The Brightest Void

The Brightest Void is the third EP by Finnish rock and metal soprano vocalist Tarja Turunen. It serves as a prequel to the main album The Shadow Self. It was released on the 3 June 2016 and contains 9 tracks.^[6]

The Brightest Void
EP by Tarja
Released	3 June 2016 (2016-06-03)[1]
Recorded	2015–2016
Genre	Symphonic rock symphonic metal[2]
Label	earMUSIC
Producer	Tarja
Tarja chronology
Ave Maria – En Plein Air (2015) The Brightest Void (2016) The Shadow Self (2016)
Singles from The Brightest Void
"An Empty Dream[3]" Released: June 23, 2017 (2017-06-23)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Music Storm Media	[4]
Distorted Sound	[5]

Background

This album came to Tarja as an idea for a big surprise and gift to her fans containing material recorded but not being included on the main album. She explained: "During the long process of recording the songs for my new studio album ‘The Shadow Self’, I realised that there were so many tracks... ...for just one album. So this time I decided to keep nothing for myself and to share all my favourite new songs with you, the fans, who have shown such passionate and constant support."^[7]

On 14 April 2016, earMUSIC released a trailer for the video, "No Bitter End".^[8] The whole video was released on 20 April.

On 27 May 2016, Tarja announced the full-length album was available for streaming on Apple Music.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"No Bitter End" (Video Clip Version)	Tarja Turunen Mattias Lindblom Alexander Scholpp Daniel Pieper	3:49
2.	"Your Heaven and Your Hell" (feat. Michael Monroe)	Turunen Michael Monroe Julian Barrett	5:34
3.	"Eagle Eye" (feat. Toni Turunen, with Chad Smith on drums)	Turunen Pauli Rantasalmi	5:01
4.	"An Empty Dream" (Main Theme from "Corazón Muerto")	Turunen Miguel Ricardo Borzi Mariano Cattaneo	5:02
5.	"Witch-Hunt"	Turunen	5:16
6.	"Shameless"	Turunen Barrett	3:42
7.	"House of Wax" (Paul McCartney cover)	Paul McCartney	5:50
8.	"Goldfinger" (James Bond Main Theme, Shirley Bassey cover)	John Barry Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley	4:15
9.	"Paradise (What About Us?) (new mix)" (feat. Within Temptation)	Martijn Spierenburg Sharon den Adel Robert Westerholt	5:18

Japanese Edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
10.	"Into The Sun"	Turunen Steve Van Velvet Lindbolm Anders Wollbeck	6:10

Personnel

Musicians

• Tarja Turunen - vocals
• Julian Barrett
• Peter Barrett
• Kevin Chown
• Luis Conte
• Mike Coolen - drums
• Guillermo De Medio
• Sharon den Adel - vocals on track 9
• Jim Dooley
• Stefan Helleblad - guitars on track 9
• Bart Hendrickson
• Ruud Jolie - guitars on track 9
• Izumi Kawakatsu
• Christian Kretschmar
• Max Lilja - cello
• Michael Monroe - vocals on track 2
• Mervi Myllyoja - violin
• Atli Örvarsson
• Tim Palmer - Mixing
• Nico Polo
• Fernando Scarcella
• Alex Scholpp - guitar
• Chad Smith - drums on track 3
• Martijn Spierenburg - keyboards on track 9
• Torsten Stenzel
• Mike Terrana - drums
• Toni Turunen - vocals on track 3
• Jeroen van Veen - bass guitar on track 9
• Mel Wesson
• Robert Westerholt - guitars on track 9
• Doug Wimbish
• Anders Wollbeck

^[9]

Charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10]	55
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11]	113
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[12]	80
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[13]	11
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[14]	25
French Albums (SNEP)[15]	99
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16]	41
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17]	35
UK Rock and Metal Albums (BPI)[18]	7