CENTURY CHILD

After the outstanding album "Wishmaster", I was expecting for the next Nightwish album another masterpiece. Knowing that Marco Hietala (from Tarot - a great straightforward metal band) had joined the band, I was even more confident. But what a disappointment! Half of the songs are still great, but the other half are very poor.

The album starts with "Bless The Child". I don't know, but this song seems to lack the "spirit" of the usual Nightwish compositions. Fortunately, the following song "End Of All Hope" brings back the full power of the band's music. "Dead To The World" is the first song with Marco's voice but again it sounds flat. "Ever Dream" is the total opposite: here Marco's voice completes perfectly Tarja's voice and the music is very melodic again. "Slaying The Dreamer" is another heavy song, and another low moment. As usual with Nightwish, the second part of the album is the best part. Here it starts with the beautiful ballad "Forever Yours" (really emotional, the most mellow track the band ever wrote), a nice relaxing moment followed by the great song "Ocean Soul", a Therion-like operatic moment. "The Phantom Of The Opera" is a real classic opera song redone with the Nightwish style. But the centerpiece of the album is surely the last song, "Beauty Of The Beast": a 10+ minute epic song in three parts, with a lot of mood changes.

Rating: 79/100