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.

Weekly Music Video

This song has become one of my favorites since I picked up this album a few months ago. It's a dark, moody epic about...well, I'll just let the liner notes tell you.

The Scarecrow is a tragic story of a lonesome creature, emotionally isolated from his environment and suffering from a distorted sensory preception. His feelings for the love of his life unrequited. He sets off on a journey exploring the left-hand path, striving for inner peace, ploughing his way to approval and eventually facing temptation at the inner depths of the human soul...

It's hard finding good videos for European bands especially for long (11+ minutes!) songs, so you'll have to settle for this fan made video which is just a collection of images that the creator thought of while listening to the song. It also has the lyrics for those who have trouble understanding the singer's German accent.

Avantasia - "The Scarecrow"


Avantasia is an awesome symphonic metal band that you really owe it to yourself to check out. I caught an interview with the band's founder, Tobias Sammet (who also started Edguy), where he said that growing up he was a huge fan of classic metal groups like Iron Maiden, but that he also loved the bombast of Queen. With inspiration like that, what's not to like?

EDIT: Don't mind the still image for the video. Yes it's an Iron Maiden album cover, but it's just an image used in the video. Really, it's Avantasia performing "The Scarecrow." Honest.

Weekly Music Video

It can be hard to find actual videos of some European bands, so as with the video I posted awhile back of "Theater of Salvation" this is a video put together by a fan. The song is just accompanied by pictures of the band. Still, it's a great song by a great symphonic metal band.

Edenbridge - "Shine"

Weekly Music Video

Epica, a Dutch symphonic metal band performing two songs from their Consign to Oblivion album, "Blank Infinity" and the very cool "Mother of Light."