So were those stand-in displays on the band’s last tour incredible enough to land Floor Jansen the job of Nightwish’s new singer? Only one person knows for sure, and mainman Tuomas Holopainen ain’t saying. Wild Card is the second album from Floor’s own group, whose OTT brand of symphonic metal isn’t a million miles away from the panoramic pummelling of her possible future employers.
It echoes the versatility of 2010’s self-titled debut, though Floor admits that until producer Joost van den Broek was tapped for a little outside perspective, the band had struggled with material for Wild Card.
Like its predecessor, it includes another three-part suite, The Anatomy Of A Nervous Breakdown, plus various cameos including a creepy-sounding duet with Devin Townsend on Neurasthenia and Mark Jansen of After Forever/ Epica, who growls on Misery’s No Crime. Content-wise, it falls marginally short of ReVamp’s debut, though Floor’s extraordinary vocals remain as banshee-esque as always, and that’s half of the battle.
