Blog Archives
So Desperately Out of Touch
Nightwish (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I logged onto Facebook today to see the latest post from the band Nightwish (the link is to post on their website):
Reading the brief statement through, I began to realize that I was, once more, desperately out of touch. Not to any signs that Anette Olzon and theband were having any issues. No, the sign that told me I was out of touch was that Floor Jansen (ex-After Forever, Revamp) was stepping in to finish
off the tour. It was not the stepping part, again, it was the statement that she was not with After Forever anymore. That led me to wonder when that happened, why did I not know it had happened, and what else I might have missed while I was under whatever rock I had apparently become my home of ignorance.
For those who are curious, both Nightwish and After Forever (with Floor Jansen on vocals) have been featured in my Saturday Songs segment.
Saturday Songs – August 4, 2012
Surprisingly, I have to thank a really bad movie for introducing me to this band.
Prior to 2005, I had never heard of Nightwish. I had never heard their unique sound, nor even considered the concept of Finnish opera metal. that was until I picked up the DVD for Alone in The Dark. I had never seen the movie before, though I had played the game. I picked it up because it looked interesting and it was fairly inexpensive. Of course, this was before I learned just how bad a director Uwe Boll was. Alone in The Dark was bad, really bad, phenomenally bad. it was so bad that I list it on my list of the worst 10 in the last 10.
The movie’s one redeeming feature was that it included the song Wish I Had An Angel by Nightwish on the soundtrack.
While the movie was horrible, this song was unlike anything I had been hearing. It was heavy metal, but the lead singer sounded like she would be more comfortable singing opera than metal. I had to hear more. Thankfully, iTunes had some of their albums. Even more thankfully, my local Borders and Newbury Comics had even more. I added all of them to my playlists, putting Wish I Had An Angel, Nemo, and Over The Hills And Far Away on heavy rotation. I loved that they were able to play a heavy metal song, while still being able to cover Pink Floyd and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Little did I know I was becoming a fan of a band in transition.
Just as I was discovering Nightwish, they were dealing with internal band issues. In 2005, Nightwish parted ways with their lead singer Tarja Turunen. The full details of which I never really knew, and even now as I look them up, I still glaze over trying to understand what happened.
Regardless, it seemed just as I was discovering a new sound and a new band, they were falling apart. I had collected as much as I could, with many of their albums not readily available in the United States, but I feared that what I had already purchased was all that I would ever hear from Nightwish. At least, until 2007.
2007 brought Nightwish back with a new album and a new lead singer Anette Olzon. I was not sure what to make of this. Olzon did not have the same sound as Turunen. It was not better or worse, just different. While I was still a fan of the old, I was really liking the new as well. And I look forward to more music from them for some time to come.
Nightwish’s albums with Anette Olzon, Dark Passion Play, Made In Hong Kong, and Imaginaerum are available in iTunes, Amazon.com, and your local record shops. Many of the albums with Tarja Turunen are also available on iTunes, with a number of their albums available as imports from Amazon.com
Music I’ve Been Listening To Recently
I always listen to a wide range of music, with the possible exception of hard core rap. Lately, though, I’ve been focusing more on more ecclectic bands. Currently in heavy rotation are Nightwish, Leaves’ Eyes and Skillet.
Currently, my top five songs on my iTunes playlist are:
Living in a Dream – Pseudo Echo
My Destiny – Leaves’ Eyes
Let You Down – Theatre of Tragedy
Skintight – Liv Kristine
Everything Burns – Ben Moody featuring Anastasia
