Nightwish...

[MirrorMask]

I'm still completely on board with Human || Nature. I've listened THE SHIT out of that album and I'm still not tired of it. It might have just become an habit, but since I work from home I have 8 hours to listen to music and that album is always at the beginning of my routine, I always start the day with that. It's been like that since it came out in April, and only on several occasions (say, a rainy day when I go for something more moody and dark) I didn't listen to the album for 5 days per week. I'm still not tired of it nor I've reached the "yeah, ok, this album is good, now let's listen to something else" phase. It's just very pleasant to listen to, especially with my own edit of the second disc which brought the whole suite down to barely under 15 minutes, with just my favorite parts of it.

[Evermind]

The first CD is excellent. The second I don't come back to, although I probably should do what you've done and just pick out my favourite parts and edit them together.

[cramx3]

Even at 15 minutes, I just don't see myself listening to it enough to make the effort worth it personally, but disc 1 is still fantastic but I don't listen nearly as much as you do.  I actually felt I over listened to it by a month after release and have mostly shelved it for the last few months.  I think it just came out during a time when I really needed some new music from one of my favorite bands and I just consumed the shit out of it to my own detriment.

[Cool Chris]

I still haven't bought that album, and Nightwish is, or has been till now, an automatic buy.

And I think Elan is great!

[Ben_Jamin]

I still haven't bought that album, and Nightwish is, or has been till now, an automatic buy.

And I think Elan is great!

Same here. Even though it's good, I just haven't bought it.

I will say, Troy adds a folky element to the Nightwish sound. It's really strong in this album.

[cramx3]

We dug up Ville Lipiäinen's archives and came across with some never
seen live footage from the past tours.

Something to reminisce while waiting for the Human. :II: Nature. tour to
finally start. More to come soon!
-- Tuomas Holopainen

Yours Is An Empty Hope is recorded at Teatro Metropólitan, Mexico City - October 15, 2015!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuwY1d-KIss

Pretty cool, but I'm really interested in the "more to come" part. 

[The Walrus]

Piggybacking from the 'bands that made a great album late in their career' thread, this is how I listen to Once:

1.   "Dark Chest of Wonders"       4:28
2.   "Wish I Had an Angel"       4:03
3.   "Nemo"       4:36
4.   "Planet Hell"       4:39
9.   "Ghost Love Score"       10:00

Get rid of literally everything but these songs and it's great. 

[Buddyhunter1]

The Siren is good. Higher Than Hope is good. Creek Mary's Blood is... well, I definitely used to think it's good, but nowadays I'm kinda starting to see why people don't like it

[cramx3]

The Siren is good. Higher Than Hope is good. Creek Mary's Blood is... well, I definitely used to think it's good, but nowadays I'm kinda starting to see why people don't like it

I enjoy all three of those songs.  Once was my favorite NW album before EFMB.  Dead Gardens and Romanticide, while fine songs, are definitely the "filler" as some might call it on the album.

[OpenYourEyes311]

I discovered NW with Once. Bought it on the strength of the cover alone (hadn't heard them prior). LOVED it from the get go. But I also love Dark Passion Play. Those are the two best albums, IMO

[425]

Higher Than Hope is *really* good; I might even rank it second on the album. I'd take Romanticide and The Siren over Planet Hell and Wish I Had an Angel. Kuolema is also good, even though it's a step down from Forever Yours, in my opinion. I have a soft spot for Dead Gardens, although I'd agree it's one of the weaker entries on the album.

Creek Mary's Blood has good parts and not-so-good parts, and definitely overstays its welcome.

This reminds me that Once is a pretty difficult album to rank and evaluate for me. It doesn't have many tracks that stand out as Nightwish favorites to me. Really just Ghost Love Score, Higher Than Hope and Dark Chest of Wonders. It's also in between my favorite and third favorite Nightwish albums, both of which I prefer to it. But whenever I listen to it, I enjoy pretty much everything, and often find myself thinking, "Why don't I listen to this more or think about this song more? This is really good." I don't know, I guess I have a strange attitude to it.

