 Nightwish is a finnish musical band formed in 1996 in the town of Kitee. Tuomas Holopainen composes songs that are often classified as either symphonic metal, progressive metal or power metal; their musical style has also been described as a symphonic metal variant, called opera metal. Nevertheless, Nightwish is considered one of the main developers of the symphonic metal genre, which encompasses similar bands such as Stratovarius, Epica, Sonata Arctica and Visions of Atlantis.
Although the band achieved prominence in their home country since the release of their first single, they did not achieve worldwide fame until the release of the albums Nightwish - Century Child (2002) and Nightwish - Once (2004), both which had video clips shown on the MTV channel of countries from the American continent, for example. Despite the commercial success of those two albums, many Nightwish fans think that still the best are Nightwish - Wishmaster (2000) or Nightwish - Oceanborn (1998).
As of 2006, the band is searching for a replacement to vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was fired at the end of 2005. A replacement for the soprano singer has not yet been found, but the four other musicians of the band plan to find one in the course of 2006, so that a new album can be recorded at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007, and released later that year.
History
Nightwish's original line-up: Emppu Vuorinen, Jukka Nevalainen, Tuomas Holopainen and Tarja Turunen
The idea to put together Nightwish was the brainchild of Tuomas Holopainen, conceived after spending a night around a campfire with friends. The band formed shortly after, in July 1996, majorly inspired by The Gathering. Nightwish were called in one of the first journal articles ever written about them, the Finnish Gathering. Holopainen invited vocalist Turunen to the project due to the notoriety she was gaining around the school they attended, since her vocal abilities were considered above average. Guitarist Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen was the final musician added to the band's initial line-up.
Their style at the time was based on the experimentations of Holopainen with using keyboards, acoustic guitars and the operatic vocals of Tarja Turunen. The three musicians then recorded an acoustic demo-album from October to December of 1996. There were three songs on this demo—"Nightwish – Nightwish", "Nightwish – The Forever Moments" and "Nightwish – Etiäinen"—of which one the band derived its name.
In early 1997, drummer Jukka Nevalainen joined the band; also, the acoustic guitar was replaced by an electric guitar. In April the band went into studio in order to record seven songs, including an improved version of the demo-song "Nightwish – Etiäinen". These songs can be found on the limited edition of the album Nightwish - Angels Fall First, which is the only one of the currently released band's albums to feature vocals from Tuomas Holopainen (aside from backing vocals on 'Nightwish - Over the Hills and Far Away' with Tony Kakko).
In May of the same year, they signed with the finnish record label Spinefarm Records for two records. Nightwish - Angels Fall First was released in November and reached number 31 on the finnish album charts. A previously released single, Nightwish – The Carpenter, reached number 3 on the finnish singles chart.
Nightwish - Angels Fall First was not critically received very well. allmusic rated the album 2 out of 5 and sources like The Metal Observer stated that Nightwish's debut album paled drastically in comparison to their later work.
December 1997 marked their first concert, which was played in their hometown. During the winter of 1997–98, the band performed only seven more times becase Nevelainen and Vuorinen were fulfilling their obligatory military service and Turunen had not yet finished her studies.
In 1998 bassist Sami Vänskä, an old friend of Holopainen, joined the band. After shooting a video clip for Nightwish – The Carpenter, they released the follow-up to Nightwish - Angels Fall First — Nightwish - Oceanborn. This album was more technical and progressive than their first release in terms of songwriting and arrangements. The album also featured Tapio Wilska (of Finntroll) in two songs (Nightwish – Devil and The Deep Dark Ocean and Nightwish – The Pharaoh Sails to Orion). It reached number 5 on the finnish album charts. The first single from that album, Nightwish – Sacrament of Wilderness, went straight to number 1 on the finnish single charts. (sample).
The second single to come out was Nightwish – Walking in the Air, a cover of Howard Blake's piece, part of The Snowman soundtrack.
In 1999, they recorded the single Nightwish – Sleeping Sun (Four Ballads Of The Eclipse), for the solar eclipse in Germany. This single sold 15,000 copies during the first month in Germany. Nightwish - Oceanborn was a certified gold in August.
In 2000, Nightwish participated in the finnish qualification for the eurovision song contest with the song Nightwish – Sleepwalker. They finished the contest in second place. They won the public televoting, but the jury overruled (sample). In May they released the album Nightwish - Wishmaster which went straight to number 1 on the finnish album charts, and remained there for three weeks. During those three weeks it was certified gold. Nightwish - Wishmaster was, despite long-awaited releases from Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi which happened simultaneously, declared album of the month in the german magazine Rock Hard. The only single from this album was Nightwish – Deep Silent Complete.
