OCEANBORN

Oceanborn was the first Nightwish album I ever heard. In fact I bought it without even know exactly what they were, really, just because at the time it was so rare to have a female singer in a heavy metal band, and the then top musical magazine in Brazil (RockBrigade) rated them with a rare ten out of ten. So I was ready to risk my hard earned money in an imported release.

Nothing had got me prepared to hear what came from my stereo´s speakers when I put it on: the combination of heavy metal guitars, driving rhythm, symphonic keyboards and - above all - this lady with a magnificent operatic vocal. It was something really original and unique, so hard to label at the time that nobody could really do it. Tarja Turunen has not only a very powerful and beautiful voice, she also had a style of her own and charisma, while Tuomas Holopainen proved himself to be an outstanding songwriter/arranger. It would be unfair not to mention the other members of the band, since their chemistry is really what made Nightwish´s music so special. Those guys were on fire during the recording of this masterpiece.

Even today is hard to describe their sound, since they mix such a wide pallete of sounds (various styles of heavy metal, film scores, classical, opera, finish folk and hard rock are among their cited influences). But somehow it all worked very well. The whole album just overflows with passion and conviction: there are absolutely no fillers and even thought I like some songs songs more than others, they´re all excellent. Production is very good for the time (and if you take their limited budget in consideration, very well done). The album and the band hit it big with this CD and I should say they really deserve it, even if this was really their ´real´ album (Angels Fall First was really a demo, recorded before they even got a bass player).

If you´re new to this band, this is an excellent starting point. Actually I still think it´s their very best, at least in terms of energy and songwriting. Latter CDs would get better production, even lushier orchestrations and better performances by all involved. But this is surely my favorite. Highly recommended.