Saturday, January 19, 2013

Nightwish - Century Child (2002)

Nightwish are a magnificent band - formed in 1996, by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and vocalist Tarja Turunen. By the time this album was released, Marco Hietala had joined the band and took over the male vocals. Tarja's voice is elegant and other-worldly, a beautiful counterpoint to the heavy music and Marco's occasional growls.

This packaging is beautiful - a woman crouches before a waterfall, cradling a black rose. The colours - black and purple, seem to evoke the general feel of the music, which is rich and multi-layered. However, the font is pretty difficult to read with the white seeming to be shadowed against the purple. This may just be my version - which I obtained from Russia via Ebay.

 It opens with a short spoken piece and then breaks into the epic "Bless the Child". This contains the line:
"Think of me long enough to make a memory."
A line which I have always found somewhat heart-breaking.

"End of all Hope" is epic and powerful.

"Dead to the World" is an interesting one, with the male vocals seeming to dominate at least in the start - but Marco isn't growling here, he's actually singing - and not half bad at it either. Tarja's voice soars against his raw notes, in the Beauty and the Beast styling that I described earlier.

With its beautiful opening piano, "Ever Dream" is an ethereal lullaby - breaking into true Nightwish symphonic style, before the sweet-natured, silver-throated vocals return.

"Slaying the Dreamer" is a little more hardcore, at least musically, the vocals still sweet but with a harsh edge of threat. Marco's vocals are very aggressive. This is a song of betrayal and anger.

As though to alleviate the negative emotion of the preceding song, "Forever Yours" is very sweet and gentle, a whispered caress of gentle percussion and wind instruments.

Similarly gentle is "Ocean Soul". It also includes one of the most memorable choruses.

This is followed by the beautiful and romantic "Feel for You". Or to be precise, it sounds romantic - until Marco comes in and it takes a startlingly dark turn:
"...Barely cold in her grave, barely warm in my bed..."
 I hope it's more about someone else usurping another's widowed husband rather than necrophilia!

"Phantom of the Opera" is an EPIC rendition of this classic tune. Tarja's voice handles it so well and the music just sends energy and power surging through me. No matter the version, the opening chords of this song always stir something deep in my viscera.

"Beauty and the Beast" brings this CD to a powerful conclusion. Despite the epic nature of the song, it does not quite haunt me the way some of the earlier pieces do, but it is still a masterfully written and performed piece.

Overall, an amazing album from an amazing band. There's not much more to say about Nightwish - except that they certainly deserve the rep they have earned and are also awesome live - even without the magnificent vocals of Tarja.

9/10

2 comments:

  1. Following this blog keeps sending me back to my CD collection - digging out some gem that I have neglected too much of late; this album being one of those. It truly is a magnificent album and one of Nightwish's finest.

    Surprisingly, I have now come to regard 'Angels Fall First' as their greatest release - notably, the extended version as the bonus tracks are sublime and more representative of Nightwish's earlier pre-metal sound (Gothic, keyboard-and-acoustic-guitar driven Neo-Folk, actually, far more reminiscent of Unto Ashes et. al. than any of the bands Nightwish are usually credited as having influenced).

    Loving the blog.

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  2. Also, I have always adored the line 'Think of me long enough to make a memory' too. There's something utterly haunting about it.

    As for the 'Barely cold in her grave...' bit, I've always been troubled by that as well. Does have more than a whiff of necrophilia about it.

    Holopainen has always been one of the finest lyricists in metal, even with his rather charming obsession with Disney flicks.

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