Nightwish

Nightwish is a symphonic power metal band, formed in the town of Kitee, Finland in 1996 by songwriter/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen.

The first three songs, which were acoustic mood music, were recorded between October and December 1996.

After that the band was joined by drummer Jukka “Julius” Nevalainen.

Angels Fall First albim was released in early November 1997 and went number 31 on the official album chart in Finland. A single from this album called The Carpenter was released, and made it to number eight on the official singles chart in Finland.

In summer 1998, the bassist Sami Vänskä joined the band. On October 7, 1998, Nightwish released their second full length album, Oceanborn. Oceanborn saw the band abandon much of the ambient and folk elements present on their debut release, with the only exception of "Moondance".

The single, “Sacrament of Wilderness”, released on November 26th , hit number 1 on the Finnish singles charts, where it stayed for several weeks.

In August 1999, the single was Sleeping Sun released in Germany and it also included the songs Walking in the Air, Swanheart, and Angels Fall First.

The new album, Wishmaster, was released in May 2000. Album debuted at #1 on the Finnish album charts, and held its position for three weeks. German magazine Rock Hard declared Wishmaster “Album of the Month” in their issue 6/2000, despite competing against long-awaited releases from Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi.

In June 2001 Nightwish released EP Over The Hills And Far Away, with 2 new songs and a remake of Angels Fall First's "Astral Romance".

Same year Sami Vänskä left the band due to his attitude and Marco Hietala joined instead of him.

In 2002, Nightwish released Century Child, along with the singles “Ever Dream” and “Bless the Child”. The main difference from previous albums is the use of a live Finnish orchestra on the tracks “Bless the Child”, “Ever Dream”, “Feel For You” and “The Beauty of the Beast”.

A new album entitled Once was released on June 7, 2004, along with single, "Nemo" from that album. The single topped the charts in Finland and Hungary, and reached the top ten in five additional countries. “Nemo” remains the band's most successful single release to date.

In July another single, a new version of Sleeping Sun, was released.

Late 2005 the four other members of Nightwish decided that it was best to continue Nightwish without Tarja Turunen. The main justification given for Turunen’s dismissal was that the band felt that both her husband Marcelo Cabuli and commercial interests had changed her attitude towards the band.

On Thursday 24 May 2007, after a year-long auditions, the 35-year-old Alyson Avenue lead singer Anette Olzon from Sweden was announced to replace Turunen.

Dark Passion Play, the first album with new lead singer, was released around Europe in the last week of September, 2007, in the UK on October 1, and the United States on October 2. It was a commercial success. Dark Passion Play has sold 6x Platinum worldwide up to date. 3 singles were released from this album: "Eva", "Amaranth", "Erämaan Viimeinen".

In the June 2009 edition of the Finnish magazine, Soundi, Holopainen stated he had started work on the new album. On the 1st of February 2010, Anette Olzon stated on her blog that Tuomas has 9 songs ready for the new album. She also stated that Nightwish will be meeting in the summer to make a demo, and fans should not expect anything any earlier than fall of 2011.