-1st new album in over two years! Massive anticipation! -Fourth full-length from one of gothic metal's leading acts. -NIGHTWISH have already received double platinum and gold album awards in their native Finland, as well as winning two Emma Awards (the Finnish equivalent of a Grammy) and scoring four Top 10 hits at radio. -Produced by Tero Kinnunen (Nightwish) and Mikko Karmila (Amorphis, Stratovarius, Avantasia) at Caverock and Finnvox Studios in Finland.

Album Description
2003 album from the female fronted Finnish symphonic goth/metal super group. 10 tracks including, 'Bless The Child', 'End Of All Hope' & 'Dead To The World'. Century Media.

Born in 1997 in Kitee, Finland, Nightwish was the brainchild of Tiomas Holopainen. Initially an acoustic format was planned, however after adding the inimitable operatic style vocalist, Tarja Turunen a new direction was needed. He decided on following in the footsteps of the Gathering and Lacuna Coil (goth-influenced "symphonic" metal bands with female vocalists) and soon added full metal-band instrumentation in the persons of guitarist Emppo Vuorinen, bassist Sami Vaenskae, and drummer Jukka Nevalainen.

This has turned out to be a recipe for success and fame as Nightwish quickly turned out four 5 star albums; Angels Fall First, Oceanborn, Wishmaster and Century Child

Conclusion

Nightwish is probably the most well known and loved femme fronted symphonic metal band in America, despite the fact they are from Finland. Although they are not my ultimate personal favorite in this Sub-genre, there is no dispute in my mind that this group is the top such group around. They are a prodigious and prolific talent that I cannot help but admire.

If you enjoy any form of progressive rock / metal including Gothique, you must give them a try. Also if you enjoy. Enya, Yanni, Loreena McKennitt, I would recommend Nightwish.

Similar Artists

Therion, Within Temptation, Edenbridge, Visions of Atlantis, Artrosis


Nightwish Continues To Impress   February 24, 2005
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

When you take the time to consider the more standout bands in the world of Metal nowadays, Nightwish is probably one of the first to come to mind. With each release Nightwish brings you into a diverse world that combines metal with arias and epic orchestrations. Tarja Turunen definitely has one of the best and most beautiful voices to come along in some time. She has led the way for modern metal women of today to find a stronger foothold in the music we love. "Century Child" was the first readily available releases in the USA courtesy of Century Media Records. This is a great CD, and it quickly follows up on the success of "Wishmaster". Beginning with "Bless The Child" you are quickly drawn into the sound of the band by Tarja's warm vocals and a very eerie haunting melody. When the "End Of All Hope" kicks in you find that the group can be heavy as they find the need. This number is full of incredible double drumming by Jukka and great guitar wizardry of Emmpu. For those who enjoy a hearty chorus the track "Dead To The World" might be most impressive. I admit that on the CD, these few are actually among my favorites. When Nightwish first played the States a little over a year ago, they performed some these and it made enjoying them all the more easier.

Showcasing her softer side, Tarja serenades you with "Forever Yours", it is the closest thing to a ballad that you will find on the CD. There is also an unusual item on the disk and that is "Phantom Of The Opera". Now I am not speaking of the Iron Maiden song of the same name, but instead the version from the Broadway play. While I am aware of this plays wide and worldwide popularity, I admit I found it amusing that a band from Finland would choose to perform it. Reservations aside, the band does not disappoint and brings the sound of Broadway to an entirely different audience with this one. You will be impressed.

Nightwish has since moved on from Century Media to Roadrunner Records as their label in the USA. Yet, I am not certain if they will also take on the back catalog. For now, if you need those you should look into CM's site. They reissued them here and added a track or two for the listener to enjoy it more. Nightwish is definitely one of those bands that if you are for some reason not looking into you should. They have defined a new level of style to it, and raised power metals bar a little higher.


