Metal Reviews

Just to quickly pop in and share some thoughts.

This is mostly a response to Trooper of Steel's recommendation of the ex-Sirenia vocalist taking over the Nightwish job....

Nicole Bogner of Visions of Atlantis has also left her band, so my vote is for her to become the new Nightwish vocalist.

As long as Nightwish stays female-fronted, there's a great chance I'll be happy. 8)

Nicole Bogner would be my 2nd choice. She has a very beautiful voice also

She's got a good voice, but yeah, it is more conventional.

Na-uh! I think Battlelore uses the female vocalist equally to the male.

I can see that, and she's hot, too, Carnifex! Have you guys heard Operatika?

I'd have it as 60%- 40% male vocals more

57%-43% and not a digit more, goddammit!

Shut up 53%-47%

Agreed. Thread closed!

Thread re-opened!

Finnish weekly news magazine Suomen Kuvalehti has published a brand-new interview with NIGHTWISH mastermind Tuomas Holopainen regarding the band's decision to part ways with their longtime singer Tarja Turunen. The brief question-and-answer session follows (translated from Finnish):

Q: Tarja Turunen has described the way you handled this whole affair as "cruel." Do you regret the way it was done?

Tuomas: "Not for a second. The decision has been a long time coming — since last January — and all points of view were thoroughly considered before we went ahead and took this step. Even though I am the person in the band who had to do the firing, the decision to part ways with Tarja was made jointly by all bandmembers."

Q: How did you end up using an open letter to let the world know of your decision? Wouldn't the usual "artistic differences" explanation have been sufficient as far as the public is concerned?

Tuomas: "If we had announced our decision in two sentences, it would not have not painted the right picture of us, and it would have resulted in me having to spend the next two months sitting on the phone explaining why we had to do what we did. I do not think our letter contained any details that were too personal."

Q: What kind of response did you expect from Tarja?

Tuomas: "I heard that she was shocked and she has accused us of lying, but every single sentence in the letter is the absolute truth. The way she has treated us for the past year has been at least as cruel as the way she claims we have been by making this letter public."

Q: How you were able to keep things together for so long even though there was so much tension within the band?

Tuomas: "I survived because the other people in the band are so awesome and we all share the same goals. There were obviously two separate camps in the band — Tarja and her manager/husband Marcelo on one side, and the rest of the group, the road crew and the band's manager on the other."

Q: What were the things that you had disagreements with Tarja about?

Tuomas: "We are on completely different planets when it comes to working morals and spiritual attitudes. I do not want to have any person in the band who tells me that she doesn't need the band for her career anymore."

Q: Why did you go ahead and announce your deal with the Finnish bank Sampo to have a new bank card issued with a picture of NIGHTWISH on it when you knew that the next day you would be firing your singer?

Tuomas: "The deal with Sampo was worked out in January and it was arranged by our manager. I had completely forgotten about it and was only reminded about it in the week prior to the announcement. The Sampo bank representatives took it very well."

Q: So Turunen's image won't be removed from the cards then?

Tuomas: "No."

Q: Your fans have been shocked to learn of your decision to part ways with Tarja. How will this affect your popularity in the future?

Tuomas: "If our next CD is of the same quality as the previous albums, I don't believe there will be a problem. If the CD sells 100,000 copies instead of a million, we will still be satisfied. Having huge commercial success is not our main concern."

Q: Is it possible that Turunen could block your upcoming book from being published or prevent band-related products from being sold based on legal issues?

Tuomas: "I really don't know much about this, but I asked our label and our manager if the split would result in legal problems and the response was that there wouldn't be any."

Q: Will your new singer be Finnish?

Tuomas: "I will not comment on this right now. I can only tell you that no decisions have yet been made on this issue."

Q: Do you foresee a scenario where Tarja Turunen could return to the band at some point in the future?

Tuomas: "At the moment, it is very hard to imagine. I wish her all the best."