[Cool Chris]

I don't remember how, but I got in to NW after Once was released, so it was the first album of theirs I bought. I thought it was all kinds of awesome, and ended up buying the rest of their material. It is an album I do not listen to often, but do not know why, as I end up asking the same question as 425.

[MoraWintersoul]

All the Once singles have been so overplayed in my life, I feel zero need to listen to the full album nowadays. I used to prefer the simultaneously more symphonic and more pop approach to it when I first got into NW, but pretty soon I developed a taste for their earlier stuff and that's what I mostly listen to nowadays when I want to play a studio album.

NW is really more of a live release band for me. I love their albums more than my post suggests but they always have filler and that's just the way it is. That was one of the reasons why I wanted Anette out of the band eventually, while she was there I was busy wearing out my copies of From Wishes to Eternity and End of an Era and not adding anything new 

[Ben_Jamin]

All the Once singles have been so overplayed in my life, I feel zero need to listen to the full album nowadays. I used to prefer the simultaneously more symphonic and more pop approach to it when I first got into NW, but pretty soon I developed a taste for their earlier stuff and that's what I mostly listen to nowadays when I want to play a studio album.

NW is really more of a live release band for me. I love their albums more than my post suggests but they always have filler and that's just the way it is. That was one of the reasons why I wanted Anette out of the band eventually, while she was there I was busy wearing out my copies of From Wishes to Eternity and End of an Era and not adding anything new 

Nightwish is a live band for me as well. I prefer the Live versions of the Once songs. And was surprised that Floor kept Anette's more pop vocals in the chorus for Wish I Had An Angel, instead of going for Tarja's Operatic approach. The Live versions of The Siren, and Planet Hell are better, vocally, Tarja does an amazing high pitch note at the end of her Operatic "ah's" in the middle section of The Siren, Planet Hell has that added energy that can only be produced by playing the song live. Creek Mary's Blood also benefits live due to having John Two-Hawks there to play his parts, which adds more of an impact to the meaning of the song. Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan also has better live vocals, even though it's basically Tarja singing to a backing track. And we all know the story behind Ghost Love Score's amazing live vocal moment, and not a Tarja moment.

[gazinwales]

Once is my most played NW album, but it always sparks bittersweet memories for me.
I was at Harwell Arena for Tarja's last show, knowing before hand it would be her last (how I know is a long story).
The album has a great flow to it and never gets old.

[cramx3]

Once is my most played NW album, but it always sparks bittersweet memories for me.
I was at Harwell Arena for Tarja's last show, knowing before hand it would be her last (how I know is a long story).
The album has a great flow to it and never gets old.

Well that's certainly interesting that you knew and Tarja didn't, but that must have been an epic concert in person. 

[Max Kuehnau]

Once is my most played NW album, but it always sparks bittersweet memories for me.
I was at Harwell Arena for Tarja's last show, knowing before hand it would be her last (how I know is a long story).
The album has a great flow to it and never gets old.

Well that's certainly interesting that you knew and Tarja didn't, but that must have been an epic concert in person.

AFAIK, Tarja knew. (in that she was so told two days beforehand or something. I may be wrong.)

[Adami]

I don’t think she knew. They informed her (and the world) after the show. They did not handle it great.

[The Walrus]

No they did not. But it makes me laugh at how dramatic it all played out. Especially Tuomas on the DVD 

[MirrorMask]

Whaaaat? now I wanna know all the juicy details! I mean, it was the most dramatic (as in drama queen  ) breakup ever in a band, and I still remember that Tarja and her husband (Mainly his husband) agreed to answer all the questions from the fans - why in all those revelations it never came up the subject of "Tarja was informed that they wanted to move on but we didn't expect such a public and sudden announcement" of something like that? I still remember Tarja's statement about how she was all shocked and surprised and all that, why not call bullshit on Tuomas?

