Nightwish Has a New Singer

This apparently happened last month, but I just found out today. Epic symphonic power metal band Nightwish has parted ways with Annette Olzon who joined the band in 2007 to replace Tarja Turunen. Olzon was a somewhat controversial choice as she did not have the operatic vocals of Turunen. Tuomas Holopainen's compositions didn't change, but the delivery couldn't help but be different with Olzon who had a "smaller," poppier voice. Personally I ended up liking her more than I expected to, but I still missed Turunen's voice as did many other fans of the band.

The replacement singer for the time being is Floor Jansen. She was the lead singer for After Forever before they broke up. At this time she is just filling in for the remaining Nightwish concerts on their current tour. Whether she will continue with the band when they go back to the studio is up in the air. I'm excited about the possibilities. I always liked her in After Forever and her voice is definitely more operatic than Olzon's. Here are a couple of tracks from After Forever.

She definitely has the chops. I hope she does stick with the band.

The Oddities of Pandora

I love Pandora. It's a site that allows you to build your own stations by starting with an artist or song you like. It then plays music similar to them and you can rate it with a thumbs down if you don't like it or a thumbs up if you do. This is great for tweaking a radio station for any genre of music or any mood.

Still, Pandora occasionally plays some odd songs. I've got a station I've dubbed Epic Metal which as the name suggests is for epic sounding heavy metal (mostly power and symphonic), think Nightwish, Edguy, Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Symphony X, and Rhapsody of Fire. This stuff is mostly over the top with songs about adventures, fantastic quests, and so on. Cheesy, yes, but I love it.

So, imagine my surprise the other day when I'm listening to this station on my phone while I'm driving and this song comes on.



What the hell? I thought. There's nothing metal about that.I had to double-check the station to make sure it hadn't been changed on me somehow. It hadn't. The Pandora algorithm somehow thought this New Age soft song used on Pure Moods was an appropriate fit for my station of over the top metal (\m/). If I had been at my computer I would have clicked the "Why was this song chosen?" button, but that's not an option on the phone version. If I had to guess, I would say that it was chosen due to the orchestral elements which many songs on my station have as well as the strong vocal aesthetic which again is a common element of the songs on Epic Metal.

But it certainly was an odd selection and not the first time it's happened to me.

Weekly Music Video

The 80s were great on so many levels. This is a great tune to get you pumped up.

Quiet Riot - "Cum on Feel the Noize"

Weekly Music Video

In honor of Metallica's newest album just released, Death Magnetic, here is the video for their first single, "The Day That Never Comes." I must say that the album rocks and most definitely hearkens back to the Metallica of the 80s with killer guitar riffs, numerous time changes, and just unrelenting metal.

Anyway, without further ado...Metallica - "The Day That Never Comes."

Metallica is Back

Their new CD, Death Magnetic, comes out on Friday. Three tracks are already available on iTunes which I have downloaded. They are definitely closer in tone to their pre-Black Album material which just...rocks. Here's a brief story from CNN about it.



Raise the horns, baby.

Weekly Music Video

Who doesn't love church bells? They have such a big, rich sound that makes them a perfect fit for hard rock/heavy metal, so how about a two-fer this week?

Metallica - "For Whom the Bell Tolls"



AC/DC - "Hells Bells"



If those don't get your blood pumping, check your pulse.

Weekly Music Video

Some classic 80's metal - Dio with "Rainbow in the Dark"