NIGHTWISH: New Song 'Shudder Before The Beautiful' Available For Streaming

“Shudder Before The Beautiful”, a brand new song from Finnish / Dutch / British symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH, can be streamed on the web site of the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The track is taken from the band’s new full-length album, “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”, which will be made available on March 27 in Europe and March 31 in the U.S. via Nuclear Blast.

The cover artwork for “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” was created by the band’s longtime collaborator Toxic Angel. Famed evolutionary biologist and atheist writer/leader Richard Dawkins appears as a guest on the effort.

“Endless Forms Most Beautiful” features eleven new songs and will be released in different formats:

* Standard CD
* Digibook (including instrumental CD)
* 2LP (vinyl in gatefold) in different colors
* Earbook (including instrumental and orchestral CD)
* Earbook (deluxe version including bonus vinyl)
* Download

Pre-order your copy here.

“Endless Forms Most Beautiful” track listing:

Jewelcase

01. Shudder Before The Beautiful
02. Weak Fantasy
03. Élan
04. Yours Is An Empty Hope
05. Our Decades In the Sun
06. My Walden
07. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
08. Edema Ruh
09. Alpenglow
10. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
11. The Greatest Show On Earth

2LP black vinyl / 2LP picture vinyl as gatefold

Side A

01. Shudder Before The Beautiful
02. Weak Fantasy
03. Élan

Side B

01. Yours Is An Empty Hope
02. Our Decades In the Sun
03. My Walden

Side C

01. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
02. Edema Ruh
03. Alpenglow
04. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula

Side D

01. The Greatest Show On Earth

Digibook incl. instrumental CD

CD1

CD2 (instrumental)

Earbook incl. instrumental & orchestral CD

CD1

CD2 (instrumental)

CD3 (orchestral)

01. Shudder Before The Beautiful
02. Weak Fantasy
03. Élan
04. Yours Is An Empty Hope
05. Our Decades In the Sun
06. Endless Forms Most Beautiful
07. Alpenglow
08. The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula
09. The Greatest Show On Earth

The “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” title came from Charles Darwin‘s “The Origin Of Species” book, where he wrote: “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, while this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

NIGHTWISH keyboard player and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen comments: “There’s a kind of scientific approach to a lot of things on the album. Songs like ‘Shudder Before The Beautiful’, ‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’, ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ and ‘Alpenglow’ all somehow reflect the bliss of existence. It’s temporary character. Evolution… Maybe you could even talk about the poetic nature of science. Natural science and its paradigm seem to represent something cold and boring to a lot of people. Hopefully we can illustrate with this album — that science can even be something profoundly spiritual.”

NIGHTWISH‘s new video, “Èlan”, can be seen below. The clip was shot in Finland at various locations between September and November 2014, and it was directed by Ville Lipiäinen.

The “Élan” four-track single, which arrived on February 13, features the album version of the title cut, a radio edit and an alternate version of “Élan”, as well as the non-album bonus track “Sagan”.

Longtime NIGHTWISH drummer Jukka Nevalainen sat out the recording sessions for “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” due to health issues; Kai Hahto (WINTERSUN, SWALLOW THE SUN, TREES OF ETERNITY) replaced him.

Singer Floor Jansen, who officially joined the band in 2013, made her live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington.

“Èlan” video: