"It's a change of tack that adds intrigue and substance to the band's typical bombast and melodrama, resulting in their most ambitious and assured record yet. Newly recruited singer Floor Jansen strikes a fine balance between operatic acrobatics and straightforward, soulful restraint, most notably on twinkling earworm Élan. But it is chief songwriter Tuomas Holopainen's ear for epic refrains and lavish arrangements that makes Endless Forms such a stirring and defiantly uncool delight"