While the Finnish most successful act is in the US doing the third and final tour for the Dark Passion Play album Roadrunner Records put together a nice compilation. Actually this is a digital-only release comprising B-sides and some really interesting demos.
NIGHTWISH had already composed the music before the addition of Anette in the lineup in the 'heavy' place of Tarjia. This means that in the demo tracks we have Marco behind the microphone waking some nice memories from his TAROT days. Don't get me wrong because I am not saying that Anette is a bad singer. Actually I strongly believe that she did extremely well in her maiden tour with NIGHTWISH taking into consideration all the pressure from the fans and the media after the turbulence created from Tarjia's noisy departure. But listening to songs like The Poet And The Pendulum and Eva made me think of NIGHTWISH with Marco's vocals. These tracks sound kind of heavier and at some point meet with Marco's other band TAROT. Since most of the songs are demo recordings there are some errors here and there that personally I did find annoying but in some point was enjoyable. And this is because you can enjoy the band's composing potentials when you have the songs without the pompous production and the symphonic orchestrations.
While Your Lips Are Still Red The Escapist and The Escapist are two rather typical NIGHTWISH tracks that follow the late Poet And The Pendulum hearty atmosphere. The first track is a beautiful track with distinct keyboard melodies that once again fit Marco's voice. One thing that I will probably won't understand and definitely like is the Dj remixes. I mean what possible connection can the ambient electronic sounds and Heavy Metal have? Ok you can combine them inside the Industrial framework but doing covers is another matter. So, the Bye Bye Beautiful is the album's weakest element that is here due the b-side tag in the cover artwork.
The bottom line is that this digital release is a nice addition for all the NIGHTWISH fans and especially the US ones who are just getting to know them better.

Bye Bye Beautiful