NIGHTWISH To Begin Recording Eleventh Album In May 2027; Seven Songs Have Been Written Already, Says TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN

In a new interview with Finland's Chaoszine, NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen spoke about his plans to write and record new music in the coming months. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " Since the release of [NIGHTWISH's latest album, 2024's] 'Yesterwynde', it's all been about music in my life, and I've absolutely loved it. First, we recorded the third AURI album [Holopainen's project with his wife Johanna Kurkela and NIGHTWISH multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley], '[III - ]Candles & Beginnings', did a tour with it. After that, I have been working with an upcoming solo album that will be released at some point next year. All the songs are done and recorded, and at the moment we are just doing the orchestrations with [English conductor, orchestrator and composer] Mr. James Shearman, and we're gonna record them in London later this year. So the album should be ready by spring '27. And also I have been working on the next NIGHTWISH album for the past months, and we are entering the studio next May. So we're doing good in there as well."

Referencing the fact that NIGHTWISH hasn't played a single concert in more than three years, Tuomas added: "The break has really been good for us because I just feel like the songs are coming like never before. I'm really, really excited both for the next NIGHTWISH album and the solo thing. So nothing but good times."

In a separate interview with Bear Wiseman, Holopainen revealed that he has already written "seven" songs so far for NIGHTWISH's follow-up to "Yesterwynde". As for what is inspiring him musically and lyrically these days, Tuomas said: "In a broader spectrum, the same things as always before. The world around us. People, they are so inspiring. Some books I've read, some films I've seen. So many things. But it's a bit early to go there. All I can say at this point is that it's happening next year. A lot of songs done already, lot more songs to be done, and I'm just in a very good place of bringing them home with the whole band."

Earlier this month, Tuomas told U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine about his plans for NIGHTWISH's upcoming eleventh studio album: "I feel more inspired than ever. Every time I sit in front of my keyboard, I'm, like, 'Ah, yeah, this is great! Just wait till everyone hears this.' It's exhilarating."

As for a return to the live stage, the 49-year-old Finnish-born musician said: "Next year is too early to be going back on tour. The year after, possibly? I want to do another album before any live shows, and that's definitely happening. We've already reserved things for that next year."

Back in September 2024, Donockley told Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece about NIGHTWISH's decision to take a break: "Well, I was part of the decision, as we all were. We weren't forced into the conclusion, but we were pointed in the direction of it quite early on, even before the pandemic. We realized that we were in danger of burning out of doing too much. So we made the decision, and extraordinarily, the decision to have this hiatus, this time off, is for all of us. It has no time limit. We have absolutely no plans at all for when we will bring the band out again to play live."

The 62-year-old British musician continued: "At the moment, we're just trying to, I suppose, personally, for all of us, recapture our balance, recapture, I suppose, our sense of direction for the band. It hasn't been easy — there's been lots of personal problems — but I must stress that we're an unusual beast, NIGHTWISH, in that we actually love being with each other. It's a rare thing for bands. A lot of bands, they'll have separate dressing rooms and all that kind of nonsense, whereas we actually enjoy our own company. And we socially mix with each other even when we're not working. We have fun with each other. Last year, Emppu [Vuorinen, NIGHTWISH guitarist] and Tuomas came over to Yorkshire [England] and we went metal detecting for a week, just for the fun of it. Yeah, that's what we do. And have massive fun doing it."

Circling back to NIGHTWISH's decision to not play any live shows for the foreseeable future, Troy said: "So, it's not terminal. It's an extended time off. But I can envisage some more live work probably in 2027, which is the 30th anniversary of the band. I should imagine we'll do something live to mark that. We might do that."

When Fragos noted that NIGHTWISH's long album-tour cycles must have become more emotionally demanding as Troy and his bandmates kept doing it year after year, Donockley said: "That's a major part of it, but when you take that with six people, all of them feeling the same way, and you take it out on tour for seven weeks, or you travel to South America, three weeks in South America, then you're in Japan, then you're in America for five weeks. And we've all got families — all of us have families. Floor [Jansen, NIGHTWISH singer] has two tiny children. It's gonna cause confusion, with the lifestyle."

"Yesterwynde" was made available in September 2024 via Nuclear Blast. It marked NIGHTWISH's tenth studio LP, following on from the release of "Human. :II: Nature." in 2020.

In August 2022, NIGHTWISH announced the addition of Jukka Koskinen (WINTERSUN) as an official member of the band. Koskinen, who made his live debut with NIGHTWISH in May 2021 at the band's two interactive experiences, had spent the previous year touring with NIGHTWISH as a session musician.

In November 2022, Jansen revealed that she was "cancer free" after undergoing surgery to have a tumor removed following a breast cancer diagnosis.

Floor will release a new solo album, "Hytress", on January 15, 2027 via REVAMP Music/Warner Music. Jansen has also confirmed the comprehensive "Hytress" tour 2027 that will bring her and her full live band to club stages across Europe and South America.

In October 2023, Floor and SABATON drummer Hannes Van Dahl welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lucy. Jansen and Van Dahl also have a nine-year-old daughter named Freja, who was born in March 2017.

NIGHTWISH's first album with Jansen as the lead singer was 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", which landed in Top 10s around the world. This was followed by 2020's "Human. :II: Nature.", which was also an international success.

Jansen has toured extensively with the band and appeared on three of NIGHTWISH's live albums "Showtime, Storytime", "Vehicle Of Spirit" and "Decades: Live In Buenos Aires".

Jansen performed live with NIGHTWISH for the first time on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon. Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013.

A new NIGHTWISH retrospective collection, "The Greatest 30 Years On Earth", will be released on December 11 via Nuclear Blast Records. The anniversary release arrives as a love letter to fans, capturing the grand scale of the band's historic career through rare audio, visual spectacles, and unprecedented behind-the-scenes access.

Photo credit: Tim Tronckoe (courtesy of Nuclear Blast)