In 2001 Nightwish recorded a cover of Gary Moore – Over the Hills and Far Away together with a few new songs and a remake of an old one. This was released as the EP Nightwish - Over the Hills and Far Away. The record counted with guest performances by Tony Kakko (from the power metal band Sonata Arctica) and Tapio Wilska. They also released a VHS, DVD and CD with live material recorded in a show in Tampere. All of these were entitled Nightwish - From Wishes to Eternity. Shortly afterwards, Sami Vänskä was asked to leave the band by Tuomas, and Marco Hietala (Tarot, ex-Sinergy) joined the band, effectively leaving Sinergy. The bassist would, apart from playing his instrument, also perform male vocals.
In 2002 Nightwish released Nightwish - Century Child, and the singles Nightwish – Ever Dream and Nightwish – Bless the Child. The main difference from previous albums is the use of a live orchestra from Finland on many songs, to get a more present feeling of classical music. Nightwish - Century Child was certified gold two hours after its release, and platinum two weeks afterwards. It set a record on the finnish album charts as well; never before had the second been so distant from the first place. After the Nightwish – Bless the Child video, a second one was recorded, without any single support it. The chosen track was Nightwish – End of All Hope. The clip contains pieces from the finnish movie, Kohtalon kirja (English: The Book of Fate).
In 2003, Nightwish released a second DVD, entitled "End of Innocence". Tarja also got married during the summer of 2003, and there were rumours abound that the band was about to be dissolved. These rumours were, at the time, proven to be be false, as the band continued on to play concerts for another year and released another album.
A new album entitled Nightwish - Once was released on June 7, 2004, along with their first single, Nightwish – Nemo (Latin for "nobody"), from that album. The single topped the charts in Finland and Hungary, and reached the top ten in five additional countries. Nightwish – Nemo therefore remains their most successful single release up to date (sample).
Nightwish - Once contains a full orchestra throughout 9 out of the 11 songs on the album. Unlike Nightwish - Century Child, Nightwish decided to look for an orchestra outside the boundaries of Finland this time, choosing the London Session Orchestra, also used for recording the original soundtrack of the lord of the rings trilogy. It is also their second album to feature a full length song in finnish, Nightwish – Kuolema tekee taiteilijan (English: "Death Makes an Artist"). Once has sold triple platinum in Finland, platinum in Germany, gold in Sweden and reached #1 in the greek, german, norwegian and hungarian album charts. The following singles were: Nightwish – Wish I Had an Angel (featured on the soundtrack of the Alone in the Dark film), Nightwish – Kuolema tekee taiteilijan (released only in Finland) and Nightwish – The Siren. Besides the commercial success, Nightwish - Once was also critically well-received, with many reviewers (such as Metalfan.nl and RockReport.be) drawing comparisons with Nightwish - Oceanborn.
The success of the album allowed them to perform the Once World Tour, which enabled them to play in several countries the band had never visited before. Among these performances was the opening ceremony of the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, held in Helsinki.
A "Best of" album was released in September 2005, containing songs from their entirety of Nightwish's discography. The compilation is titled Nightwish - Highest Hopes, also featuring a live cover of Pink Floyd – High Hopes (from the Pink Floyd - The Division Bell album).
This song was the first in which Hietala performs the vocals by himself (sample). Besides Nightwish – High Hopes, a remake of Nightwish – Sleeping Sun (from Nightwish - Oceanborn) was put on the album, which was also released as a single. A new video for Nightwish – Sleeping Sun was shot, featuring a medieval battle, and can be found on the german release of the single and a as separate DVD released by Spinefarm.
After the recording of the new live DVD (which was released in June 2006) End of an Era, the four other members of Nightwish decided that it was best to continue Nightwish without Tarja Turunen, a feeling they expressed through an open letter. This was due to the fact that they felt that her husband–Marcelo Cabuli–and commercial interests had changed her attitude towards Nightwish. Tuomas Holopainen gave the letter to Turunen after the band ended their successful world tour with a sold-out performance at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki on the night of October 21st, 2005. The letter was later published on the band's website for all to see.
The replacement for Tarja Turunen has not yet been announced. Holopainen has repeatedly stated in interviews that Nightwish's new singer will be announced in 2006. He said that she will have to be beautiful, charismatic and in possession of a great deal of self-esteem.
Meanwhile, many sources on the internet have already begun to speculate who Turunen's successor will be. On December 6, "Lady Angellyca" of the Spanish band Forever Slave issued a statement where she said that she was one of the strong candidates to fill the vacant role, but the band itself has put up a message at their website which claims that the media who spread rumours about a new singer should not be believed.
Turunen has responded to the incident, saying that her dismissal came entirely as a shock to her. She felt that the personal attacks on her husband were unwarranted, and playing the issue out to the public was "senselessly cruel". Turunen was not consulted or spoken to before this letter was given to her. She wrote a letter saying most of this to her fans and published it on her own website. She was also interviewed by various TV-stations, magazines and newspapers and stated her feelings towards the subject.Links Nightwish, muslib.ru (рус.)Version Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:07:32 +0400
by ip:87.237.119.30 | | ID: 40
|
beta
