CENTURY CHILD

Following is a list of concrete improvements over the previous "Wishmaster": addition of a superior vocalist Marco Hietala as new bassist, who stayed 15 years and helped take NIGHTWISH to the next level. Unfortunately not yet. Patience.

So, yeah, even Hietala doesn't add much this time around, other some growls in the abysmal "Slaying the Dreamer". "Century Child" presages the future lean into prog only in the length of the uneven closer Beauty and the Beast", but it's no "Creek Mary's Blood" I'll tell you. This is almost worse than "Wishmaster" in the sense that the bombast is barely modulated for long stretches, but is saved by the nearly AOR "Dead to the World" even though my first reaction was to gaze overseas towards ASIA with judgemental dread, "Ever Dream" with a blueprint for the future vocalists' ballads, and the ridiculous yet fantastical "Phantom of the Opera", which I'd say does elevate this child to a higher level, if still squarely in the 3 star camp in which NIGHTWISH ended one millenium and began another. Luckily even more pronounced improvements were in the works, thanks Marco!