A Nightwish to remember…

Yesterday I was caught in a traffic jam and I had noting to do than listen to the radio in my car. So I turned on the radio and there was a girl singing on top of a bass guitar, drums and keyboard. I was not paying attention to it in the beginning. Then, I remember the progress of my thoughts: hmm, sounds interesting, but for this music style it would need some strong electric guitars here, some power riffs. And I tell to my wife, sitting next to me, in what language is this girl singing? I sense I understand every word of what she sings there, just that I don’t actually understand anything, it is somehow close to English, an Anglo-Saxon language, but a Nordic one, also the way the music is composed tells me a Nordic band.

My wife says, what are you speaking about, it is English…really?!!! I couldn’t tell! Focusing a bit more, indeed, I realized IT IS English, with a Nordic accent of some sort. Who’s the band then?! I should tell you that all these thoughts happened in a few seconds, on the part where only bass guitars, drums and keyboard were present.

And there it was! Suddenly, the chorus came. It was unmistakable, loud electric guitars, power riffs, hard male voice and again an unmistakable Nordic keyboard…IT WAS DAMN NIGHTWISH!!! Am I stupid or what?!

To be honest, since Tarja left the band I didn’t pay too much attention to Nightwish anymore, so I was not aware of “Bye, bye beautiful”, which was the song I am speaking about.

Now, what I meant when starting this post: I think that Nightwish succeeded in making something that only a few bands succeed in doing: establish a personality for their band in this crowded place of rock music, even after replacing the lead singer which usually gives the mark of the band!

This is one of the most important facts. When you hear Tarja, over a rock instrumentation, you know it is Nightwish, but take Tarja out, put a new song there and if the people still recognize the band, then you have a winner! After Tarja left the band I thought that Nightwish is over but it wasn’t. Seems that the musical personality of Nightwish is not given by Tarja only, but by each of the band members. I told you I recognized the band ONLY AFTER HEARING THE ELECTRIC GUITAR, KEYBOARD AND THE SECOND VOICE. And that without knowing the song. Now, this is a performance in my opinion. Not from my part, (shame on me I didn’t know the song in the first place), but from Nightwish’ part.

They have their own mark that defines their way in this crowded business!

Am I right or what? By the way, see Bye,Bye, Beautiful here.

Bookmark It