Metal Wednesdays: 13th August 2008

A while back, before my girlfriend and I had moved house three times in 6 months, before our kitten could talk (stay with me on this) and long before Believer magazine published a very informative article on black metal, the idea of 'Metal Wednesdays' was thrown around. This idea never really came to fruition until this afternoon, when sat at my desk surrounded by boxes of unpacked belongings, the strains of a highly miserable country ballad poured through our walls from the eccentric Frenchman upstairs. My friends, it is time.

Symphonic, or 'operatic' metal will be our first port of call this series, mostly to give me an opportunity to voice my opinion on the great Anette vs. Tarja Nightwish debate.

Oh, Nightwish. How I have loved thee. Formed in 1996 in wintry Finland, it took me a full 11 years to actually like Nightwish, and by this point the band had cast long-suffering soprano Tarja Turunen into solo-record oblivion. For me, this major league sucked, because it wasn't until I was idling my days away at the porn emporium, ipod on shuffle, that the moody, melodic Sleeping Sun crept into my earphones, awaking me from over a decade of ignorance and forming a lifelong (let's assume) love for power metal coupled with opera that knows no bounds. Or, knew no bounds. This was before Anette.

In October 2005, after a concert in Helsinki widely regarded as a triumph, the band presented Tarja with an open letter asking her to leave the band, effectively blaming her general 'Diva-ish ways' for the split. Thus began a frenetic search for a replacement singer which ended in Sweden, with the slight, pop-ish Anette Olzon. We saw the newly formed band play their latest album Dark Passion Play at the soon to be bulldozed Astoria in London in March this year and despite a splattering of old tunes getting the crowd excited, I am reliably informed by my expert girlfriend that the atmosphere was most definitely lacking. Anette is different to Tarja in every way; her vocals are high pitched but lack the timbre of Tarja's rich operatic voice. Her stage presence is slightly awkward but not in Tarja's endearing shy manner. She is a bit, well, Abba-ish.

My main gripe with the band, however, is that in my opinion, they didn't need to replace Tarja at all. Having become accomplished musicians, and helmed by the mysterious and probably a bit crazy lyricist and orchestrator Tuomas Holopainen, the band was well-loved and respected in its class. With the growling, Viking-esque Marco Hietala as bassist and vocalist, the band had a perfectly capable frontman (as is more than demonstrated by Hietala's work with Northern Kings). But alas, who are we to judge? If you ask me, Turunen was a fantastic presence to the band, and her departure has changed Nightwish fairly insurmountably. Anette, well, she hasn't really added anything besides a pop overture to the band's overall sound. Marco, he's a sexy beast and still going strong at 42. I leave you with three songs; the fantastic "She is My Sin" with Tarja Turunen on lead vocals, the poppy but fun "The Escapist" from latest album Dark Passion Play (fronted by Anette) and lastly the dark and sombre "While your lips are still Red", tenderly performed by Marco Hietala.

She is My Sin
The Escapist
While Your Lips are Still Red

P.S. As always, if you like what you hear, go buy the vast back catalogue or at least get Once It's totally freaking awesome.