Thank God for Youtube. Some random video browsing showed a link for Nightwish's "Amaranth". I checked it out and was blown away. I can't believe that I've never heard of this band. I love metal that is classical influenced. Savatage is one of my all time faves.

But Nightwish rocks hard. This is some of the best rock that I've heard in years. They are from Finland and apparently huge in Europe, but not in the states which is a shame. I found another cool band called Hammerfall from Sweden. Looks like Scandinavia is the hotbed for metal.

Anyone else discovered great foreign bands via youtube?

to say the least

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/...ighlight=metal

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/...ighlight=metal

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/...ighlight=metal

I held out on Dark Passion Play since I was a big Tarja fan, but I caved and bought it the other day based on someone's recommendation here. I'm glad I did. The new singer is great.

I got into Nightwish about 3 years ago. I'm not HUGE into symphonic metal but I really do enjoy this band. And I prefer the new singer over the old one.

They do come state side and play small venues from time to time. I recommend checking them out. I've been a fan for several years.

Actually I need to try out DPP because Tarja is the thing that made me not like Nightwish that much. I'll take Within Temptation anyday though. Lots more nuance to their sound IMO.

Ive been a fan of Nightwish for over ten years when they released their first album Angels Fall First ive seen them in concert 17 times i liked them more when they had Tarja.

For some reason I just cannot get into Nightwish, but I love Epica.

I think Epica's music is more towards the prog side and more interesting. Nightwish, especially on Once, kind of reminded me of more straight up metal. Almost like Rammstein with female vox. Still not bad though.

me and my shitty cell phone cam pics from their show in may


i was on the rail the entire time. suprised they don't really play 'bye bye beautiful' anymore since thats prob one of their more popular songs in the states. i did blow my voice out almost completly during 'wish i had an angel'

also theres a thread dedicated to them in movie talk (granted the thread was called 'proof uwe boll is a decent director' since he directed the 'angel' video

Once I discovered Within Temptation, Nightwish just seemed really bland.

I actually had Within Temptation's first disc way back in 1997 before they were even really big in the NL. Kind of lost track of them for a while and I think Mother Earth didn't grab me back then because it was pretty different from Enter. I picked up both Silent Force and Heart of Everything when they came out but still hadn't really gotten totally back into them.

Then I watched the amazing Black Symphony Blu-ray. I've had their discs stuck in my car and iPhone ever since.

I love Nightwish old and new. I can't really imagine Tarja singing the new material from DPP. Also, the new singer feels like she integrates better with the band whereas Tarja always stood out from the band.

Either way, I love all their stuff I missed them this last time cause I didn't want to go into Detroit, but I keep kicking myself for not going anyway.

Michael

One of my favorites.

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I really dig both Nightwish's and Within Temptation's music, but don't really dig the operatic vocals. Same with Therion. Kind of a drag, as I'm still looking for the symphonic metal, minus operatic vocals.

i wouldn't really consider Annette as operatic (imo anyways)
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Annette singing "Romanticide" which was one of Tarja's songs. prob the best quality of it i could find. btw this is rehersal footage before their 09 world tour. This is prob actually the heaviest song in their cattalogue.'
and the only version of the original i could find
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I found Nightwish a few years ago. I always thought Once was fantastic. But then I followed that up with buying Oceanborn which in my opinion was a big let down and after buying that I got turned off to them a bit. I did buy their DVD End of an Era which is awesome though. If you don't have that yet I recommend you buy it, you shouldn't be disapointed there. I want to like Nightwish more than I do, but they're more of a hit and miss band. DDP I heard was a combination of metal & pop, which is why I haven't bought it yet. I know there are a couple of good metal rocking songs on it, it's just that the other pop stuff on it that keeps me from buying it. But I may bite sooner or later, just that I haven't so far.

I find that I have this problem all the time when getting into someone new to me. If I start with something newer I know that it will be hard to get into the older stuff after that. Bands grow and get better, production values increase, etc. making exploring a back catalog that much more difficult. I know it shouldn't be that way but after years and years of buying music, that's what I've learned about myself and can't help it.

