Metal Reviews

yes it is only your opinion (which is probably be kept to yourself) thankfully, because in reality they make great songs whether you like them or not and whether you think Tarja is old or ugly or whether you think they are overrated.

my ratings:

Angels Fall first - 68/100
Oceanborn - 90/100
Wishmaster - 85/100
Century Child - 95 /100
Once - 89/100

I've never heard any of their songs, but wow.... that pic TIE posted... damn. I'd be suing my plastic surgeon thats for sure :shock:

Way to post one bad picture. I've seen tons of pics and that one is the worst and only real bad one. Here is what she usually looks like. Very hot IMO.



Sorry if its to big, meh.

She is nice...

Flowing rhythms, simple music, good to follow. Nothing very tricky, except some solo-thingy now and then. It's a mixture of classical and Metal, but it isn't GOTHIC, it's Power Metal, a mistake often made. The thing is, when a band's becoming more popular, a domino-effect is unleashed, everybody talks about it and those people that hear of it talk with other people, etc etc.
I think it's just a hype, I liked Nightwish, I really did, but after a few spins, their albums just become... well... too much of the same! The damn same, here-we-go-again-a-heavy-riff-followed-by-an-easy-operatic-voice-whereafter-the-music-bursts-out-again-oh-and-let's-put-in-a-keyboard-solo-here-and-yes...-some-strings-here-yeah-now-we've-got-a-song! They should do something else, really.

edit: Damn, Tarja's fat ugly in those pictures!

the worst, really ?


this one is pretty bad too

the best I've found of her is this one

and ok, here she's kinda cute though not my style of woman... :?

ew, at the top picture emo.

I think Tarja's quite hot, not the hottest female metal vocalist but still very good....by the way, isn't there a thread in helheim for this discussion?

I've been a Nightwish fan since 2000, and they were my favourite band (although I never liked other bands outside black metall too much) until their release of Once. Granted Century Child wasn't the best but Once really took the cake. Angel's Fall First was a great acoustic project with some really well written songs. Not really metal, but well written nonetheless. Oceanborn is one of their best album, and also extremely well written along with Wishmaster and the new songs off Over the Hills and Far Away. One thing you cannot deny is excellent composition skills on the part of Tuomas. Also, all the members really know how to handle their instruments, and Tarja especially is an EXTREMELY talented singer. She had been studying classical and opera singing for something lik 10 years prior to joining Nightwish. If they aren't you're style, fine, but I think their early work really showed that they are a talented group of musicians.

Once, however, just does NOT do them justice. They sold out, that's it. Btw, all the pictures that were posted saying how "horrible" Tarja looks are from the Once era. Try going back a few years, she doesn't look like a made-up freak back then :roll:

I always forget about "Angels Fall First" and "Over the Hills..." Of course, part of that is because I didn't have either one until fairly recently.

And I never thought Tarja was particularly good looking either, but in all fairness, the recent pictures of the entire band are rather ... unimpressive. They, Tarja especially, all look rather overproduced (sorta like how "Once" sounds). Anyway, as Iron Duchess said, earlier pictures of Tarja are much more impressive.

-Tyrion

I don't really give a damn about how tarja looks as long her singing sounds great i'll be listening.

She's 27.

And, fuck me, in the flesh she looks NOTHING like the pics. She doesn't have the makeup caked on and she smiles a lot. And she also gave me a raging chubby in the mosh pit .

i think she sometimes looks like a frog when she is singing(from the videos, never had the pleasure to hear them live). they have a very unique style, lately it has been a bit exagerated but i guess thats what they always wanted to be, only that now they have the money, therefore I think they are not changing back anytime soon.

Angels Fall First is an interesting, if not exactly great, album. The folk/ambient touches are quite nice.

Oceanborn (Nightwish's best IMO) and Wishmaster are both very good power metal albums, the latter being a little less keyboard heavy. I really like both of them, and I like Tarja's vocals best on these records.

NOW, I think the addition of Marco Heitala to the band was a good move. I really like his slightly crazy vocals, and he imposes himself far better as a bass player than Sami Vanska, but I don't like the last two records as much, mainly because they moved away from the power metal sound.

Century Child has good songs, but is possibly the band's weakest release. Once I like, but on occasion the orchestra feels overbearing. I also dislike the fact that Tarja doesn't sing operatically anymore, but it does make the songs easier to tell apart.

Overall, i like all of Nightwish's albums, but I prefer their old style.

Oceanborn
Wishmaster
Once
Century Child/Angels Fall First

PS Tarja is astonishingly nice, but finding a good picture of her is pissing difficult.

First of all, I really don't see how the band is power metal...especially when Tuomas himself has denied the label Compare it to Stratovarius or something like that, similar? I don't think so According to Tuomas, and I agree, they are pretty much just melodic metal.

Second of all, I'd just like to bring up the point made by Tyrion about "Once" being overproduced. I think that is entirely true. Even if I look at AFF and Once, I definetely prefer AFF. The composition is far more intelligent, with a far wider range while Once was pretty damned repeatitive if you ask me. Even Ghost Love Score that so many people believed to be the best of all Nightwish songs was grossly repeatitive. You can tell that Tuomas just wanted to pull off a longer Fantasmic, or Beauty of the Beast (both which are superior to Ghost Love Score, imo). Tuomas just is not writing music that really brings out the abilities of the musicians in the band. While in Oceanborn, although the guitar work was not overly technical, Emppu's playing still told me a story; even if I did not listen to the lyrics I knew what was going on through the atmosphere of the songs. In Once there is nothing particularly defining in the composition. They have become just another commercialised band...no longer unique. Especially where Tarja is concerned. What is the point of having a fully trained classical/opera singer in the band if you are not going to use her talents? Its completely useless. At least AFF had originality, creativity, and good composition technique. There was far more going on, while in Once it was simply not as complex as I'd expect Tuomas as able to write by this stage.

My opinion:

1. Century Child
2. Oceanborn
3. Once
4. AFF
5. Wishmaster

And I just can't believe how you can see Ghost Love Score as "grossly repetive". Are we truly listening to the same song? It blows Beauty of the beast (still a great song..) completely out of the water in terms of songrwiting, arrangements and variety. And Fantasmic? :? One of Nightwish's most boring songs ever. It's just my opionion, but I consider GLS to be Nightwish's best song, and the best symphonic metal song ever witouth much contest...

Heres why I can't stand Nightwish:

1. Tarja has a nice voice, no doubt, but her english pronounciations annoyes the hell out of me. Even when I take into account that shes Finnish. I can still endure Cristina Scabbia's pronounciations, but not Tarja.

2. I find the music unsatisfactory. Waaaaaaaay too much symphonic stuff...nothing interesting about the guitar/drum work.

the only good thing about AFF is the title, century child was in my opinion the best release for this band and it wasn't even that great

I picked up Angels Fall First in South Korea in 1999 and the second "Elvenpath" kicked in my jaw hit the floor! With over 4,000 CDs I'd never heard anything like Nightwish! It amazed me. Sure, I have a ton of CDs by bands with female singers who are sopranos, but none of them actually have that operatic vocal! Tarja could go on broadway and star as Christine in Phantom Of The Opera, none of those other singers could. Tarja vocals and Tuomas' music is 100% original! Originality is a rarity in the music world.

To me, Nightwish are one of the best bands in metal right now. Top 10 easy.