Not a good debut but i'm glad they developed

I think it was an excellent debut...but followed by even better albums

Definitely an odd debut, but compared to the ultra-polished later NW albums (from Once onwards) this sounds very... human. Imperfect, but very sincere and from the heart, especially Tuomas' vocals. His accent is almost ridiculous, but I can find the beauty in his performance on "Beauty and the Beast" for example. It's also far less pretentious than the next albums (and definitely 3 levels of pretentiousness lower than their last two).

I also like the fact that this album is devoid of the diabetes-inducing ballads of the next few albums like "Swanheart", "Kuolema Tekee Taitelijan" or "Away". The ballads and slow songs here are actually either quite twisted ("Nymphomianiac") or just plain folky like the "Lappi" suite.

The biggest problem of original "Beauty and the Beast" is that Tony Kakko simply destroys Tuomas' performance with his live appearance regarding the songwriting it is one of best NW tracks ever

"Nymphomaniac Fantasia" has weird lyrics and the main riff is stolen from Running Wild's "Final Gates", but i like it too

also "Tutankhamen" and opening "Elvenpath" are strong songs that i keep enjoying

so overall i say, this album is good enough...of course later are better

I really like this one and if I were to rank Nightwish's albums this would be in 3rd or 4th place. Some of the lyrics are a bit silly* but there's a sense of naivety and... um, "innocence" here that can be refreshing after listening to the later albums. Plus, this album has two of my Top 5 Nightwish songs of all time.

So, there's that.








*Waiting for someone to ask "Aren't they always?"

Written by Azarath on 03.10.2012 at 00:13

*Waiting for someone to ask "Aren't they always?"

Ohai Azarath

I went back a bit and our first conversation actually wasn't about DT, but about Nightwish's lyrics.
So uhm, to come full circle (for now!) aren't they always?

Written by Milena on 03.10.2012 at 23:42

Ohai Azarath

I went back a bit and our first conversation actually wasn't about DT, but about Nightwish's lyrics.
So uhm, to come full circle (for now!) aren't they always?

Hi Milena

Yes, I remember that. I guess it depends on the person, personally I lack the ability to detect "cheese" (I must be missing that gland) so I can appreciate Nightwish's lyrics. Again, not in a "those are the greatest lyrics ever written" fashion, more of a "you know, that line/verse is actually pretty cool/clever". The earlier lyrics were sometimes silly/goofy but they had a certain naive charm - the more recent ones are much more serious (I don't want to use the word "pretentious" since that gets thrown around way too much), both in content and delivery, which can on occasion make them dumb and/or cringeworthy.

They say that first love always remains in your memory. Well, in my case my first musical love was Nightwish, and it was this album that opened up a new wonderful world for me. For that reason it's hard for me to objective about this album. Moreover, I don't think there is any point in trying to be objective when it comes to art. Therefore I can confess that I still love this album and, despite its naivety (or maybe particularly because of it), it sounds more interesting both musically and lyrically to my ears that the band's recent efforts (yes, I don't like both "Dark Passion Play" and "Imaginaerum" ).

What a masterpiece, best album from this band. excellent... true gothic metal, we dont use such therm nowadays, we say some bullshit ''female fronted metal'' what is NOT A GENRE, or some prog, symphonic, operatic what sucks, to much keys, to much prog, we all know it does suck big time , this ws pure gothic sound, great Tarja, less keys, well they were where they must have, not to much, not lame prog bullshit... seems century media and nuclear blast do aas ruin band ''demo'' sound... this simply was blast, we will not have such bands, and NW seems only what they have left is lyric writing.

http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=13548

Proof even Holopainen hasn't always had the Midas touch.

Not sure if I've ever heard this one before; if not it must've been some shitty review that made me listen to something else instead and skip this album. Anyway, I'm listening to it now and it seems to be good stuff, probably even the most interesting NW album.

So underrated D:
Elvenpath and Astral Romance are dope, I'd say it two my favourite tracks from NW. Low point: Lappi. Just not my thing.

Written by Tatsella on 31.01.2018 at 07:54

So underrated D:
Elvenpath and Astral Romance are dope, I'd say it two my favourite tracks from NW. Low point: Lappi. Just not my thing.

I agree this is their best !!!

This is not gothic metal. I don't know why it has been labeled as gothic metal.

I remember hearing some of these songs by accident back in the day. Originally I though they were from Wishmaster or Oceanborn, but nope. Even their debut, consisting mostly from their older demo songs, is amazing stuff. "Beauty and the Beast", "Tutankhamen" and "Elvenpath" used to be my favorite songs from them until Oceanborn really hit me in the right place. However, it gets weaker at the latter part, so no full 10 this time from me.

Written by Metal Diogenes on 18.02.2020 at 22:36

I remember hearing some of these songs by accident back in the day. Originally I though they were from Wishmaster or Oceanborn, but nope. Even their debut, consisting mostly from their older demo songs, is amazing stuff. "Beauty and the Beast", "Tutankhamen" and "Elvenpath" used to be my favorite songs from them until Oceanborn really hit me in the right place. However, it gets weaker at the latter part, so no full 10 this time from me.

How old are you?
IMO its pure, its innocent it comes from heart n feelings, its nature suroundet well in those days you guys had a winter in Helsinki lol
Band inspired from all things around, its typical Scandinavian , tropical people dont know what I mean here, how we grew up in pre i net era in ice n snow.
Thats creation of never dying masterpiece

This album is so underrated, it's literally magical. The acoustic parts contribute to create a very unique atmosphere, I love it!
I also love the parts where Tuomas is singing, I find his singing very solid, despite multiple criticism I hear around the internet.

Written by abysss on 16.04.2020 at 22:51

This album is so underrated, it's literally magical. The acoustic parts contribute to create a very unique atmosphere, I love it!
I also love the parts where Tuomas is singing, I find his singing very solid, despite multiple criticism I head around the internet.

100 % agree here, their best

While this album has potential it has a lot of typical debut album flaws. There's a huge lack in the memorability, mainly the choruses and vocal melodies feels a bit all over the place and the shaky performance by both Tuomas and Tarja are not helping that. The production is also lacking and doesn't bring out the best out of the material. Opening Elvenpath is the best song with Beauty and the Beast as a close second, songs like The Carpenter and Know Why The Nightingale Sings works but falls a bit flat. The rest is just there.

Agreed. The production feels so flat, and tbh the songwriting isn't much better. The riffs are occasionally quite good, easily the best part of early Nightwish.