Music has always been my escape. It’s like a medication. My emotions, moods, desires, motivations can change entirely upon a song playing in my iTunes, on the radio, or on a podcast or media stream.

I got to end my summer a few weeks ago on a rockin’ note by riding out to St. Petersburg to see two of my favorite bands from Finland—Nightwish and Sonata Arctica—play live in the Jannus Landing courtyard with about 1,200 screaming fans.

This apparently ended up being the last show of Nightwish’s U.S. tour, as new lead singer Anette Olzon became seriously ill and the remaining concerts on the tour ended up cancelled.

In the meantime, I downloaded from iTunes the solo début album from Nightwish’s original frontwoman, Tarja Turunen, entitled “My Winter Storm.” It’s definitely not Tuomas Holopainen-penned material (but then I’m sure a lot of Nightwish fans are replying that Anette is not Tarja), but there are some good points on this project, and it’s an overall good, although all-over-the-place, album if you can judge it on its own without trying to compare it to her time with Nightwish. It’s a departure from Nightwish. “Die Alive” is the highlight for me—a driving track with a toy-piano-style hook.

The version that’s available on iTunes is the “deluxe” version with some bonus tracks (23 tracks total) but without the DVD and video material that accompanies the physical package. Tarja has some work ahead of her, but she’s already got the fan base from Nightwish, and this album is a good start.