Tuomas Holopainen says Nightwish enter the studio in May 2027 and that seven songs are already written.
Tuomas Holopainen has put a date on the next Nightwish album. Speaking to Finland’s Chaoszine, the keyboardist and songwriter said the band go into the studio in May 2027, and told Bear Wiseman in a separate conversation that he has seven songs finished.
“ 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,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
He said the time away has helped rather than hindered him: “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.”
The count is moving. Holopainen told Metal Hammer last week that he had six songs done; days later, speaking to Wiseman, it is seven.
“In a broader spectrum, the same things as always before,” he said of what is feeding them. “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.”
The solo record is further along than the band’s. Every song is written and recorded, with Shearman, whose orchestral work runs across film and television, currently handling the arrangements, and the orchestra due to be recorded in London before the end of this year.
It would be Holopainen‘s second solo album, after The Life And Times Of Scrooge in 2014. He has also spent the past two years on Auri, whose third album III – Candles & Beginnings came out in August 2025 and was followed by a tour.
There is one further piece of Nightwish activity that has surfaced this week. The band have announced The Greatest 30 Years On Earth, an anniversary package built around live recordings, concert footage, rare material, photographs and a new documentary centred on Holopainen.
Much of it draws on the Human. :II: Nature. touring cycle, the 2022 arena show in Amsterdam and the 2023 homecoming concert in Kitee, the town the band formed in , alongside the live-in-the-studio recordings from the virtual An Evening With Nightwish In A Virtual World performances. The audio was mastered at Finnvox Studios.
Floor Jansen said earlier this month that Nightwish were on a temporary hold with “no communication about when something’s gonna happen.” Within days Holopainen had six songs and reserved time. Now he has seven songs, a studio month, a solo album in orchestration and an anniversary release announced.
His remarks last week also suggested live shows would not return before 2028, he said 2027 was too early and pointed at the year after. A May 2027 recording start is consistent with that.
Yesterwynde, the band’s tenth album, came out on 20 September 2024 through Nuclear Blast and has never been played live.