"Losing emotion. Finding devotion."   May 31, 2006
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Six months ago music like this was completely unknown to me. For fifty years my listening enjoyment was based on that offered by American radio - rock, pop, jazz, classical, country. During most of the past half century, it provided the emotional experiences wanted from music. But during the last few years, the emotion was slipping away, so much so that I considered turning it all off, which was not a happy thought. Then someone (one more time - thanks Jeff) gave me this CD. Unless you have experienced something similar to my 50 year musical history, you cannot imagine the shock of hearing something so powerful, so different, so beautiful for the first time. All of the reviews I have done here (except The Irish Volunteer), and all that I will do, are a result of listening to this one amazing work of art, which opened the doors to an amazing new world of listening pleasure.

Being the first "new" music experienced may have something to do with it being in my top five list, but there is no doubt the music itself deserves the rating. Of all the other similar groups, only Tarja seems to have the true operatic sound. Every selection is excellent in all ways, making it difficult to pick a favorite; however my ear deems Dead to the World as having a slight edge over the others. Marco, who has a very appealing voice, provides a perfect contrast to Tarja in this song. He adds a whole new, and positive, dimension to a group that already had more dimensions than most. In fact, their version of Phantom of the Opera on this CD is by far the best I've heard, which leaves me wishing they would get back together to record the whole sound track. (Please see my profile for a brief discussion of my rating philosophy.)




They Can Do Better... And Have   June 20, 2007
 10 out of 12 found this review helpful

It is almost painful for me to give this album such an "awful" review. I love Nightwish -- They are one of my favorite bands and I listen to every one of their CDs fanatically. However, unlike most of their other albums, I had to delete some tracks when I copied this to my computer using iTunes. This simply isn't one of their better albums, and it's a shame, because it easily could be.

This is the album where Nightwish started to get darker, harder, and faster (Faster Harder Nightwish, anyone?). That's perfectly okay, but this album is the transition point, and thus mediocre. It has some great songs, but it also has ones -- the ballades, mainly -- that fall flat. Some of the lyrics aren't up to par with other works; some the songs don't sound as good; some are just out-right boring. The others are absolutely beautiful, but as a result, make the other ones sound that much worse.

Like my Once review, I will now go into a song-by-song review, before summarizing my thoughts. If you don't care about the songs individually, you may of course skip through it.

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Bless the Child (4/5) - A wonderful way to start off the album. The lyrics are excellent, the song itself is beautiful, and it leads perfectly into the next song. The only reason it isn't 5/5 is because it gets dull. The song is six minutes long, but unlike some of Nightwish's song, after a while one begins to notice how long it is and get a little bored with it. For the occasional listen, however, it sounds lovely.

End of All Hope (4/5) - This song is almost half the length of Bless the Child, not to mention heavier and more "metal". I don't think it needs to be said that the lyrics are a tad cheesy -- just look at the title -- but it doesn't detract from the song; there is some decent imagery in it if one ignores how obvious the meaning is. The melody and Tarja's singing match perfectly, making up for the so-so lyrics and making it one of my favorite songs on the album.

Dead to the World (4/5) - The lyrics to this song are positively beautiful, and some of the keyboard pieces are insanely awesome. However, I am not fond of Marco's voice, and seeing as he sings most of this song, that detracts from the track in my opinion. The fast tempo and melody are brilliant, however, and Tarja's voice makes the song more tolerable. I just couldn't give this song below 4/5, all things considered.

Ever Dream (5/5) - I don't know what it is about this song, but one day I feel in love with it, and have listened obsessively to it since. The lyrics aren't that great, but the song itself is gorgeous. It's one of Nightwish's heavier "ballades", with a piano and strings complementing the guitars very well and producing a gorgeous melody. Tarja sounds heavenly, and the last minute or so of the song is chilling in how gorgeous it sounds. I normally don't like a song that has mediocre lyrics, but this is wonderful enough to make an exception.

Slaying the Dreamer (4/5) - One of those standard heavy songs that you have to love. The lyrics are strangely interesting, and it took me a lot longer than it should have to figure out what they're about; that's normally a good thing for me. Marco, when he appears for a brief moment, sounds better than he did before, and adds to the song. The melody itself is standard metal -- crazy guitar riffs and the works -- but it fits the song, so it's all good.

