Nightwish

[Abstract Debauchery]

It was a quiet, boring day on July 13th, 2006, a day I will never forget. I was bored, and I was surfing this awesome website called YTMND. I was bored, and started laughing at random clips of randomness when I stumbled upon this: http://evoparks.ytmnd.com/

I was shocked and stunned, and asked myself, "WTF?! This band is awesome, who is it?!" I clicked the upper right YTMND logo and looked at the audio source. It said "Nightwish!" I knew what I was going to do for the next couple of hours.

I started looking up songs by this wondrous band, and found the album that the song was from. It was from an album called "Once" and I just had to listen to it. Upon listening to 2 songs from the band, I knew then just what my favorite band was.

I went back and started listening to all of their albums, and I haven't stopped listening to them since.

Personal Nightwish Favorites:

Moondance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnl51qk2gPU
Pharaoh Sails to Orion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uPvrVefsSE
Phantom of the Opera (Live): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5SUSmedMm8
Bye Bye Beautiful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdhXxxWREo

Now, after the album "Once" the rest of the band had come to a hurtful conclusion, and due to some altercations between the lead singer, Tarja, and the lead songwriter, and creator of the band, Tuomas Holopainen, Tarja was kicked from the band.

I was stunned, who was going to be the new lead singer? How could that person ever top Tarja's epic vocals?! The answer to that question: Anette Olzon. Although she has a different style of singing, she was able to pull off the overall feel of Nightwish.

To this day, they remain my favorite band, and I'm a die-hard fan. Feel free to listen, share your experiences, and voice your opinion on the band.

EDIT: Three more songs that are a MUST to listen to:

Poet and the Pendulum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvUNvUunjNI
Dark Chest of Wonders (AMV): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEKcf4uI0jA
Ghost Love Score: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Wo8LCDUKI

 

[SapphireStar]

Wouldnt say they are the greatest band, but if you think they are then coolio

One of my exs was obessed with Nightwish, was fed up with them by the time we finished lol. They are good and I do prefer them to Within Temptation and Evernesence.

 

[Vice Nebulosa]

They do rule, yeah. ^ _ ^ What has gained and held my favour is their ability to handle such a simple concept as key change and use it as a profound vehicle for the music. "Nemo" and "Ever Dream" are the prime examples here, and they basically operate on the same principle of investing 3/4 of the song in a main key, and with a huge instrumental sweep, kick the final round of the chorus into the new one. "Fantasmic" does a bunch of this, and "Ghost Love Score" (we can agree on a favorite here, Tsukianei ) is unique.

Since Tarja's dismissal, I am inclined to believe that, aside from "The Poet and the Pendulum" (the new Nightwish's variant of "Ghost Love Score", in a way), the improvements to their style have been primarily instrumental. Songs like "For the Heart I Once Had" and "Bye Bye Beautiful" are better off without the vocals, to my mind.

And let us not forget "The Islander". That, too, is unique.

 

[Adolept]

Yeah, I started listening to them when my cousin told me about them. I only heard them after Tarja left, so I wasn't as annoyed as other fans were. In my opinion, I do prefer Anette in general, though there are a few of Tarja's songs that I really like. I've heard that they're a great band to see live, so I'll look into that.

 

[Vice Nebulosa]

Yeah, I started listening to them when my cousin told me about them. I only heard them after Tarja left, so I wasn't as annoyed as other fans were. In my opinion, I do prefer Anette in general, though there are a few of Tarja's songs that I really like.

You know, if you are a buff for the newer style, and you have no absolute stance on whether the old incarnation is "terrible" or "great", I suspect that you may find the song "The Siren" to be right up your alley. One of their most overtly cool songs as far as solid guitars and creative backgrounds go, and Tarja's role in the vocals is fairly minimal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuqUoMfgMvM

I've heard that they're a great band to see live, so I'll look into that.

I've never attended such a concert, myself, but Youtube has supplied me with as much of "The Siren" live as I ever want to hear. And something tells me that Dark Passion Play as a whole really needed the massive production values of a studio and orchestra to carry their main thrust, which is difficult to duplicate live.

*Shrug*

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

I've had the pleasure of seeing them live. However, this wasn't until they had Annette doing vocals. They were great live, and I rather enjoyed Dark Chest of Wonders as sung by Annette. It didn't beat Tarja's, but it was good in it's own way with Annette.

Whenever you get the chance you should go to a Nightwish concert. If I had the money I would pay for your ticket myself. I was amazed, and it was overall one of the greatest nights of my life.

 

[Vice Nebulosa]

I've had the pleasure of seeing them live. However, this wasn't until they had Annette doing vocals. They were great live, and I rather enjoyed Dark Chest of Wonders as sung by Annette. It didn't beat Tarja's, but it was good in it's own way with Annette.

You continually mention this song, but I have almost no memory of it . . . Reviewing.

Right; got it now. Interesting. Some significant influence from (or perhaps on) "Ghost Love Score" is evident in the first half, rendering "Ghost" somewhat less of an unprecedented track as I had first thought, I guess. This combined with the familiar key change in the latter half, though, culminate to some pleasant auditory vibes. Never paid much attention to this track, to be honest; between "Nemo", "Ghost Love Score", and "Planet Hell", my attention to the album is more or less monopolized elsewhere.

I can anticipate already, though, certain problems that would appear if a somewhat flimsier voice like Annette's were to take the song on. There are worse things for her to attempt, no doubt ("Ever Dream" and "Nemo" leap to mind), but she has precious little bass timbre to work with. Conceivably she might do a nice job of "The Siren" . . .

Whenever you get the chance you should go to a Nightwish concert. If I had the money I would pay for your ticket myself. I was amazed, and it was overall one of the greatest nights of my life.

And, mate, you know I'd go. If we are still dealing with the Dark Passion Play tour, perhaps it would be worthwhile to endure "Amaranth" for the sake of "Sahara" . . .

Precious little live concert experience to speak of, unfortunately. My most recent and memorable was Video Games Live, and never before has "One Winged Angel" been a more appropriate encore . . . :seph:

 

[niesl2]

I've had the pleasure of seeing them live. However, this wasn't until they had Annette doing vocals. They were great live, and I rather enjoyed Dark Chest of Wonders as sung by Annette. It didn't beat Tarja's, but it was good in it's own way with Annette.

Whenever you get the chance you should go to a Nightwish concert. If I had the money I would pay for your ticket myself. I was amazed, and it was overall one of the greatest nights of my life.

I've seen them twice with Annette on vocals. The first time was okay, the second time the only thing Annette added to the songs was great amounts of crappyness. Tarja may not be a team player, at least she was a good vocalist. As long as Annette is the singer I will not go to their concerts, ugh.


Great band however. I used to listen to them a lot, but as I discovered more great music there was less listening time for Nightwish. I prefer their older albums, Oceanborn, Wishmaster, great stuff. The last album doesn't get to me like the first ones. Decent album, but not for me.

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

Not only was she not a "team player", she could have killed the band with what she was doing. She's a great vocalist, but she let the fame get to her head in a bad way. Even now she is still trying to hurt the band. She won't let Nightwish sell "The End of an Era" in Finland, and she's not letting them publish the history of the band book at all.

It just goes to show how bad fame can be for some people.

 

[Sir Kenneth]

I don't HATE Nightwish, but sugar-coated, operatic stuff like that pretty much just goes in through one ear and out through the other. The exception is of course their cover of Gary Moore's Over the Hills and Far Away which is awful completely fails to capture the feel of the original

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

I've actually found all of their covers to be on par if not better than the original. Especially Mega Deth's "Symphony of Destruction".