Once

This is the corniest shit I've ever heard New Sonic soundtrack 2

Painful

Nightwish is the comic con cosplay loser end of heavy metal. It's.... so very middle-class European. I flew Finnair once and the in-flight magazine was basically a Nightwish promo. I don't understand how people could be comfortable with it. It makes me cringe. 2/5.

Very little of this early-aughts symphonic metal has aged well. Though technically well done (I really enjoyed some of the riffs!), the mish-mash of Iron Maiden guitar, soaring strings, and multi-part vocal harmonies just feels like it's trying way too hard to establish its own importance and justify its own existence. All of this on top of poor mixing – there's little to no bass to be found here and things feel way too trebly and top-heavy as a result

Nightwish makes metal music for toddlers. It is very simple melodic rock with cliché melodies and dumb lyrics. Symphonic/ Gothic metal is not a musical style I like, but even in this genre there are many better bands (Evanescence, Within Temptation, Epica).

Every song is like the soundtrack of a boss battle from an RPG

Having come down with a 104 degree fever last night and trying to fight that off today made me think this sort of thing had not a chance of being tolerable. I started the album and the heavy metal guitars had me immediately thinking there was no way I was listening to this today… and then in came the orchestra and choir and I was transfixed. This is so epic and beautiful, a perfect melding of styles that left me in awe. I’m astonished by how much this moved me. What a perfect suggestion for this list!

When I was in music school there was a couple who loved theater and always wore Nightwish merch. That all makes sense now

Symphonic Metal on its way to become my guilty pleasure. Great compositions, versatile and entertaining

Not bad. Symphonic metal like this always seems so steeped in strange musical decisions. Why was there a four-on-the-floor disco beat on this album? Many mysteries

As soon as I saw the name of this band, I was thrown back to college. There were two brothers in our fraternity, Nick and Tony, a couple of longhaired metalhead dudes. I'm almost certain they were fans of Nightwish, I swear I heard the name from them. Anyway, put this on, it definitely tracks. Fantastical, orchestral metal stuff would've been right up their collective alley. Not really for me, but I respect the artistry.

Very theatrical and dramatic. Superb!

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Wish I had an angel, Planet hell, Dead gardens

Symphonic metal can be very entertaining. So is this album. The variations in tempo and calm/heavy parts are plenty

This was awesome. Perfect blend of metal and orchestral. Will be adding a few of these to the rotation.

Very cool!

Well... It wasn't for me. But it was really good, interesting not for me, and deserves credit for that!

This album did nothing for me.

Symphonic metal, power metal. Ni fu ni fa.

As "Metal" goes, I have to say this comes across a little Disneyfied. I didn't hate it and it is executed with great competence, but too highly polished, any edge sanded a little too thoroughly down.

I was really excited about the music, but as soon as I started listening to the vocalists, I really fell apart. I don't think they're suited to their musicianship, but perhaps they are suited to the style they're going for. Personally, I didn't like the vocal ensemble, but I did like the music.

This was surely interesting. Like an 80s opera rock album mixed with some modern metal tracks. This felt a bit disjointed as some of the metal was very progressive but other times felt dated and bland. The singing of the opera style was a unique choice to companion the instrumentals. I didn’t enjoy it that much as it felt less like an album and more of an accompaniment to a play. 4.6/10

After metallicas S&M I thought I might be into orchestral metal but this album made me realize that the genre can also be pretty lame. This just felt like they slammed electric guitars and orchestral strings together so neither really got the chance to shine.

This, I did not like. A couple of times I found myself nodding along but then the nonsense kicked back in and I had to have a word with myself for getting sucked in.

Sounds like a mix of computer game music and Evanescence. (Not a compliment)

This makes me feel like the walls are closing in. It's like the music's in an uncanny valley between Metal and "Ay, ay, ay, I'm your little butterfly"-ass Eurodance. So insanely over-the-top dramatic and epic, that it ends up feeling plastic, fake and annoying. The male vocalist is especially awful. Dude probably thinks he's Sephiroth. I kinda see the appeal, and "Amaranth" is a great single by them (not on this album though), but it's a 1/5 from me.

I dont think i had ever listened to an album from them, good stuff!

