Now it’s time for Nightwish to releases their 5th full-length album simply called ”Once”. At first I thought the album title was kinda boring but this album is very much like a fairytale. I don't think there’s anyone out there who’s never heard of Nightwish so no introduction needed here. This time Tarja & co are back, bigger and more epic that ever before. On “Once” Nightwish are accompanied by a massive orchestra directed and arranged by Pip Williams.

Much can be said about Nightwish, a lot of people dislike them and even more people like them. With “Once” they have climbed high in the charts around Europe and are more popular than I ever thought they would be when I first heard them many years ago. I don’t mind them being succesful though as long as they don’t change their sound drastically. It’s still the same Nightwish we have learned to love or hate from before.

“Once” is a very interesting album. The orchestra is a very pleasant addition and I hope we can here more metal bands use one in the future. It seems like Tuomas Holopainen didn’t think his keyboard were enough for his new songs so he decided to hire an orchestra to do the job. When listening to the album it feels more like listening to movie soundtrack instead of a metal album. This music would fit perfectly for a movie like “Pirates Of The Caribbean” or some epic/adventure movie. The orchestra sounds amazing and it fits in with Nightwish’s music perfectly. It doesn’t take anything away from the drums or the other instruments though. It just makes Nightwish sound better and more epic than ever before.

Tarja still sings with the same beautiful voice like before but with a little more variation. Another thing I like is that the bassist Marco Hietala sings on a couple of songs. His voice is unique and proves that Nightwish can still sound like Nightwish without Tarja singing all the lines. A welcome indeed. What disappointed me a little is that Emppu only plays 2 guitar solos on the whole album. He mostly plays quite simple riffs more in the background. The drumming is good and typical for Nightwish. The keyboards together with the orchestra create very complex, majestic and fairytale-like soundscapes. It’s obvious that Holopainen gets his inpiration from movie soundtracks.

I couldn’t forgive myself for this review without mentiong something about the 10-min epic “Ghost Love Score”. This song is simply brilliant. It’s very epic and beautiful and the orchestration is just awesome. Definately the best song on the album and one of the best Nightwish songs ever written. I salute you Tuomas Holopainen for writing this masterpiece.

What makes the album stand out is that every song on the album is so different from each other. On previous Nightwish albums the songs tended to get to similar and that’s never a good thing. I like a band who can be varied in their songwriting while maintaining their own sound. It will be interesting to see what the next Nightwish album will provide. Will they use the orchestra again or go back to the “normal” Nightwish sound? If you haven’t heard this album already I recommend you to do so now.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]