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This second full length album by the Finnish power metal band Nightwish being the first time I had heard them, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. This band fuse an intense and interesting power metal sound with a refreshing vocal style in the form of Tarja Turunen. Her operatic vocals add an immense originality to the sound of the band, and a beauty which is hard for other bands to capture. The album itself is a thoroughly enjoyable record which comes at the listener in waves of fantastic keyboard and guitar melodies, laced together to create a sound that is not only energetic and complex but also very uplifting. The music has a very epic orchestral feel to it, with many of the tracks having melodies mirrored and supported by synth string sounds. This said though, it is also important to credit the guitar work of Emppu Vuorinen which sets off the keyboard melodies perfectly, and also creates many of its own.
The album opens with the track Stargazers, which sets the lively tone of the album, and the rest of the tracks all seem to follow on and fit in with one another perfectly. This doesn’t mean to say that all the tracks follow a similar style though, because it is a very varied album. Tracks such as the rendition of ‘Walking in the Air’ and ‘Sleeping Sun’ add some very mellow but beautiful dimensions to the album, which are nicely balanced out by furious tracks like ‘Gethsemane’. I think the lasting appeal of it is that it can be listened to all in one go, and yet the listener is still given an experience of an ongoing story throughout the album, which is beautifully told by the majestic depth of this band. The only limiting factor is the somewhat unusual and perhaps not altogether fitting male vocals, which I don’t feel contrast the operatic style of Tarja particularly well. Despite this though, this is a fantastically enjoyable and invigorating slab of epic power metal which I rarely get tired of. Definitely worth the purchase!
| Tracklist |
| 1. Stargazers |
| 2. Gethsemane |
| 3. Devil & The Deep Dark Ocean |
| 4. Sacrament Of Wilderness |
| 5. Passion And The Opera |
| 6. Swanheart |
| 7. Moondance |
| 8. The Riddler |
| 9. The Pharaoh Sails To Orion |
| 10. Walking In The Air |
| Bonus tracks: |
| 11. Sleeping Sun |
| 12. A Return To The Sea |
| 13. Nightquest |
: 63.11
| Buy other Nightwish albums |
