Nightwish
Nightwish are a Finnish metal band. With more than nine million records sold and over 60 gold and platinum awards, they are one of Finland's most successful music exports. Nightwish are also famous for their epic live concerts with elaborate stage technology and powerful sound.
The sound of Nightwish is unmistakable: robust metal combined with the graceful operatic voice of the meanwhile third lead singer Floor Jansen. The five band members themselves like to classify their music somewhere between symphonic and gothic metal. However, the band was founded in a rather romantic setting – at an acoustic session around a campfire.
Even the first album became a chart-topper in Finland
Die The two founding members of Nightwish, Tuomas Holopainen and Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen, met in 1996. At first the keyboarder and the guitarist want to start with self-written acoustic songs, but reject this idea when they bring drummer Jukka Nevalainen on board.
With singer Tarja Turunen are Nightwish finally complete. Together they recorded their debut album "Angels Fall First" (1997), whose first released single "The Carpenter" went straight into the top 10 of the Finnish charts.
Nightwish succeeds the international breakthrough
Already on the first Nightwish tour through Finland, the band is able to win over more and more metal fans in their Nordic homeland. For the second album "Oceanborn" (1998) Nightwish brought musical reinforcement on board with bassist Sami Vänskä. With the record, the metal band also gains musical recognition beyond the Finnish national borders.
In Germany, "Oceanborn" enters the German album charts at number 74. It is Nightwish's first chart success outside of Finland. Numerous Nightwish shows all over Europe follow: The Finns go on tour as the support act for the German metal band Rage. It's the first time for Nightwish to play in larger concert halls.
Chart hits, awards and sold-out tours
But the band members have to get used to that quickly . Because although Nightwish narrowly lost the Finnish preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, the great success is no longer a long time coming. Their third album "Wishmaster" (2000) catapulted the metallers to number 1 in the Finnish charts, where they stayed for three weeks. For this success, Nightwish are honored with gold status.
After Nightwish were allowed to play at the "Wacken Open Air", one of the largest heavy metal festivals in the world, follows their first own European tour.
Their new single "Ever Dream" sold so well in the first two days that Nightwish received gold status again. This success can only be topped by their new album, which sets a new sales record in Finland just two hours after its release.
New cast during the Nightwish tour
In 2007, frontwoman Tarja Turunen, who leaves the band to focus on her solo projects, is replaced by Anette Olzon. The first album to appear with the new line-up, Dark Passion Play, goes multi-platinum. The subsequent Nightwish tour lasted almost two years. Olzon also sings on the album "Imaginaerum", released in 2012, before she left the band during the accompanying tour.
Dutch soprano Floor Jansen is jumping for the remaining tour dates a. Her powerful voice suits the group so well that she is asked to officially join Nightwish. Nightwish's first release with Jansen is the live album Showtime, Storytime (2013), documenting their triumphant performance at Wacken Open Air in front of 85,000 people. Nightwish celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2018 with a world tour.
Nightwish still offer explosive metal shows after more than 20 years
To the delight of the fans, Nightwish contains meanwhile ninth studio album “Human. :II: Nature.” (2020) features both unreleased songs and remastered and expanded recordings of their most popular album “Once” with additional instrumental, demo and live tracks.
At their shows, Nightwish attach great importance to elaborate backdrops. If you buy a ticket for Nightwish, you can expect a quiet intro to quickly swell into a powerful metal explosion, visually underscored by iconic leather outfits and pyrotechnics.
The most successful Nightwish albums
Nightwish number one albums in the German charts:
- 2004: "Once"
- 2007: "Dark Passion Play”
- 2020: “Human. :II: Nature."
