Today in 1998 Nightwish released the album Oceanborn Kitee,Finland Operatic/Symphonic Power Metal Status:Active Years active: 1996-present Nightwish is a symphonic power metal band, formed in the town of Kitee, Finland in 1996. The band currently consists of Floor Jansen (vocals), Tuomas Holopainen (keyboards), Marco Hietala (bass, vocals), Emppu Vuorinen (guitars), Jukka Nevalainen (drums and percussion) and Troy Donockley (uilleann pipes, low whistles, vocals). The bands leader, keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, composes songs that are often classified as either symphonic metal or power metal; their musical style has also been described as a symphonic metal variant, called opera metal and even in some cases called epic metal. Nevertheless, Nightwish is considered one of the main developers of the symphonic metal genre, which encompasses similar bands such as Within Temptation, Therion, Epica, Edenbridge, Lunatica, and Visions of Atlantis. The original idea of Nightwish was largely inspired by The Gathering, and the idea was to use keyboards, acoustic guitars and the operatic vocals of their then singer Tarja Turunen. This idea was changed in 1997, as a drummer was added, and the acoustic guitar was replaced by an electric guitar. The idea of using operatic vocals was changed dramatically with their third album Wishmaster (2000), and more so on future albums, especially Dark Passion Play (2007). In 2001, Holopainen asked Sami Vänskä, their bassist since 1998, to leave, and he was replaced with Marco Hietala (Tarot, ex-Sinergy), leaving Sinergy. The bassist would, apart from playing his instrument, also perform male vocals. Century Child (2002) marked a new change in Nightwish music, as they used a live orchestra on several songs, to get a more present feeling of classical music. This was developed further with their US breakthrough Once (2004) and Dark Passion Play (2007), the latter being the first to use orchestra on all of the songs. In October 2005, after touring for their Once, the four other members of Nightwish decided that it was best to continue Nightwish without Tarja, 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 Tarja after the last concert of the tour. In spring 2007, 35-year-old Anette Olzon from Katrineholm, Sweden was announced to replace Tarja Turunen. The band released a new single, Eva, featuring their new singer in May, 2007. It was followed by another single, Amaranth, on August 22, and a studio album in late September entitled Dark Passion Play. The third international single of the album was Bye Bye Beautiful, released on February 15, 2008, and the next was The Islander, released in May, 2008. Nightwish began recording their seventh studio album, entitled Imaginaerum, in 2010. It is planned for an early 2012 release. There will also be an accompanying movie of Imaginarium produced alongside the album, based upon a plot created by Tuomas Holopainen. It will be written and directed by Stobe Harju, who directed the bands video for The Islander. The members of Nightwish will appear in the movie, but not in major roles. During the Imaginaerum world tour vocalist Anette Olzon separated from the band, and was replaced by Floor Jansen on a touring musician basis. She was confirmed as the new permanent Nightwish vocalist in October 2013. At the same time Troy Donockley was given a permanent membership in the band, he had been appearing on record and in concerts for several years. Spinefarm Records Tarja Turunen - vocals Tuomas Holopainen - synthesizers, keyboards Emppu Vuorinen - lead guitar Sami Vänskä - bass guitar Jukka Nevalainen - drums and percussion Guest musicians Tapio Wilska - male vocals Esa Lehtinen - flutes Plamen Dimov, Kaisli Kaivola - violins Markku Palola - viola Erkki Hirvikangas - cello 1. Stargazers (4:28) 2. Gethsemane (5:21) 3. Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean (4:46) 4. Sacrament of Wilderness (4:12) 5. Passion and the Opera (4:50) 6. Swanheart (4:44) 7. Moondance (3:31) 8. The Riddler (5:16) 9. The Pharaoh Sails to Orion (6:26) 10. Walking in the Air (5:28) Total Time: 49:06 European tour edition bonus tracks: 11. Sleeping Sun (04:04) 12. A Return to the Sea (05:47) 13. Nightquest (04:20) The limited edition digipak has Nightquest (4:16) and Passion and the Opera (single edit) (3:35) instead of the last three tracks. The first 10 track Finnish edition (catalogue spi67cd) included the lyrics to Walking in the Air in the booklet. The second Finnish edition, also 10 tracks (catalogue spi67cd), did not include the lyrics to Walking in the Air but, but came with printed track durations on the back cover. The third Finnish edition, released in 1999 with cat# spi67sp on the CD, had Sleeping Sun as bonus track and was originally limited to 3000 copies. This version is still so common that more copies were highly likely pressed later. The 2004 digipak CD re-release by Spinefarm Records has only Sleeping Sun (04:04) as bonus track. The Drakkar-pressing of the CD contains only Sleeping Sun (04:04) as a bonus track and also comes with different cover art. Also released as a limited edition double vinyl picture disc by Back On Black (BOBV004DPD) in 2004, under license from Spinefarm. Bonus tracks on Spinefarm 2007 re-release: 11. Sleeping Sun (4:04) 12. Nightquest (4:15) 13. Sleeping Sun [live] (4:31) 14. Swanheart [live] (3:55) 15. The Pharaoh Sails to Orion [live] (6:41) Released in Brazil by Rock Brigade Records / Laser Company Records with Nightquest as bonus track (the song title is written Night Quest in the back cover): Walking in the Air is based on a song by Howard Blake written for the animated film The Snowman. Recording information: Recorded at Caverock Studio, August-October 1998. Mixed and mastered at Finnvox studios. Oceanborn is the second studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released in December 1998 in Finland and in the Spring of 1999 worldwide. Oceanborn has sold more than 68,000 copies in Finland.The single Sleeping Sun was released in August 1999 and the song has been included in every re-issue of the album since then. The album was released in the US by Century Media in March 2001 Speaking to Kerrang! in 2008, band founder Tuomas Holopainen reminisced that the band got really ambitious after the debut album that was never meant to be released as a proper record. It happened almost by accident, so we decided to put everything into making Oceanborn great. He added:We were all such amateurs when it came to recording. We didnt really know what we were doing, so we were just experimenting with a lot of different things, we even brought in this string trio who were complete shit, then another violin, then another violin on top. So we ended up with Moondance having 20 tracks of violin, just because we hadnt done this before and didnt know what we were doing! Its a pretty stuffed album, but I also think its one of our best because you can hear the excitement of trying all these new things. It seems strange that this became a breakthrough album, because back at the time the music was so funny. It was really operatic, and when you look at the pictures, they look pretty horrific. According to Kerrang!, for all its Royal Albert Hall grandiosity, Oceanborn was actually recorded in a Finnish school. This album marked a definitive change in musical scope for Nightwish from their folk-laden roots in Angels Fall First, showcasing a more bombastic, power metal-oriented sound with faster tempos, harmonic guitar/keyboard leads, and plenty of double-bass-heavy drumwork. During that time, Stratovarius was Holopainens biggest inspiration, hence the power metal sound of the album. Oceanborns sound hearkens a more dramatic approach in the overall musical scope, mostly relegated to the symphonic keyboard work and lead singer Tarja Turunens vocals. Most of the album is fantasy-themed, with tracks like Swanheart and Walking in the Air, a cover from the animated motion picture The Snowman, as typical examples; however, other songs, such as Gethsemane, have a more religious feel to them. In addition, there are also some theatrical tracks like Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean. Oceanborn is among their darkest albums, making use of the harsh vocals of Tapio Wilska in the songs The Pharaoh Sails to Orion and Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean. Since the albums release, Sacrament of Wilderness has remained a fan-favorite at concerts, and its still performed often. Both Sleeping Sun and Walking in the Air have also been performed often on shows, but Stargazers has been dropped since Turunens dismissal in 2005. Walking in the Air returned to the live set list of the band at 19 September 2009 at Hartwall Areena, this time as an acoustic song sung by then-vocalist Anette Olzon. youtube/watch?v=89gTXM160Dc
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 18:20:29 +0000
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