This album is really cool at times, and the symphonic approach to metal definitely works when well-executed. There are some songs where it starts to feel samey, but that usually doesn't last for long before the album grips you again. I don't know why folks from Scandinavia like metal so much, but god bless em, they know how to do it right 4/5

Lots of the reviewers here seem to hate fun and whimsy

Still trying to wrap my head around this one. Musically this is pretty listenable, but the vocals kind of kill it for me. This would play well as musical theater, but I only halfway mean that as a compliment. Fave Songs: The Siren, Creek Mary's Blood

This is 100% the soundtrack to a musical right? The music is exactly what I would expect from some overly dramatic and musical theatry production of some gothic play. It's just not all that interesting at the end of the day. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Wow it’s been a wild few days. J-pop, electronic minimalism, and now Finnish symphonic metal. It’s a pretty fun synthesis, and really leans into the theatricality of both genres. My main criticism is that the production is quite flat so everything just sounds a bit muted - albums like Metallica’s S&M, Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Opera, and anything by Ghost really make the riffs and the strings sound a lot heavier and more menacing

Super corny lyrics. Symphonic metal is always though so it balances to a 3 in my book.

ohhhh man. Haven't thought about these guys in a minute. I like Nightwish probably more than they deserve. This one's weird, because it's both the first album I'd grab to explain their whole deal, and it's catching them at an awkward stage, moving from "sneaking Mozart-style arpeggios to an audience that thinks it doesn't like classical music" to them trying out more poppy and folky sounds. I had high hopes when they hired a bagpipes guy full-time, but they've never quite been able to overcome the Muse disease that makes them sideline their more creative ideas in service of Deep and Epic Thoughts. Also doesn't help that their audio mixing is mediocre, which is really not what you want when your arrangements lean on the "symphony" of Symphonic Metal. Anyway, makes me a little sad that the top reviews are all "wow this sucks," because I'm kinda charmed by the goofy aspects of the band... but also I don't really have a pitch to bring a general audience around on them. "Imaginaerum" would probably hit for some of the rock opera fans in the crowd.

They sound like they take themselves _very_ seriously! Every little riff and drum-fill is delivered with such a vibe of utter importance. And I think that's the main reason why this doesn't work for me _at all_. Cringeworthy. The genre isn't anywhere near what I enjoy in music, and I think combining Gothic with Symphonics and Metal earn you a VIP spot at the next Comic Con Cosplay contest anyway. But besides all that I just find it so very difficult to digest as a serious musical effort.

Trying way too hard. Metal should have an edge, this had none

This whole album seems like a cross between Bohemian Rhapsody and Enya. There's just way too much going on with it. It sounds like they're trying to figure out where to insert a new instrument. The irony is that there is no cowbell!

Three tracks into Once and I already couldn't believe this is considered one of the flagbearers of symphonic metal, a genre pioneered so beautifully by bands like The Gathering. This feels like a caricature: all the bombast, none of the nuance. Nemo, the lead single, is basically hollow symphonic Top 40, bringing nothing special. Planet Hell was the first track I actually enjoyed, mostly thanks to the keyboard player: there's some real atmosphere and restraint there, which is completely absent elsewhere. And then... Ghost Love Score happens. What a song. It’s like the band finally decided to write with purpose. The buildup is powerful, the choir and orchestra are used tastefully, and even the rhythm section feels inspired. There's tension, there's variety, transitions. It’s almost like a different band entirely. Okay, the guitar solo in the middle is kind of dreadful, but I'll forgive it. In the end, Once feels like an entire album built around one song: Ghost Love Score, with Planet Hell as the only other real standout. The rest? Bloated and unmemorable. But those two songs just about save it.

This was so so bad. Just unredeemable.

Er... Ha ha ha ha ha. Seriously, how much more fake and plastic do you want music to be? Operatic lead singers from this symphonic metal act are always extremely skilled on a technical viewpoint. But they don't write their songs, and often get fired over very petty reasons after being involved in this goddamn circus for a few years. Probably because everyone involved in this lame (yet commercially successful) project is mostly driven by greed, ridiculous pride and a knack for cheesefest shenanigans that show close to zero sincerity. Could have gone to a 1.5 or even 2/5 grade for the grand aspirations adding to the technical skills here. But those aspirations seem so misplaced to my ears that I can't even go there. Bad taste is not a crime, unfortunately. But you sometimes (night)wish it is. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 13 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 18 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 37 (including this one)

Achieves a comical sort of grandeur, which maybe is the end game for symphonic metal. "Finland's most expensive band" has a nicely Spinal Tap feel to it, no? Definitely does not belong on the list proper.