Been reminded of this band and this awesome record recently, and had to share my favorite song from them ever, a ten-minute epic.
From Finaland, this symphonic power metal group released this album in 2004, during my formative teenage years, so it’s been imprinted of this smooth brain of mine lmao.
I feel like this could be the soundtrack to a fantasy film or some such, with the epic drama and bombastic parts during the climax.
This is my favorite Nightwish song. I was so glad I got to see them play it live. ❤️
Man that’s lucky! Was it with Tarja or with Floor?
Floor Jansen. It was during the Endless Forms tour. Floor is my favorite Nightwish vocalist.
I’ll be honest, I kinda dropped this band when Dark Passion Play came around. I was immediately drawn to the band with Tarja as vocalist, but reading this comment makes me realize I may have missed something. Do you have any recommendations from the albums with Floor as vocalist? Anything as close to or anywhere near the quality that Ghost Love Score has?
How the others fired Tarja had tarnished the band for me, so I lost interest in their albums after that. But every now and again the YouTube algorithm sends a live video of Floor singing the old stuff my way, and she is great. Just listen to her live version of ghost love score and you will understand 😉
They don’t call them “Floorgasms” for nothing.
How the others fired Tarja had tarnished the band for me, so I lost interest in their albums after that.
They kind of fell off my radar for a bit (real life etc) right around Century Child, so I missed both rounds of singer drama. But I am with you 100%. Disgraceful. It was a lot to take in when I picked up the band again. But the upshot to missing it in real time is seeing how things improved. Bye Bye Beautiful and Master Passion Greed are permanently retired. Tuomas stopped writing borderline creeper unrequited love songs and has leaned more into a naturalist/humanist approach. They seem to treat Floor well. I can only hope the maturation on display has been internalized.
But then Marko up and quit, so… who knows. (._.)
How about “Ghost Love Score”? At the time this performance was recorded, Floor Jansen had been temporarily hired to help complete the tour after Anette Olzen left.
When I saw how Floor Jansen just nailed the performance of this song, I knew band was going to keep her. This lady can shake the earth with her powerful voice, she’s absolutely one of the best vocalists in metal. Seeing her perform this song live was one of the best things I’ve ever witnessed at a live show.
You’re right, you just can’t beat this song at all lmao. And from that vid Floor does a wonderful job killing it! I may or may not check out the rest of their stuff based on this going forward, as opposed to just ignoring it completely lol.
Endless Forms Most Beautiful was an outstanding album. Favorite tracks:
Alpenglow
Elan
The Greatest Show On Earth (24 minute song!)
Sagan (for some reason this song was only released as a single, it’s not on the album, even though it was released at the same time)
I’ll be honest, I kinda dropped this band when Dark Passion Play came around. I was immediately drawn to the band with Tarja as vocalist
Big same. I wasn’t following closely (or at all, really) and missed the Tarja drama. So I was very confused when I first heard Amaranth. I never really gave the songs a chance since Tarja’s sound was a big part of what appealed to me about Nightwish. Anette’s style really wasn’t my thing.
I didn’t realize they had gotten a new vocalist until after Endless Forms came out. Finally gave it a try, and… yeah. Floor is basically perfect for the band. I don’t think she’s in the same class as Tarja when it comes to operatic/classical vocals - she just doesn’t have the fullness or tone. But she can still pull it off decently. Where she really shines with the back catalog is where she makes the songs her own. You’ve already been turned on to GLS. Check out Dark Chest of Wonders from the same set (or any live performance really). Romanticide. Slaying the Dreamer. Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean. All great renditions.
For Floor-original studio tracks, Weak Fantasy, My Walden, Noise, Shoemaker, Pan are some of my favorites. I haven’t really been able to spend much time with Yesterwynde (2024 album), been slacking I guess since 2025 is almost over lol.
Going back to live stuff… if you want to cry, check out Poet and the Pendulum from Vehicle of Spirit (Wembley 2015). Just… wow.
Whoa whoa! I stopped listening to them around Nemo (not out of disinterest, just life and stuff). Are you saying Floor is up to the level of Tarja?
