
All the best-known Christmas standards are covered on this album, from 'Jingle Bells' to Mariah Carey's exasperating 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' (interesting for once), Wham!'s 'Last Christmas' and the eternal 'O Holy Night', with its original reworking and breathtaking operatic finale.
Tarja has taken a risky path by choosing a cold, dark direction on Christmas carols approached with melancholy and darkness. Nevertheless, the challenge is brilliantly met, as even the most universal standards suddenly appear in a captivating new light. We'd have liked a little more darkness on some of them, but Tarja doesn't play on the aggressive side here, and her flawless vocals are just right for the job. An album to put under the Christmas tree and listen to that very evening, but when the children are in bed to avoid crying and nightmares. - Official website
Did you know?
 In 2001, Tarja Turunen founded a musical group called Noche Escandinava, with the aim of spreading Finnish music in Latin American countries. A single CD was released.
In 2018, the singer suffered a stroke, an incident she would not reveal until 2021 in her biography.
Tarja was one of the coaches on The Voice of Finland in 2015 and 2016.
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TRACK LISTING:
01. The First Noel
02. Frosty the Snowman
 03. Holy Night
04. Dark Christmas
05. Jingle Bell Rock
06. White Christmas
07. All I Want For Christmas Is You
08. Wonderful Christmastime
09. Last Christmas
10. Jingle Bells
11. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
12. Angels We Have Heard On High
LINEUP:
Tarja Turunen: Chant
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(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
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Top of the page
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(2) COMMENT(S)
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READERS
-/5 (0 view(s))
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STAFF:
3.5/5 (4 view(s))
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IN RELATION WITH TARJA
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LAST INTERVIEW
TARJA (MAY 2019)
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At a crossroads in her life as an artist and mother, the now serene Tarja returns to the genesis of her new album, very personal, in an interview of great sincerity.
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OTHER REVIEWS
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OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT TARJA
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