Angels Fall First

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Customer reviews

review by: Twitch date: 2008-06-10 rating:
In the image of a campfire
Nightwish are a band that was formed in the year of 1996 whilst Tuomas was sitting around a camp fire with his friends. At the time the band consisted of Tuomas, Emppu and Tarja. At the time they were supposed to be an acoustic band but because of Tarja's strong voice this idea had to be altered and metal elements were brought in to create music that would not be over powered by her strong operatic voice. Tuomas at the time said it sounded weird and the music couldn't exist in the acoustic form. Because of these needed changes and the metal elements that needed to be added Nightwish needed a drummer, this is when Jukka joined the band and the acoustic guitars were mainly changed to electric. It is also worth noting that at this point the band didn't have a bassist therefore guitarist Emppu played all the Bass parts. `Thank god' these changes were made otherwise the Nightwish of today may not exist and that would deprive the world of some of the greatest music ever written. br / br / At this early point of their career they were obviously not as powerful as they are now and as a result it would be unfair to compare the music directly to what they are producing now because it simply isn't in the same league. This is the first album of a band with huge potential who are all new to the music business and with no experience of the recording process and other such things their first album I think is a very good attempt and is overall a good debut. Therefore the ratings below are for the songs as individual songs on this album, with no comparisons between stuff later in their careers (otherwise most of these songs would only be worthy of about 4 or 5. br / br /1) Elvenpath- This is quite possibly the first Nightwish song you heard as it is the 1st track on their 1st album. It isn't the most mature track they have ever produced and has references to Disney films and mythical creatures, which isn't necessarily a bad thing (e.g. Wishmaster and Wanderlust from later albums are Disney referenced and are great tracks), although some people may not like song of these subjects. The track has a good rhythm and nice synth sounds from Tuomas's Keyboards, also for the first time you hear Tarja's beautiful, powerful and epic operatic instrument that she fully utilizes. A good start to the album. 5.5/10 br / br /2) Beauty and the Beast- My favourite song from the album and one I wish they played on the End of an Era DVD as I would love to have seen Tarja perform this song with Marco Hietala (Their full Bassist and Male Vocals from 2002). The song itself starts with a strong violin intro and then you get a sudden thud from the guitars and the drums which get faster. Tarja is amazing on vocals; whereas the male vocals here are done by Tuomas which aren't very good in all honesty they lack power and depth however he is such an amazing song writer he's allowed to have a weak singing voice and this is effectively their practice album. The Lyrics are good and the music is powerful and represents the story really well. It also has a nice guitar solo from Emppu and a powerful end. The song is based on the Disney film. 9/10 br / br /3) The Carpenter- The Vocals here are led by Tuomas and are reasonably weak especially when compared to Tarja, who comes in during the chorus which was a bad decision because the voices don't actually compliment each other. It's a decent song with ok lyrics, although Tuomas will write much better stuff for every release since this one. This was also released as a single however I think there are stronger contenders for single release above this one. 4.5/10 br / br /4) Astral Romance- A good song with a really good guitar intro and strong riff throughout. This song is also for the last time on the album and for the last time ever that features Tuomas on vocals (except for growling on Master Passion Greed form DPP a full 11 years later) This is another song that like beauty and the beast they should have added to the End of an Era play list as I think Marco would sound amazing on vocals. 8/10 br / br /5) Angels Fall First- A really nice acoustic song where Tarja shines on vocals and the lyrics are good. 7/10 br / br /6) Tutankhamen- A good song where the instruments conjure up images in your mind of ancient Egypt and create a great atmosphere. Tarja is good on vocals and the musical arrangements are good. 7/10 br / br /7) Nymphomaniac Fantasia- A really good song that starts off slow but really starts to pick up the pace. Tuomas is fantastic on the keyboards to create the sounds of the flutes and the synths. 7.5/10 br / br /8) Know Why the Nightingale Sings- A really good song with powerful guitar riffs and a fantastic guitar solo. The lyrics are among the best on the album. This song has a good heavy metal feel to it. 8/10 br / br /9) Lapland- This song is split in to 4 separate tracks on some versions of this album although is one full track on others. This is effectively Nightwish first epic soundtrack as altogether is reaches 9:22 in length. It has a good acoustic feel to and changes melody throughout. It has an eerie 2nd part with some drums and part 1 is sung in Finnish. Part 3 is the most powerful. The song is very natural sounding which I like. 8/10 br / br /10) Return to the Sea- A good bonus track that has a great guitar solo. The lyrics I interpret as evolution going backwards and how the world would be better without humans although there may be some deeper meaning than that. The lyrics are natural and mention a variety of animals as well as Charles Darwin. 7.5/10 br / br / Overall it is an essential Album to die-hard Nightwish fans as it is their first album and although it is by no means their best is a good experience to be able to hear where they came from and how hey have evolved. For the casual listener you are probably better starting off with Oceanborn. Rating 7/10 br / br /Note: All readers and listeners of good music check out Savatage the most under rated and one of the best bands of all time br /


review by: date: 2008-05-27 rating:
Not perfect, but still undeniably Nightwish
This is the album that started it all, the understated arrival of Tarja et al. Whilst not as polished or heavy as some of their later offerings it is still a very listenable to album and is undeniably Nightwish, especially on stand out tracks such as `Tutankhamen' and `Astral Romance'. br / br /If you are familiar with Nightwish, then you will certainly want to own this one, it is a different style to their later offerings, especially post-Marco. If you are new to Nightwish then you would be better off going for one of their later albums such as `Highest Hopes' (their greatest hits) or `Once'. br /

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