Once (Nightwish album)
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Once is the fifth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released on 7 June 2004 by Spinefarm Records and Nuclear Blast. It is the last album to feature Tarja Turunen on lead vocals. The album cost nearly €250,000 to make,[2] (1,000,000 including the videos[3]) which made it Finland's most expensive recording ever until the release of Nightwish's next album, Dark Passion Play, which cost over €500,000 to produce.[4] As of 2013, Once has sold 2.3 million copies worldwide, being Nightwish's most successful album to date.[5]
Background
In 2008 Kerrang! interview Tuomas Holopainen remembered: "Doing this kind of really orchestral, symphonic stuff for four albums, you have to be prepared to take the next step and go 10 steps beyond, and that's how we ended up with the London Session Orchestra. At that time we also had the financial resources to do it. This was like our second breakthrough in a way; Oceanborn (1998) broke us, took us to the big league. Musically it was pretty laid-back from our side because everyone involved in the orchestra really knew their stuff, so we basically spent two days lying on the couch hearing all these people playing our songs, enjoying every moment. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. The first song they started to play was "Ghost Love Score", we had no idea what to expect, and I just thought: This can't be happening!"[6]
Musical style
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2015) |
The album continues the more streamlined musical approach first heard on Century Child, moving further away from the power metal-influenced sound of their previous albums into a slightly more mainstream, approachable feel. Once utilizes a full orchestra in nine of the eleven songs on the album; unlike Century Child, Nightwish chose an orchestra outside of Finland, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been featured on every album released since.
Once is their second album to feature a full-length song in Finnish, "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan". The band added new elements to their music for this album, such as the chorus riff and synthesized drum-beat of "Wish I Had an Angel", and a long prayer chant on "Creek Mary's Blood".[7] The song "Ghost Love Score" was described by Hietala as follows: "I'm a big fan of old prog rock and this is a song that has a lot of different parts going on, and different atmospheres in different places in order to support the story. [...] My biggest influence from the prog world would be Jethro Tull, but I also love listening to Yes and Genesis and all those bands, and there's a correlation between the structures and the length of a lot of their songs and this one."[8]
Artwork
The angel on the album cover is a view of the Angel of Grief, a sculpture by William Wetmore Story. The original is in the Protestant Cemetery of Rome, Italy.[9]
Tour
The success of the album allowed them to perform the Once Upon a Tour, which enabled them to play in many countries the band had never visited before.[10] Nightwish performed at the opening ceremony of the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, held in Helsinki,[11] highlighting the band's recently gained popularity.
Reception and legacy
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [12] |
Rock Hard | 9.5/10[13] |
Metal Storm | [14] |
Sea of Tranquility | [15] |
Metal.de | [16] |
PopMatters | [17] |
Metal Hammer (GER) | [18] |
During the first week of its release, Once entered the German,[19] Finnish,[20] Norwegian[21] and Greek charts as number one,[22] selling over 80,000 copies in Germany alone.[19] It was also the first Nightwish album to chart in the U.S., reaching No. 42 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart,[23] and the band's first album to chart in UK, reaching No. 8 on the Rock Chart.[citation needed] In 2005, Once was ranked number 383 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[24] In 2017, it was ranked 89th at Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".[25]
Once has sold triple platinum in Finland,[26] platinum in Germany,[27] gold in Sweden[28] and later reached No. 1 also in the European Top 100 Albums chart.[29] The single "Nemo" topped the charts in Finland[30] and Hungary,[31] and reached the top ten in four additional countries.[32][33][34] It remained in the UK Rock Chart for more than a year.[35] "Nemo" therefore remains their most successful single ever, and Once had reached number 47 in the list of best-selling albums of all time in Finland.[36] The total sales of the album have achieved 2.3 million copies in 2013.[5]
Controversy
On 5 January 2013, a member of the Nightwish forum discovered the alleged Lakota language spoken in the song "Creek Mary's Blood" is not actually Lakota, only spoken gibberish, and stated that John Two-Hawks is a fraud.[37] There are other claims that John Two-Hawks broke the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 truth in advertising law by "advertising his music as Native American, and himself as a Native American artisan." John Two-Hawks denied these claims and said that the poem spoken in Creek Mary's Blood has a lot of errors, even though he had a "fluent friend" check to see if the poem has no errors. John Two-Hawks also said that he is Native American though he is not in any Native American tribe.[38] The Nightwish forum member went on to post a correct translation of the spoken poem in "Creek Mary's Blood".[38]
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Tuomas Holopainen; all music is composed by Holopainen, except where noted
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Dark Chest of Wonders" | 4:29 |
2. | "Wish I Had an Angel" | 4:06 |
3. | "Nemo" | 4:36 |
4. | "Planet Hell" | 4:36 |
5. | "Creek Mary's Blood" (feat. John Two-Hawks) | 8:30 |
6. | "The Siren" (music: Holopainen, Emppu Vuorinen) | 4:45 |
7. | "Dead Gardens" (feat. Jouni Hynynen) | 4:28 |
8. | "Romanticide" (music: Holopainen, Marco Hietala) | 4:58 |
9. | "Ghost Love Score" | 10:02 |
10. | "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" (Finnish for Death Makes an Artist) | 3:59 |
11. | "Higher Than Hope" (in memory of Marc Brueland; music: Hietala, Holopainen) | 5:37 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
12. | "White Night Fantasy" (originally found on the "Nemo" single) | 4:05 |
13. | "Live to Tell the Tale" (originally found on the "Nemo" single) | 4:58 |
14. | "Where Were You Last Night" (originally found on the "Wish I Had An Angel" single) | 3:52 |
Personnel
Credits for Once adapted from liner notes.
