WISHMASTER

Wishmaster is one of these rare cases when a CD is so much awaited that its release conceals its eventual flaws. After the release - and the unexpected success - of such a masterpiece as Oceanborn (their second in their discography, but the band members themselves considering it to be their first official CD, since Angels Fall First was seen as a well recorded demo), everybody was waiting for the follow up to see if that finnish group could match such striking piece of music.

Well, even if it was not as good or as innovative as Oceanborn, Wishmaster did its job: it was this album that took Nightwish to international stardom. And rightly so. Even today, when I hear the CD, I still can feel its sheer power on every track. It was done by a band at its peak. They were a tight unit and delivered every track with such willingness, conviction and grace, that you can do nothing but be awestruck by their craft. Even if the symphonic side of the band (always their best) was a bit put in the beckground for a more conventional power metal approach, Nightwish proved they were quite unique and un a league of their own. Nothing at the time even came close to their sound. Tarja Turunen's operatic vocal became a role model for many gothic, prog and power metal bands in the near future. And Tuomas Holopainen's genius as songwriter is beyond doubt. But is the band as a whole that became something more than the sum of its parts.

So even if it was not a masterpiece as Oceanborn, they were strong wnough to release a powerful album under some very strong pressure. Things would never go as smooth int he future, but that's another story. Wishmaaster stands as one of prog metal's best effords ever. Highlights are many but the title track, She Is My Sin, Kinslayer and FantasMic are among Bightwish's classics of all time. Although production could be better, the overall sound is good. My copy came with the beautiful ballad Sleeping Sun as a bonus track. Highly recommended!