Nightwish - Oceanborn review
| Band: | Nightwish |
| Album: | Oceanborn |
| Style: | Symphonic power metal |
| Release date: | December 1998 |
01. Stargazers
02. Gethsemane
03. Devil & The Deep Dark Ocean
04. Sacrament Of Wilderness
05. Passion And The Opera
06. Swanheart
07. Moondance
08. The Riddler
09. The Pharaoh Sails To Orion
10. Walking In The Air [Howard Blake cover]
11. Nightquest [bonus]
12. A Return To The Sea [bonus]
13. Sleeping Sun [bonus]
Oceanborn - for many people the highlight of Nightwish's discography. This is a very hard album to review for me - I've had it for several years and I'm still not sure what I think about it. On some points Oceanborn is a masterpiece with ten points out of ten - I'll describe how first.
The material itself on this album is pure professionalism - song structures are all interesting and the only song I find to be bad is 'Swanheart' which always manages to bore me. Guitars are interesting, the keyboards are almost virtuoso and the performance is overall top notch. There's a lot of instrumental passages through the tracks which provide a lot; they take the music away from the deep, deep swamp of 'verse-bridge-refrain-repeat-solo-refrain-end'. I can't really find any tracks that are better than the others and for me there are no real hits here. That is the main reason why this album isn't perfect.
The music is the same throughout the most of the album. Even if the material is even and has a great touch of professionalism and quality, it doesn't give enough to me. In some way I would like the tracks to be much more varied. More ballads, an (almost mandatory) epic and a really catchy 'single' sure would've made me like this album more. Now most songs sound the same to me. Of course there are two great ballads - but they are placed in the end and thus feel like an outro. 'Walking In The Air' is just a cover.
I have some more points which my explain why my rating isn't higher too. Compared to later Nightwish albums the mix of the instruments is quite bad in some ways, even if the production is good. The keyboards are quite repetitive with harpsichord all the time and not much orchestral-like arrangements at all. The question here is - should you compare albums with each other? Of course, otherwise you have no frame of reference. I like Oceanborn a lot but I prefer 'Once' and 'Dark Passion Play', therefore I can't rate this album higher.
Rating:
10
10
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Rating: 10 |
It's always hard to be objective when you talk about one of your favourite bands.I can's pretend I am going to be objective here, because I like this band so much. The most noticeable thing with Nightwish is that everything lays on Tarja Turunen's fragile shoulders. And as her voice is perfect, everything works, even better than on the first album Angels Fall First. Compared to this one, Oceanborn is heavier, more varied and has, of course, a better sound, and finally Tuomas Holopainen decided to stop singing (his voice scared me when I first heard Angels Fall First): he who writes everything, and has stunning keyboard sounds decided to let Tarja do the job. Read more ›› |
Rating:
9.1
9.1
|
Rating: 9.1 |
Oceanborn. What's in a title? A lot. Purity and innocence are words that describe someone who is born in - or from - an ocean. There is a sweet innocence to Nightwish's 2nd album that can not be found in the later albums or on the previous one. "Dark Passion Play," "Nymphomaniac Fantasy," "She is my Sin," "Slaying the Dreamer" - what's in a title? That's not to say Oceanborn doesn't have its darker themes, too, they just aren't overwhelming. When I listen to the album as a whole, it is a solemn, but joyful experience. I get the feeling that Tuomas and the band really enjoyed making this album and made it for themselves. Back then, their music was still in the foreground and business was somewhere on the background, not even in clear focus. They didn't have the troubles and responsibilities they now carry, they were young and free. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 17
Visited by: 119 users
| 4look4rd The Sasquatch Posts: 834 From: USA  |
I love this album, but Wishmaster is far superior.... As you said this album lack "hit songs" and wishmaster is basically made of those (Title track, Kinslayer, She is my Sin, Wanderlust, Crowless, so on.) But this is still one of my favorite albums of all times, I really hate all the symphonic crap that they added on later albums (I find it rather boring) and for me Century Child is the turning point in their music (tho I like it a lot, but cant stand later albums)
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2570 From: Czech Republic  |
Holy crap! When I saw the rating in the review section I thought I was gonna fall off the chair. Too few hits? OMG. I don't get you. What do you mean no hits? Are the songs crappy? I would bang my head on a live show to all these songs (even Swanheart and Walking In The Air  ), and that would be just be enough. And I think it's better than Wishmaster or even other their album.
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 From: Sweden  |
Written by K✞ulu on 15.07.2008 at 10:36 I'm talking about songs like 'Nemo', 'Amaranth', 'Wishmaster', 'Wish I had an Angel', 'Dead to the World'... there really is no track like that for me on this album. Not said that the tracks aren't good, but I think albums with bands like Nightwish needs one or two really catchy 'singles' (as well as a ballad, a semiballad, and maybe also an epic) to feel variated. My problem with Oceanborn is that no tracks stand out, they're all one 'mess' that sound more or less the same. But hey, 7,6 for a second album is not bad at all, there are not many bands that suceeded so good in their early days. In my book 5 should be average and everything above 6 is good. 7,6 is not far from 8 which means very good. And I think it's their best after the two latest albums.