Forever Yours (2/5) - Nightwish can produce some great ballades. This is not one of them. It's very slow, but the melody is dull, the lyrics are uninteresting, and Tarja doesn't sound nearly as beautiful as she usually does. Also, I prefer heavy metal to wake me up, not put me to sleep. I have listened to this song so little that I can't say much more than that.

Ocean Soul (3/5) - It's better than Forever Yours, at least, but that may only be because it's heavier. I used to love this song, and indeed the beginning is rather pretty. However, the melody and Tarja sound standard, and the lyrics don't help it, being they are too dry and, well, standard. It's not bad, but there is nothing that stands out, dropping its rating.

Feel for You (2/5) - A Forever Yours clone, except with better lyrics. The only problem is that they're about very similar, if not identical, topics. So while Feel for You does have pretty imagery, it feels as if one has heard it before.

The Phantom of the Opera (3/5) - Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. It's like Ocean Soul; nothing in particular stands out. Tarja sounds good and hits the high notes as expected, Marco actually sounds pretty decent, and the melody is what I imagine a heavier version of the Broadway song sounds like. However, like Bless the Child, it gets dull after a while, and is only good for the occasional listen.

Beauty of the Beast (4/5) - The middle part of this song is the best, shortly followed by the third. The first part is pretty, but a tad slow, and generally it's not a good idea to start a ten-minute song off slowly. However, once beyond that part, one forgets it's so long because it turns fast and spectacular. I love the lyrics and many times have been tempted to sing them down the hallway of my high school to see what happens.

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Overall, six of the ten songs are a good listen, which is a little lower than normal Nightwish quality, but not bad. Here are some of its main flaws:

Variety: Once has the same issue; for some reason, Nightwish's modern albums have variety problems. The two ballades on the album sound nearly identical. Bless the Child and Beauty of the Beast are somewhat similar, and some of the faster tracks also sound rather similar, or even "standard" for metal. The only song I can think of that stands on its own is Ever Dream (I'm not counting Phantom of the Opera seeing as it isn't theirs).

Lyrics: One of my favorite aspects of Nightwish is their lyrics; even when they about something as pointless as a bad day they still sound wonderful. However, in this album, many of the lyrics aren't very poetic, and in some cases are just dry and dull. Lyrics are very important for me in a band; a band or song has to be just plain brilliant for me to even remotely consider listening to them if they have cheap lyrics. Some of the songs on this album don't have that brilliance to counteract the lyrics.

That is it for glaring flaws; I also mentioned minor ones before and during the song reviews. As for the positive aspects? Tarja and Marco sing very well in this album. The band itself sounds wonderful in many of the songs, complementing the orchestra. I'm fairly certain this is the first album of Nightwish's to feature an orchestra, so they did well on the first try. Speaking of first tries, considering how different this is from their other albums, Nightwish did very well making it sound great without losing their style.

It is, in the end, not an awful album. It has its great songs that one may listen to obsessively, and it is a pretty good transition point to a different Nightwish style. If it weren't for those few songs that detract from it, I would happily give the album four stars, but alas, I am a perfectionist and those few songs lower the rating.

I would recommend the album to people who are already familiar with Nightwish, but Oceanborn or Wishmaster may be better for people who are just trying out the band.

Thank you for reading, and happy listening!


What Happened? We Went From Amazing to Mediocre!   November 4, 2003
 8 out of 15 found this review helpful

Skip this album if you are looking for an introduction to Nightwish. Oceanborn & Wishmaster are each so much better than this. Tarja isn't really given a chance to shine, and that is a waste of talent. Also, & more importantly, the new male vocalist they have is awful. Just awful. I mean truly, disgustingly, annoyingly & painfully awful. There are THOUSANDS of singers that they could have gotten to add counterpoint to Tarja's amazing operatic style. What they got was a sound like a strange constipated sneer. I hate his voice and cannot listen to any tracks he's on. Also, the music seems sub-par. I can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't move me. Oceanborn & Wishmaster are permanently in my car & I listen to them constantly. This is going back in the CD case for a long time.