Nightwish - Century Child

"NIGHTWISH could very well have cloned their last full studio album, Wishmaster, and would have been guaranteed to sell as many copies without the fanbase batting an eyelash. Simply put, the band is that good. NIGHTWISH is not stupid, firmly believing in artistic integrity over sales and clearly having the balls to branch out, explore and experiment with their craft. For a start, the level of bombast seems to have been turned down a notch on Century Child in favour of a more metal approach, even singer Tarja toning down her all-out opera vocals somewhat and using her voice with much broader scope. Ironically, the band has become more operatic at the same time with the addition of bassist Marco Hietala - recently stolen from Sinergy - who acts as Tarja's male lead vocal counterpart on several tracks, making a huge impact on the band's sound. No question that NIGHTWISH would be just another band with out Tarja though, who shines brighter than she ever has before. ! Century Child is yet another firm step towards greatness." (9 out of 10 review) – BRAVE WORDS & BLOODY KNUCKLES

-1st new album in over two years! Massive anticipation! -Fourth full-length from one of gothic metal’s leading acts. -NIGHTWISH have already received double platinum and gold album awards in their native Finland, as well as winning two Emma Awards (the Finnish equivalent of a Grammy) and scoring four Top 10 hits at radio. -Produced by Tero Kinnunen (Nightwish) and Mikko Karmila (Amorphis, Stratovarius, Avantasia) at Caverock and Finnvox Studios in Finland. Album Description

 Another Great CD by Nightwish
Century Child marks the beginning of a change of sound for Nightwish. After (and in) this album, they start to focus more on the symphonic sounds, rather than the power-metal qualities their prievious albums had.

Of course, for people like me, this is a great change. While Nightwish were great with power metal, they are epic with their symphonic metal qualities.

The first four songs still retain some of the power metal sounds, but they do show the transition between the two styles.

Then the fifth song, "Slaying the Dreamer" is a really fast paced, angry sounding song, especially in the latter half, but it still sounds great, and is one of my favourite songs on the album.

"Forever Yours" is the only song on the album that is slow all the way through, but it sounds really beautiful, as all of Nightwish's slow songs tend to do.

"Ocean Soul" and "Feel For You" are two good songs, but I think almost all the other songs overshadow them.

Then Nightwish does a cover of "Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This is my favourite song on the album, and it really is great. People who are used to hearing the original version of this song may be thrown off by Marco's gravelly version of the Phantom, but you should be able to get over it rather quickly.

Finally, the most epic song on Century Child, "Beauty of the Beast." It really is a masterpiece in pretty much any way one looks at it. It's also a great way to end the album, with a ten-and-a-half-minute-long epic.


Overall, this is a great album, although I personally like their next album, Once, a lot more. If you like Once or Dark Passion Play, you'll most likely like this album too. The reverse is true too, if you like this, then you'll probably like Once and Dark Passion Play. January 7, 2008

 The Best Example Of Nightwish
This album is certainly their best, with "Once" close behind with it's single "Nemo." Century Child starts off with the powerful track "Bless The Child" which is an amazing blend of Tarja's vocals and Holopainen's keyboard mastery. The epic feel is overpowering.

This album also introduces Marco Hietala, already a master in the world of metal. His strong vocals compliment Tarja's operatic voice perfectly. They do a great cover duet of "Phantom of the Opera," and earlier an astonishing song called "Slaying the Dreamer" which is heavy, dramatic, and my second favorite in the album.

Some people say that operatic voices and symphonic tones do not belong in metal. All I can answer is that the heaviness underneath becomes even more evident when complimented by something a touch softer. This album exemplifies it perfectly. October 17, 2007

 Dark yet fantastic!
Oceanborn and Century Child has got to be Nightwish's darkest albums, but Century Child is definitely a more haunting album and a bit dark in fantasy and aura. The album's music is more spiritual sounding compared to any other of their releases as well. This CD marks a change in Nightwish's sound - Tarja doing less opera vocals and in a more steamlined kind of vocal, but regardless of her technique, she is one of the most brilliant singers out there. I think that Nightwish fans overlook this CD for its different sound that the fans may not be all that used to, but it still sounds like Nightwish. The addition of Marco is also a factor in creating a darker sound for Nightwish with his rough and haunting vocals to compliment Tarja's spiritual sound in her vocals. I'd still say this is a great Nightwish album and fans must hear this as they need to hear all their other stuff.

My personal favorite off this CD is "Ever Dream" - it's probably the most passionate uplifting spirit song on this CD, as well as the first single I think. But every song on this CD blends in together to form some sort of a concept, but every song can stand out on its own as well.

This CD is just plain beautiful - get it! September 30, 2007

 Nightwish's Century Child
Nightwish is an awsome group. If you enjoy the groups Within Temptation and Evanescence then you will enjoy the songs that Nightwish performs. August 4, 2007

 They Can Do Better... And Have
It is almost painful for me to give this album such an "awful" review. I love Nightwish -- They are one of my favorite bands and I listen to every one of their CDs fanatically. However, unlike most of their other albums, I had to delete some tracks when I copied this to my computer using iTunes. This simply isn't one of their better albums, and it's a shame, because it easily could be.

This is the album where Nightwish started to get darker, harder, and faster (Faster Harder Nightwish, anyone?). That's perfectly okay, but this album is the transition point, and thus mediocre. It has some great songs, but it also has ones -- the ballades, mainly -- that fall flat. Some of the lyrics aren't up to par with other works; some the songs don't sound as good; some are just out-right boring. The others are absolutely beautiful, but as a result, make the other ones sound that much worse.