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| Ellrohir Heaven Knight Posts: 8662 From: Czech Republic  |
Oceanborn is propably the best album by Nightwish...though it is hard to decide - everything by NW is great...7.6 seems low for me
---- My rest seems now calm and deep Finally I got my dead man sleep 
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| muska Posts: 53 From: UK |
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 From: Sweden |
Written by muska on 18.07.2008 at 00:24 Okay first of all I don't care what other people think at all, this is probably their most popular album but so what? And second - reviews are personal opinions. Or what else should they be? If you by thread mean review - of course we need mutiple reviews if they are different. If were to buy an album and would like to check out some reviews before I bought it, I would've liked several different opinions to evaluate and not only one. Since when are metal NOT about hits? Of course it's not important on some albums - both in metal and in other genres, but Nightwish is actually a quite pop oriented metal band and albums like Oceanborn sure needs one or two catchy songs. I also like that kind of albums to have semi ballads, maybe an epic track... - it's all about variation. What I mean about mess is that all songs are more or less the same in tempo or structure except the ballads that are put to the end which makes them feel like bonus tracks or something. Am I right - you accuse be for being immature for liking a great, epic, variated album with loads of awesome symphonic metal more than an album that I find less professional and variated? That's just laughable.
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| Paradox0 Unasuming Madnes Posts: 592 From: USA |
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955 From: Brazil  |
I agree a lot with the review.. of course its a good album, but it doesnt have any song that calls much attention, The Riddler is very good, but the rest is just easy to forget.. the songs do not stuck in your head. I see lots of people who claim to love this album and consider it the best from Nightwish, but after listen to it they cant remember the lyrics or the rythm of any tracks. Anyway, the rate looks fair and i agree with it, depite the problems that i see thats far from being a bad album, its just not a masterpiece as lots of people seem to think.
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 From: Sweden |
Written by Uirapuru on 27.12.2008 at 19:07 Totally agree with everything there thanks for commenting!
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2570 From: Czech Republic |
Written by Uirapuru on 27.12.2008 at 19:07 What about "The Gethsemane" and "Passion and the Opera?" Those two have amazing unforgettable riffs.
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955 From: Brazil |
Written by K✞ulu on 27.12.2008 at 19:28 Gethsemane is a very good song, great keyboard work and a nice interlude with a flute (or its Tarja's voice in an amazing tone  ) but after the 3rd minute it gets boring and i just skip it.About ''Passion and the Opera'', i didnt like it so much, despite being the most ''epic'' song in the album. Its really about my taste, im not really a huge fan of the band, and i dont know why i prefer their last albuns instead of the worshiped Oceanborn. What i search when i listen to Nightwish is an epic catchy song, easy to find in some other works.
---- ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Elio Red Nightmare Posts: 4920 From: Italy  |
Written by Uirapuru on 27.12.2008 at 19:45  same here...but the first three minutes are amazing!
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| Assassiyoun Posts: 45 From: Canada |
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 From: Sweden |
Written by Assassiyoun on 12.05.2009 at 09:24 First of all - is 7,6 really a bad rating? "7,6 because you don't like the album" - I never said I didn't? My point, which obviously wasn't explained good enough (pretty hard when you have a limited amount of words to use + English) - all tracks have good parts and are well written by good musicians, but they don't catch me. I am impressed by the album because of theese reasons, and after listening to the album I have more good feelings and thoughts than bad ones. But there's no particular song I directly want to listen to again. I dont' see the contradictions? The guitars and keyboards are well performed, and the song structures are improved by the instrumental passages. The sound of the instruments are good, but sometimes the guitar is too much in the background, the keyboard arrangements are repetitive even if they're well written, in example. Compared to Once e.tc. I hope you like some of my other reviews better ^^ /Spyroid
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| Assassiyoun Posts: 45 From: Canada |
The only contradiction is when you said that the instrumentation on the album is pure professionnalism and at the end you said the instrumentation is "quite bad in some ways compare to the other albums" and "The keyboards are quite repetitive with harpsichord all the time and not much orchestral-like arrangements at all." It's not my description of "pure professionalism". But in some ways, you're right it's not really a contradiction. It depends on the interpretation we do. And yes, you have not said you dislike this album on the contrary. My bad. It's just that the lacks of "big hits" isn't for me a good reason to lower a rating. I mean by that all the songs are quite good compared to others albums of Nightwish where there are some hits but there's also very ordinary songs. I prefer this one for this reason ; there are no ordinary songs. (except Swanheart  ) But this is my opinion and I understand yours.P.S. Sorry if I don't post for the reviews of you that I agree with because there is simply nothing to add in this case. I don't dislike your reviews at all, I assure you.
---- "Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehen, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 From: Sweden |
Written by Assassiyoun on 14.05.2009 at 23:47 My point is that they master they instruments great - pure professionalism, but compared to the later albums the musicianship is more... repetive, and haven't developed a total maturity. Interpretation is hard, especially when you're dealing with a guy like me who doesn't speak English everyday I don't prefer Century Child or Wishmaster before this album - they have more hits but also more mundande songs. This album is very even, but that can also be boring in one way - the songs are somehow too much alike. At least to my ears - a "Whishmaster" or "Nemo" would add a lot, and I don't find that kind of track on this album. Thanks anyway for commenting, I hope you find some reviews of mine that you agree with aswell! But I understand, it's funnier to comment on reviews you don't agree with ;P
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