Anyway, I've always found weird how they gave her a letter and told her to "open it tomorrow", Nightwish's entire plan was for Tarja to wait 24 hours on a letter before the announcement was made? did she read it in the morning and called Tuomas "Hey bro, seriously, WTF???" and Tuomas mailed the webmaster "Ok, she knows, post it online"? I wanna lknow 

[jingle.boy]

Gazin was Tuomas‘ secretary, and the one who typed the letter!

[gazinwales]

There is a long version and a short version, but I will have to ask the parties involved if it's okay to tell.

[jingle.boy]

 

[Ben_Jamin]

Floor covering...Let It Go

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=18s6ZdvAfQk

It's really good. She makes it look effortless

[MirrorMask]

She makes EVERYTHING look effortless 

Nightwish recently released an official live video for Ever Dream and she's just perfect on that one.

[Anguyen92]

Floor covering...Let It Go

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=18s6ZdvAfQk

It's really good. She makes it look effortless

She makes a lot of things work and this song is no exception.  A song like Let it Go, I knew she was going to sing great in it without any doubt.

[jingle.boy]

She makes EVERYTHING look effortless 

Nightwish recently released an official live video for Ever Dream and she's just perfect on that one.

Yup, and Yup.

[CrimsonSunrise]

OK... this has been bugging the crap outta me for years.  I've watched it so many times and it just seems, off?  In the Waken concert during Storytime they do 2 cut scenes mid song to the audience.  In the audience there's a dude standing there pretty much not/barely moving.  Also, he stands out because of the outfit he's wearing and showing no emotion.  Is this some kinda editing easter egg?  I mean, with the lighting the guy just doesn't seem "Natural" with those surrounding him.   On a 3rd cut scene spaced out similarly to the 2 and looking like the same angle, the dude is gone.   

time stamps

3:11
3:19
3:25


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvkYwOJZONU

[Zook]

Maybe he had to run to the restroom. Shouldn't have eaten those taquitos before the show.

[cramx3]

The third shot, the camera has already panned to the right (look at the background) so that's why he isn't there, it's not the same shot of the crowd anymore.  I don't see anything odd about it other than the camera caught the least interested person in that part of the crowd 

[CrimsonSunrise]

The third shot, the camera has already panned to the right (look at the background) so that's why he isn't there, it's not the same shot of the crowd anymore.  I don't see anything odd about it other than the camera caught the least interested person in that part of the crowd 

OK..  I notice the 3rd angle now.  I dunno...  his color just looks different to everyone else in the scene.  Oh well, just thought it might have been some kinda easter egg or gag that the editor threw in

Maybe he had to run to the restroom. Shouldn't have eaten those taquitos before the show.

  Actually... that would be my excuse...

[cramx3]

The third shot, the camera has already panned to the right (look at the background) so that's why he isn't there, it's not the same shot of the crowd anymore.  I don't see anything odd about it other than the camera caught the least interested person in that part of the crowd 

OK..  I notice the 3rd angle now.  I dunno...  his color just looks different to everyone else in the scene.  Oh well, just thought it might have been some kinda easter egg or gag that the editor threw in

Maybe he had to run to the restroom. Shouldn't have eaten those taquitos before the show.

  Actually... that would be my excuse...

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a designed cut to show the one dude not into it.  I've seen shots like that before in other concert videos, but I don't think it was some editing magic to make him dissapear.

[CrimsonSunrise]

.  I've seen shots like that before in other concert videos, but I don't think it was some editing magic to make him dissapear.

No, my thought was that they actually PUT the guy in the first 2 shots! 

[cramx3]

  I really don't think that happened, it's just the lighting plus his attire

[The Walrus]

I just finished listening to Human Nature again. Honestly, this album has grown on me big time. Way better than Endless Forms imo because it isn't so self derivative, and in hindsight I think Troy's song actually adds to the experience rather than takes away from it like I thought months ago. Floor sounds great, she doesn't go as hard as I had hoped she would though, and Marko's song near the end there is really good for his voice. Dig it. Slow burn of an album; it wouldn't rank for me much early on but now I see it maybe making a year end list depending on how big I make it...