Like my Once review, I will now go into a song-by-song review, before summarizing my thoughts. If you don't care about the songs individually, you may of course skip through it.

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Bless the Child (4/5) - A wonderful way to start off the album. The lyrics are excellent, the song itself is beautiful, and it leads perfectly into the next song. The only reason it isn't 5/5 is because it gets dull. The song is six minutes long, but unlike some of Nightwish's song, after a while one begins to notice how long it is and get a little bored with it. For the occasional listen, however, it sounds lovely.

End of All Hope (4/5) - This song is almost half the length of Bless the Child, not to mention heavier and more "metal". I don't think it needs to be said that the lyrics are a tad cheesy -- just look at the title -- but it doesn't detract from the song; there is some decent imagery in it if one ignores how obvious the meaning is. The melody and Tarja's singing match perfectly, making up for the so-so lyrics and making it one of my favorite songs on the album.

Dead to the World (4/5) - The lyrics to this song are positively beautiful, and some of the keyboard pieces are insanely awesome. However, I am not fond of Marco's voice, and seeing as he sings most of this song, that detracts from the track in my opinion. The fast tempo and melody are brilliant, however, and Tarja's voice makes the song more tolerable. I just couldn't give this song below 4/5, all things considered.

Ever Dream (5/5) - I don't know what it is about this song, but one day I feel in love with it, and have listened obsessively to it since. The lyrics aren't that great, but the song itself is gorgeous. It's one of Nightwish's heavier "ballades", with a piano and strings complementing the guitars very well and producing a gorgeous melody. Tarja sounds heavenly, and the last minute or so of the song is chilling in how gorgeous it sounds. I normally don't like a song that has mediocre lyrics, but this is wonderful enough to make an exception.

Slaying the Dreamer (4/5) - One of those standard heavy songs that you have to love. The lyrics are strangely interesting, and it took me a lot longer than it should have to figure out what they're about; that's normally a good thing for me. Marco, when he appears for a brief moment, sounds better than he did before, and adds to the song. The melody itself is standard metal -- crazy guitar riffs and the works -- but it fits the song, so it's all good.

Forever Yours (2/5) - Nightwish can produce some great ballades. This is not one of them. It's very slow, but the melody is dull, the lyrics are uninteresting, and Tarja doesn't sound nearly as beautiful as she usually does. Also, I prefer heavy metal to wake me up, not put me to sleep. I have listened to this song so little that I can't say much more than that.

Ocean Soul (3/5) - It's better than Forever Yours, at least, but that may only be because it's heavier. I used to love this song, and indeed the beginning is rather pretty. However, the melody and Tarja sound standard, and the lyrics don't help it, being they are too dry and, well, standard. It's not bad, but there is nothing that stands out, dropping its rating.

Feel for You (2/5) - A Forever Yours clone, except with better lyrics. The only problem is that they're about very similar, if not identical, topics. So while Feel for You does have pretty imagery, it feels as if one has heard it before.

The Phantom of the Opera (3/5) - Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. It's like Ocean Soul; nothing in particular stands out. Tarja sounds good and hits the high notes as expected, Marco actually sounds pretty decent, and the melody is what I imagine a heavier version of the Broadway song sounds like. However, like Bless the Child, it gets dull after a while, and is only good for the occasional listen.

Beauty of the Beast (4/5) - The middle part of this song is the best, shortly followed by the third. The first part is pretty, but a tad slow, and generally it's not a good idea to start a ten-minute song off slowly. However, once beyond that part, one forgets it's so long because it turns fast and spectacular. I love the lyrics and many times have been tempted to sing them down the hallway of my high school to see what happens.

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Overall, six of the ten songs are a good listen, which is a little lower than normal Nightwish quality, but not bad. Here are some of its main flaws:

Variety: Once has the same issue; for some reason, Nightwish's modern albums have variety problems. The two ballades on the album sound nearly identical. Bless the Child and Beauty of the Beast are somewhat similar, and some of the faster tracks also sound rather similar, or even "standard" for metal. The only song I can think of that stands on its own is Ever Dream (I'm not counting Phantom of the Opera seeing as it isn't theirs).

Lyrics: One of my favorite aspects of Nightwish is their lyrics; even when they about something as pointless as a bad day they still sound wonderful. However, in this album, many of the lyrics aren't very poetic, and in some cases are just dry and dull. Lyrics are very important for me in a band; a band or song has to be just plain brilliant for me to even remotely consider listening to them if they have cheap lyrics. Some of the songs on this album don't have that brilliance to counteract the lyrics.

That is it for glaring flaws; I also mentioned minor ones before and during the song reviews. As for the positive aspects? Tarja and Marco sing very well in this album. The band itself sounds wonderful in many of the songs, complementing the orchestra. I'm fairly certain this is the first album of Nightwish's to feature an orchestra, so they did well on the first try. Speaking of first tries, considering how different this is from their other albums, Nightwish did very well making it sound great without losing their style.

It is, in the end, not an awful album. It has its great songs that one may listen to obsessively, and it is a pretty good transition point to a different Nightwish style. If it weren't for those few songs that detract from it, I would happily give the album four stars, but alas, I am a perfectionist and those few songs lower the rating.

I would recommend the album to people who are already familiar with Nightwish, but Oceanborn or Wishmaster may be better for people who are just trying out the band.

Thank you for reading, and happy listening! June 20, 2007

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