Featured Album: Nightwish

Album: Once
Artist: Nightwish
Year: 2004
Masterpiece!


I don't hand out the title "Masterpiece" very often. I reserve it for albums that continue to blow me away and leave my jaw hanging even after listening to it dozens of times. Albums that repeatedly surprise me and fascinate me. This album crams so much awesomeness into such a small place that it's a scientific mystery that it hasn't collapsed upon itself to form a black hole.

Not only is the songwriting amazing, but the production is very good too. Each instrument is discernible from the others and doesn't get all mushy in the mix. The individual players are at the top of their game. Jukka's drums are thunderous, yet clear. Marco's bass is bold and aggressive. The symphony is real, not synthesized. In fact the symphonic elements play a critical role in the music, not just thrown in as an afterthought.

As I listen to this album I find myself turning the volume up more and more with each song. Sure there are a few filler songs that don't quite measure up to the magnificence of the others, but luckily those songs are all conveniently located at the end. So it's the most amazing album you've ever heard ... plus a couple other songs that aren't bad either.

This is Nightwish's final studio album with Tarja Turunen as lead singer. It also features bassist Marco Hietala taking the microphone more than their previous albums.

I was going to write a brief description of each song, but almost every one would start out "Ooh, this is one of my favorites. It's so amazing..." So I'll just say that each song is abso-freakin-lutely phenomenal and you should seek out this album.
Warning: You will never listen to music the same way again.

1. Dark Chest of Wonders
2. Wish I Had an Angel
3. Nemo: No it's not about the Disney fish.
4. Planet Hell
5. Creek Mary's Blood: Inspired by the plight of Native Americans, featuring John Two-Hawks, a Lakota musician, on wooden flute, chanting, and reciting a poem in Lakota.
6. The Siren
7. Dead Gardens
8. Romanticide: If your fists are not pumping along at the end of this song, then something is wrong with you.
9. Ghost Love Score: A perfect example of what Symphonic Rock can/should be. A spectacular blend of rock & symphony, complexity & melody.
10. Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan: The polar opposite of most of the other songs. An aria in Finnish with just Tarja and the symphony.
11. Higher Than Hope
12. White Night Fantasy
13. Live to Tell the Tale