OCEANBORN

While Angels Fell Flat, this next album is what really got me started with this band, i even dare to say that i have some songs from this album on my phone, and i'm very selective about that. I already talked about the context on why i'm reviewing this band in my previous review, so i won't talk about that, instead, let's get righ into the music.

1.- Stargazers 9/10 As an staple from the previous album, i'm not a big fan of the overall synth sounds, but the playing here is superb and because of that this is a really refreshing and good change of form, this is the Nightwish that i started to love, that has a good sense of melodic rythms, that has greater range of emotions, that already by the first notes it imposes personality and that tries as less as posible to be monotone like their 90s contemporaries. Perfect time lenght too.

2.- Gethsemane 10/10 One of the songs that i have in my phone, although i don't listen to it as much, i really like the lyrics here and the classical piano sound wich is blended with the staple Nightwish string sounds that make for a really nice and coehesive sound that i really love, i see nothing wrong with it, contrary to the previous song, this one has a really nice and noticeable solo, while the previous song was perfect in the lenght, this one adds so much more that i can't recommend it enough, this album has been a bang so far.

3.- Devil & The Deep Dark Ocean 7/10 I already said that i listened to Nightwish because of my mother and all that, and i don't remember ever hearing this song, now its the first time that i'm listening to this album in its entirety and this song is relatively new to me. I really like the playing here, the time signatures and the bass lines, but not really fond of the voices here, i like the atmosphere but i'd rather not have the voices here for some reason. At the same time, the music doesn't really reflect what the title says. Reminds a lot of Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy VI at times, i really think that videogame music should also be considered on this site, since many of them are straight up progressive rock, and even more, some of those songs could be really good contenders to greats.

4.- Sacrament Of Wilderness 6/10 As an start i can say that i really like the synths and bass here, but that's mostly at the start, the rest starts to becoming a little generic and monotone, specially on the drums, i like the speed changes used but even then it's mostly the same song until it reaches the synth solo where the drums keep being simple and also the solo ends too early. This song fails to impress me compared to the previous ones.

5.- Passion And The Opera 7/10 Again, the nice bass at the start gets lost for the rest of the song, as always, the king are the synths here, with small parts that add protagonism to the guitars. The drums remain mostly non-special until the guitars kick in. At the solo voice part the song changes melody while the rest is mostly the same, a really nice and unique twist for the music. Still not better than the previous songs even considering this interesting new voice gimick.

6.- Swanheart 9/10 What a pretty ballad song in an overall hardcore metal package, its so beautyful that it almost makes me cry, voice, piano (harp) and synths (violin, flute), gives such an innocent and nostalgic feeling. The song gradually starts increasing in intensity so it brings the listener easier to where the album was, the guitar work here is precise the drums are a little repetitive but get the work done for the most part.

7.- Moondance 9/10 Another one of those songs that i have in my phone, i have always been fond of instrumentals as you might now and this is no exception, it has a really nice russian winter feel to it, full of wonders in the night with a reflective visual spectacle that's bound to impress anyone who gazes into it and then adventure starts again. This song changes a lot and i really like the part where the piano and guitar switch notes. The only problem i have is that it's really short, it is ok as it is but i bet that they could've made more with it and that leads to...

8.- The Riddler 6/10 This song feels like an extension of Moondance until Tuomas kicks in the Commodore 64 synths for some reason. Aside from that and the chord progression used on the synths there's not much interesting going on really, it's really repetitive until it reaches a slow part and goes back again, i feel like they tried to do something that YES has done in some songs but it doesn't work when the overall rythm isn't interesing.

9.- The Pharaoh Sails To Orion 9/10 I have it on my phone, i listen to it a lot, i play it on the piano, this song is the closest to an experience, i really like how it's interesting for almost the entirety of the song, i'm a big fan of the piano on this one but i'm not a fan of guttural singing, it's just not my cup of tea at all (sorry Dreamtheather). For some reason the part that bores me the most in this song is the flute solo, wich hopefully is over soon, i mean, the synths and piano in this song are just too strong and fun to play that it overshadows the flute solo, not only that but all the instruments do a fantastic job in this song compared to the flute.

10.- Walking In The Air 6/10 Really atmospheric, but it sadly has a sickness that i call the 90's monotone Lars drum, it's really sad really, i'd rather not have the drums at all, because the rest do a nice job on an overall repetitive song. But wait, there's more, the song it's transforming... no, it just went back again to being repetitive, it's pretty, interesting, has nice chords but it ultimately tires me.

11.- Sleeping Sun 4/10 What is happening? Why did the album become so soft? Why is it ending like this? Again, the chords used are superb, i like the voice melody but come on, the same drums as the previous song? What a boring ending. Walking in the Air 2, but even worse because the previous song undermines the need for this one.

Overall it gets 75/100, wich award this album a well deserved 4 stars, i would have liked to rank this album higher but sadly it was highly inconsistent, yet it still a must hear album.

Review updated 17-7 : Fixed some review scores because i was too harsh, and modified some text.

Share this NIGHTWISH review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to FalconBleck
• Report this review (#2238011)
• Buy NIGHTWISH music online with PA partners
• Show all NIGHTWISH MP3/Stream
• Go to NIGHTWISH page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Oceanborn page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for NIGHTWISH related discussions