CENTURY CHILD

Now that the trend is gone, I can appreciate this record without all the hype. Yes, the metal opera fashion is almost gone, peaking in the early 2000's, introducing the genre to legions of teenage girls with fat eyeliner, broken hearts and black hoodies. And I do feel guilty because the trend is so passé, but also because it's so over-the-top...please don't judge me. You like it too.

But Nightwish is doing it so well, why resisting?

Nightwish is indeed a beacon in this repertoire. They've survived many trials that would've killed more than one band: change of singers, change of bass players, change of managing, ego wars, inner fights, lack of communication for long periods and finally the tense mechanics of 4 guys and only 1 woman. That is a heavy sheet of problems, but they seemed to pull out quite well, as long as Holopainen keep the songs fresh and inspired (which seemed to lack in recent delivery).

Anyway, Century Child is a powerful meal of astonishing vocals by Tarja, crunchy guitars (more up front), me-so-sad lyrics and catchy hooks done in a refined but modest way. Give those ideas to Dream Theater for instance and you'll get a much more complex cookie. They are not the best players around (indeed the limitations are obvious), but it's nonetheless a pleasant experience, cheesy and corny at times I must admit. Snatch off stars for lack of complexity, redundancy...and steampunk costumes (*snickers*)

Not as good as Oceanborn (their most honest effort) but look for Beauty of the Beast, the title song and the Lloyd Webber cover all done with panache.

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