Hey Eyesore, where'd you find that interview?

Still not convinced that Tuomas handled this well, but I give him credit for being fully behind his decision. Hope that he stays that way when Nightwish's next album sells 1/10th of what "Once" did, because he got that figure spot on.

It's always sad when group masturbators break up... I heard Tarja's going to become a porn star, is that true? :?

HAHA! Seriously?

That interview was posted on Blabbermouth. If what Tuomas says is true about Tarja then I don't see the problem with the letter.

Can we do the "Hellhammer joins Nightwish" joke and then abandon this thread?

Hellhammer? Everyone knows that the next singer for Nightwish will be Varg.

:shock:

Nightwish mainman Tuomas Holopainen has offered a more conclusive update on the band's future.

Holopainen has finished composing two new songs for the group's next studio album which is not expected to surface until 2007, the keyboardist revealed in a brand-new interview published in the Finnish newspaper Keskisuomalainen. According to Holopainen, the band are hoping to begin recording their next album in September 2006, but if need be, they are willing to push back the projected recording sessions for their next CD even further so that a suitable replacement for the recently departed singer Tarja Turunen can be found.

Like 2004's "Once", the group's next CD will likely take at least six months to record, which means that the new singer's contributions to the new album will not be put down on tape until sometime in early 2007 — giving the band more time to find the right person to replace Tarja.

Holopainen told the Keskisuomalainen newspaper that the band's style will not change now that Turunen is gone. The next NIGHTWISH album will follow the same musical path as the band's most recent releases, but with a new female vocalist.

"It will be interesting to see how many singers will apply for the position," Tuomas is quoted as saying. "After all, Tarja is is a first-rate singer, and replacing her will not be easy.

"The new singer will be chosen not only for her singing skills. She must also be beautiful, charismatic and she must possess a great deal of self-esteem.

"We will not necessarily pick a Tarja clone," Holopainen continued. "We will be open to a slightly new sound, especially when it comes to the vocalist."

Although the band's requirements for the new singer are high, Holopainen knows that the group's fan base will not necessarily welcome their return with open arms.

"Of course, we will get a few beer cans thrown on the stage when we fist start playing out with the new singer," Tuomas said. "Some of our fans are die-hard Tarja devotees and those people will never accept the fact that we can go on without her."

She must also be beautiful...

That'll piss off a ton of people. Hopefully he meant that in a non-sexist, non-physical appearance way! Hahaha. If not, I guess the Operatika singer is out of the question.

And 2007? Goddammit now! 2007? WTF? Anyway, they've done the live CD/DVD, the greatest hits album, the EP and the docu-DVD, now it's time for a b-sides album in 2006. They have a ton of killer b-sides and I'm sure they have a few still in the vaults. Let's get those out there, goddammit!

What the fuck does beauty matter? Tuomas is a superficial sexist piece of shit.

If the band was searching for a male vocalist, I have a feeling that beauty would not be on the list of requirments.

But hey, what do I know. Plastic commercial success is everything; fuck good music.

Loosen the panties, they're in a bunch. This dude is Finnish, he may very well not mean physical beauty. I've lived overseas in many different countries and they say some straight up offensive shit when speaking in English, but a lot of times they don't realize it and they don't actually mean the way it comes across.

I was thinking the same thing myself actually. I don't necessarily think "beautiful" was referring strictly to appearance. Somehow, I'm thinking about the word "hygiene" here. He may also have been misquoted, etc...

In any event, it's his band (more or less) and if he wants a beautiful singer, it's his right to look for one whether he is actually sexist or not. He did say in the previously posted interview, however, that commercial success was not a top priority for the band. *shrug*

Haha, I suppose there's the possibility that it is a priority for the label though. :roll:

Did anyone else notice he referred to Tarja as being first-rate as opposed to being first class? I wonder if that was a misquote, a slight, or nothing at all.

-Tyrion