Band: Nightwish
Album: Once
Label: Nuclear Blast/Spinfarm Records
Genre: Finnish Symphonic Metal
Track #1: Dark Chest Of Wonders
My personal favorite off the album, Dark Chest of Wonders is a remembrance of a dream. A dream where the person learns to fly after seeing a child with a clock striking twelve and seeing the child's heart for what it is. The person takes a step outside, longing to follow the moonlight without the restraints of life. The rope of doubt gets cut after a lot of faith (in what, I'm not sure...). And in this dream the person can fly, and they fly across the sea to find a chest. Only one of pure heart can open the chest, and when opened, dark wonders are seen from within. The world stole something known as The Big Blue, and on the night of the dream he returns to the person he was stolen from. All and all this is a pretty good song if you don't mind the old Gothic view of things.
Track #2: Wish I Had An Angel
"I wish I had an angel for one moment of love, I wish I had your angel tonight.." Right off the bat we can hear this is a love song in it's own right. Most would disagree with me, but that's okay, because this is a review from a fan. Much like DCOW, this song drags you in and doesn't let go. I would not recommend this to people of very strong Christian or Mormon faith, again, unless you're not bothered by this kind of stuff.
Track #3: Nemo
One of the slower songs by the band, Tarja's voice is brought out in a beautiful way. Not a whole lot of high notes, Nemo is more of a lower ranged but very beautiful song. "Oh how I wish for soothing rain, all I wish is to dream again.." Something tells me that she's lost a love in her life and has been brought down by the pain and only the rain can sooth away her pain. Hey! I'm a poet and didn't even know it! Anyway, Nemo, beautiful in its own way and is in no way meant to be taken out of context. I would recommend taking a listen to this song if your in the mood for something beautiful. Nemo most diffidently delivers.
Track #4: Planet Hell
Actually the first song I ever heard by NW was Planet Hell and I wasn't even looking for anything close to it! Starting out with a good buildup to the actual song with good symphonic vocalizing and then Marco Hietala's rough voice come booming in. A song about death, the chorus mentions the Ferryman, a being that transports people from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead, only if you have a coin for him. Again, if your not bothered by this stuff, its a good listen. But if you are, please don't, and if you do, please don't come complaining to me because all I'll say is I warned you.
Track #5: Creek Mary's Blood
Starting out with a Native American feel to it, Creek Mary's Blood tells a tale of of a warrior who's spirit will never leave the land he loves and he will forever remain with his people in spirit. It also tells the tale of how white man came and saw how prosperous the land was and wanted it for themselves(jeez, aren't we nice?), killing any and all who got in they're way. The Indians tell us how they stayed in the land since they can remember, most thinking it was theirs since the beginning of time itself. The last half of the song tells of how one Indian remembers the time before white man came to take the land, and how he was like the caribou and white man the wolves that hunt them and make them stronger. At the end we hear that the Indian speaks to the white man saying: "We never owed you anything, Our only debt is one life to our Mother(referring to the earth). It was a good day to chant this song to her."
Track #6: The Siren
Starting out with violins and going into guitars with other symphonic instruments and finally Tarja singing about The Sirens, the old Norse legend of creatures that sang a mesmerizing song that captured sailors and caused them to wreck they're ships and sink to a watery grave. The song breaks out into a vocalizing and guitar solo for the next few minutes, but over all the song has a mystic feel to it, a good listen in my opinion.
Track #7: Dead Gardens
Starting out slow and dark, Dead Gardens has the dead feel from the very beginning, and when Tarja chimes in it adds to it. To me it sounds like everything the person wanted to do has been done and they have nothing left to do but care for the dead gardens of the realm of the dead. A good listen, with a cold dead sound.
Track #8: Romanticide
Starting out hard and heavy, Romanticide brings a hard Gothic feel that is rarely felt by most bands of the genre. From what I can tell, Romanticide is about a love that had died and now the person feels as if they are being told how to live, and all they want now is for the old lover to leave them alone and die in the "Romanticide" of lost love.
Track #9: Ghost Love Score
Ten minutes in length, this is Nightwish's second longest song to date, the longest being The Poet And The Pendulum from they're 2007 album Dark Passion Play. Not really sure what to say about this song, other then it's a beautifully written and performed song and I would recommend this to anyone looking for something that's beautiful in the since of the Gothic.
Track #10: Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan
English Translation: Death Makes an Artist
In case you where wondering, the song is sung in the bands spoken language, Finnish. All that I can really say about this song is that it is also beautifully made and performed. I've read the English translation of the song, and here's what it says: "Only once I got to see my dream
I didn't feel the smallness under the stars
Once I got bars to my cradle
From there I'm writing a letter as a prisoner
My God, to you let me (be)come what my child takes me for*
In you, the beauty of the world
From which the death made me an artist
My God, to you let me (be)come what my child takes me for
Created my own heaven here
Let me get away..."
As I said before, a beautifully written song and diffidently one their best songs.
Track #11: Higher Than Hope
From what I can tell about this song, is that someone is trapped inside some kind of mental trap and they see no way of getting out, and when they're mother holds them all they can feel is the joy of her heart. I'm guess that the person has died and now the memory lives on though a friend...I don't really know what this song is about, so instead of typing pointless nonsense that looks like I do, I'll end it with a good song that is also beautifully done.
Song Rating:
Musical Structure: 10
Lyrical Structure: 9.5
Style: 9
Vocals: 8.5
Overall Rating: 9.5
Why did I rate vocals with the lowest? Because even though Tarja's voice is beautiful, a lot of the time she's hard to understand unless you have the lyrics in front of you.
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