I heard an interesting POV yesterday about Anette being in the band. Apparently, some finnish people still can't handle the fact that there's a swede in Nightwish. My cousin across the pond in Finland is guilty of this, and she says that if you're not finnish you wouldn't understand. Anybody else know what she's talking about?
Cause I don't. And I'm half finnish.
The thing is, there's a friendly kind of rivalry between Finland and Sweden - like 2 neighbors or siblings. Just like Norwegians and Danes, Finns always love to beat Swedes at sports and other competitions. However, some people go even so far that they say they hate Swedes. Many Finns are bitter about the fact that we have to learn Swedish in school due to it being another national language, (Finland was originally part of Sweden for over 600 years) although the Swedish-speaking people are a minority. There's also a stereotype about Finland-Swedes being wealthy and arrogant but that's another story. If you type "why do Finns hate Swedes" on Google, you'll find more info about these things. I personally don't have anything against Swedes, although studying Swedish is quite boring.
I've never heard complaints about Anette being Swedish, I've got the impression most Finnish Anette-dislikers just think she's an amateur pop singer, just like Tarja-fanboys from other countries think.
Sorry for the long off-topic at the start, I just had to explain the Finland-Sweden rivalry. BTW, it's the Finnish independence day!
On the topic of NW itself - I started listening to them when DPP was released but I overplayed that album and got bored of it. I have all their previous albums but rarely listen to them nowadays. However, Nightwish was one of the first heavier bands I listened to and they were a kind of "gateway" band to metal for me. I'm pretty sure there are many other Finns who have had the same situation: it's easy to start with more mainstream metal like NW and then find heavier and more complex bands after that. I've heard Storytime (it's a hit here) but I haven't got Imaginaerum yet. In 4 years I have discovered so many new bands that I haven't been that anxious about hearing new stuff but I'll probably give it a chance.