Nightwish - Oceanborn

 Nightwish
Nightwish are an awesome band, Tuomas is a genius! This one has grown on me. Tarja's vocals seemed to calm down over later cd's. Symphonic/Landscape metal at it's best. Finland does this music the best. May 5, 2008

 80s and Opera
This cd popped up in my recommendations, and I guess I've rated too many 80s cds. Even if all you had were the 30-second previews, it would immediately be apparent the music is simplistic in construction: a steady beat mainly in 4/4 with little variation therein. Nothing unique.

What is supposedly unique with Nightwish is the opera singer with a Symphonic Metal band. But this is no "Queen of the Winter Night" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra; this is a forced-vibrato female who sounds like she's sitting on a vibrating chair. Horrid, horrid. This is no "Phantom" and this isn't opera; it's badly executed shtick constructed to lure in Gothic teenagers. November 20, 2007

 Awesome!!!
Nightwish!!! A very powerful band! This album is AMAZING! It is heavy, and with awesome fills! This Album is a must have !!! November 7, 2007

 Perhaps their best album
Nightwish has been my favorite band ever since I first listened to this album. Female-fronted Euro-metal has been trying to catch up to Nightwish for years, but Tuomas always manages to stay one step ahead of the competition with a synthesis of disparate genres and a powerful ambience usually reserved for film scores. Nightwish is a band that has never stopped growing or experimenting...but I get ahead of myself.

For this, their sophomore album (I have yet to listen to the first in its entirety), the listener is treated to a slew of upbeat Gothic metal (I know that sounds like an oxymoron) fueled by Tarja's powerful, operatic vocals and Tuomas's lush, atmospheric keyboards. The music of Nightwish builds worlds around you like stages on which the stories contained in the lyrics can come to life. Songs like Stargazers, Sacrament of Wilderness, and The Riddler are energetic, adrenaline-pumping powerhouses, while the gentle Swanheart and the moving rendition of Howard Blake's Walking in the Air are slow, ethereal journeys. Moondance is an instrumental that brings one to mind of a Russian folk dance. Passion and the Opera is pretty much what it sounds like, a guitar-laced intepretation of opera that allows Tarja to really show off her classically trained pipes. Gethsemane, perhaps my favorite song from the album, is a dynamic track of pounding pianos keys and absolutely beautiful vocal work from Tarja, her voice soaring to the heavens and back again throughout these five minutes. Pharaoh Sails to Orion is also a fantastic, hard-hitting song that balance Tarja's pure, clear voice with growling death vocals. I have to admit, I'm not really a huge fan of typical Cookie Monster grunting (one of the major reasons I can't get into After Forever, an otherwise wonderful band), I feel they are used as effectively as possible here. And fortunately, resisting influence from numerous other metal bands, I believe all the other Nightwish songs featuring male vocals (except Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean) at least give us clean ones. The album ends with the hauntingly melodic Sleeping Sun, which has obviously become a fan favorite, as it keeps popping up from tour to tour.

Looking at where Nightwish is now, it's certainly interesting to see where they've been. Tuomas's songwriting prowess have certainly evolved in the past decade, but Oceanborn remains a highlight of an eternally interesting and varied musical career. Nightwish will never quite sound like this again, especially now that Tarja is no longer their singer. I say this with neither remorse nor relief, only factually. If you're interested in metal in any form, you owe it to yourself to this band out. October 14, 2007

 Great CD From Nightwish
First of all, Oceanborn is a huge step when thinking about Nightwish's debut album Angels Fall First. All the elements of folk music and ambience are forgotten, and instead Nightwish have concentrated to using Tarja Turunen's wide voice and playing pure heavy metal. Or, well, another describing term could be opera metal. Drama and a variety of melodies are used effects, but overruling all the expectations, Nightwish have used them very well. Songs are catchy, but they have a long lifetime. Also, the whole band does great work: even though they seem like another Dream Theater-wannabe band, Holopainen and Vuorinen use their instruments with patience and don't slope into unneeded tricking. So everything seem to be alright, but the album as a whole lacks a little bit of diversity, and sometimes falls into repeating itself. The songs are, however, very strong, and the album as a whole works great. Oceanborn is, so far, the most successful album of Nightwish.
February 25, 2007

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