Now when I decided to give an artist a shot I tend to go toward the middle of their catalog and work my way forward and then circle back to the earliest stuff if I'm really into that band.

Am I a freak or is this more common than I think?

And loud, powerful rock like the Hellacopters, Nomads, Demons, Backyard Babies, Backstreet Girls, Psychopunch, the Maggots, etc...

Not at all. I often do the same, for exactly that reason.

I'm a huge fan of Within Temptation but recently discovered Nightwish as well. Working through their catalog as we speak.

Heh you're behind the times but are catching up.

Finland has a great swath of metal: HIM, Children of Bodom, Stratovarius and Nightwish. But Sweden was the birthplace of an amazing scene, too. Gothenburg, a small city on the west coast of the country, produced a huge number of great bands. There were so many it became known as "The Gothenburg Sound." At The Gates started it, Soilwork and In Flames perfected it. IF's "Jester Race" and Soilwork's "Natural Born Chaos" are thrash masterpieces.

Nightwish came to my attention late. I didn't look into them until I'd heard the controversy about Tarja's firing. How big a deal was it? Finland's Prime Minister was asked what he thought about it. Imagine that happening here. I downloaded a few MP3s and once I got my jaw off the ground, went on a spending spree.

Do yourself a favor and get the live DVD, "An End of an Era." It was filmed in Finland at the end of their Once tour in the Hartwall Arena in front of 15,000 fans. The Finnish PM was at the show, which is why he was asked. What makes it notable is after that killer show, they walked off stage and handed Tarja her firing letter and told her to read it the next day. So it's funny to watch the show knowing Tarja is a dead woman walking.

If you want to know the whole story, you could dig it up on the net, but there is a biographical book called "Once Upon a Nightwish." It features interviews with all 5 band members and goes into why Tarja was bounced.

Let's put it this way: she's a better singer than Anette, no question. But she engineered this dismissal and the only reason it didn't happen sooner was the Finnish tradition of non-confrontation. They are as bad as the Japanese in that regard. Tuomas and the rest of the band ate a lot of shit sandwiches before they couldn't take it any more. Most bands would never have let the problem go on for as long as Nightwish did.

Anette is a team player, that much is clear, and she can hit many of the high notes despite being a contralto instead of a soprano. Her style is... unique. Some days she goes on stage looking like Cyndi Lauper.

Why haven't you heard about this band? Are you kidding? The American music industry is so full of corruption, incompetence and FAIL they make GM look like Apple and Intel. Do you think the dumb fucks that foisted Fall Out Boy, Ashlee Simpson and the Jonas Brothers on us could sell a metal band with a soprano opera singer, playing heavy metal accompanied by a symphony orchestra and choir? Can you imagine Clear Channel adding this band to its rotations? Or MTV playing them?

They could have been on an Ozzfest tour if Tarja hadn't been such an obstinate bitch. Now Ozzy is pretty much done so that opportunity is lost. I can't see any of the remaining metal bands that are still arena headliners taking Nightwish for an opening act. I think even Iron Maiden would be afraid of Tuomas and company stealing the show.

well to be fair they are on a major label in Roadrunner in the US (home to Slipknot and Nickelback). If they decide to tour the US next year, the best chance they could get on the big stage (and not just do 1500 people clubs) would be Mayhem Fest.

Oh and the show i went to in may, by the time the doors opened the line was around the corner a block or 2 at least. And i got there almost 4.5 hours before the doors opened (i had nothing better to do, and i had just gotten off work, and didn't wanna drive home first) and there were already several people in line.

Oh and one more thing, i don't think they've ever fully performed with an orchistra and choir live, but i have read that might happen down the line in their country. Live its all the keyboards and some of it is programed in.

Yep I saw an interview with Tuomas where he was asked about it. He wants to do it but that would require a LOT of rehearsal time, which he has not had the luxury of doing.

And they are not on Roadrunner, they are on Century Media. That's what's stamped on all my CDs.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/Nightwish/