Nightwish
Additional musicians
|
Production
|
Charts
Certifications
Country | Organization | Year | Sales |
Finland | IFPI Finland | 2004 | 3x Platinum (+ 90,000)[26] |
Germany | BVMI | 2012 | 3x Gold (+ 300,000)[27] |
Sweden | IFPI Sweden | 2004 | Gold (+ 20,000)[28] |
Switzerland | IFPI Switzerland | 2004 | Gold (+ 20,000)[71] |
Norway | IFPI Norway | 2004 | Gold (+ 15,000)[72] |
Austria | IFPI Austria | 2004 | Gold (+ 7,500)[73] |
Greece | IFPI Greece | 2004 | Gold (+ 3,000)[74] |
Release history
Country | Date | Record Label | Catalog Number | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|
Finland | 7 June 2004 | Spinefarm Records | 981890-4[75] | |
Europe | Nuclear Blast | 27361 12912[75] | released in four different editions | |
Japan | 21 July 2004 | Spinefarm/Universal | UICO-1067[75] | |
Australia | 5 October 2004[76] | Roadrunner Records | RR 8216-2[75] | |
New Zealand | ||||
Canada | 168618217-2[75] | |||
United States | ||||
Brazil | 15 December 2004 | Spinefarm/Universal | AK5000[77] | |
Argentina | 12 February 2005 | NEMS Enterprises | NEMS 335[75] | released in two different editions |
Japan | 3 December 2008[78] | Spinefarm/Universal | UICY-91258 | Super Audio CD |
References
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
- ^ "Interviews at Metal from Finland". Metalfromfinland.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Everley, Dave (8 December 2015). "How Nightwish became a modern metal phenomenon". Metal Hammer. Team Rock. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
- ^ Ahlroth, Jussi (24 September 2007). "Nightwish release Finland's costliest-ever album". Helsingin Sanomat. Archived from the original on 23 December 2008. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Nightwish näyttely Kiteelle - bändin elokuva suositumpi maailmalla" (in Finnish). Yle.fi.
- ^ Ruskell, Nick (16 August 2008). "Treausre Chest. An Ultimate Portrait of a Life in Rock. Tuomas Holopainen.". Kerrang!. Vol. 1223. London, UK: Bauer Media Group. p. 54.
- ^ Ovington, Jacob, "Nightwish collaborator denies allegations that his Oglala heritage is false Archived 6 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine" in The Dark Domain, 17 January 2013. Accessed 5 June 2015. "Upon listening to a song he contributed to, a young member of the tribe and fluent Lakota speaker found that the lyrics Two-Hawks supposedly wrote in the language were "nothing more than absolute gibberish." This was later confirmed by David Little Elk, a certified Lakota language expert."
- ^ "The 10 Best Nightwish Songs". TeamRock. TeamRock. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ Turner, Suzanne; Wilson, Joanne (2010). Houston's Silent Garden. Texas A&M Press. p. 158. ISBN 9781603441636.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "The Band - Biography". Nightwish Official Website. Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ "Nightwish - Once review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ Albrecht, Frank (June 2004). "Rock Dynamit". Rock Hard (in German) (205). Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- ^ "Nightwish - Once". Metal Storm. 7 June 2004. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ^ Pettengill, Steve; Pierce, Ken (7 April 2005). "Nightwish: Once". Sea of Tranquility.org. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ^ Weeber, Thomas (6 July 2004). "Nightwish - "Once"" (in German). Metal.de. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ^ Begrand, Adrien (23 January 2005). "Nightwish: Once / Over the Hills and Far Away". PopMatters. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
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{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help)[permanent dead link] - ^ a b c "Charts- Nightwish/LongPlays". PhonoNet. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|dead-url=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Nightwish – Once (album)". Finnishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Nightwish – Once (album)". Norwegiancharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ a b ""Once" is #1 in Greece". Nightwish Official Website. 10 June 2004. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Once Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 56. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
{{cite book}}
:|last=
has numeric name (help) - ^ Begrand, Adrien (21 June 2017). "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media LLC. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ^ a b "Tilastot - Nightwish" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Gold / Platin Datenbank - press suchen". Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Insert Nightwish, press "visa lista" Once, press "visa"". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Number One in Europe". Nightwish Official Website. 18 July 2004. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Nightwish – Nemo (song)". Finnishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Single (track) Top 40 lista: 2004. 24. hét" (in Hungarian). Mahasz.
- ^ a b "Single – Nightwish, Nemo". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Nightwish – Nemo (song)". Norwegiancharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ a b c "Nightwish: 'Nemo Single Unstoppable". Blabbermouth.net. Roadrunner Records. 27 May 2004. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ^ "Nightwish: 'Nemo' In U.K. Charts For More Than A Year". Blabbermouth.net. 4 June 2005. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|dead-url=
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suggested) (help) - ^ Statistics by IFPI Retrieved on 17 March 2009
- ^ http://www.nightwishforum.com/index.php?/topic/1026-john-two-hawks/?p=74950
- ^ a b http://www.nightwishforum.com/index.php?/topic/1026-john-two-hawks/?p=75090
- ^ ""Once" goes gold in Germany". Nightwish Official Website. 22 June 2004. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ "Nightwish – Once (album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
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- ^ "Top 40 album-, DVD- és válogatáslemez-lista: 2004. 24. hét" (in Hungarian). Mahasz.
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- ^ Nyman, Michael. "Chart Log UK - 1994-2010". Zobbel.de. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
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