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September 3, 2010 |
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NIGHTWISH - From Wishes To Eternity - Live
Century Media (2004) |
9/10 |
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01. The Kinslayer
02. She Is My Sin
03. Deep Silent Complete
04. The Pharaoh Sails To Orion
05. Come Cover Me
06. Wanderlust
07. Crimson Tide / Deep Blue Sea (Instrumental)
08. Swanheart
09. Elvenpath
10. FantasMic Part 3
11. Dead Boy's Poem
12. Sacrament Of Wilderness
13. Walking In The Air
14. Beauty And The Beast
15. Wishmaster
Special Features
Interviews with Tarja and Tuomas
Off-stage Footage
Live videos: The Kinslayer, Walking In The Air
Music videos: The Carpenter, Sleeping Sun
Photo Gallery
Discography
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If you haven't followed the advice of almost every metal writer and bought NIGHTWISH's new album "Once," you're lucky. "Once" (in my opinion) is vastly overrated, with unmemorable songs at both ends of the heaviness spectrum, from the downtuned guitar numbers that don't suit Tarja's voice to the barbiturate ballads like "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" and "Creek Mary's Blood." No, you're better off spending your money on "From Wishes To Eternity - Live," NIGHTWISH's first and greatest DVD release.
If you're unfamiliar with NIGHTWISH, their music is best described as "keyboard-heavy, operatic power metal." The chief songwriter, Tuomas Holopainen, is inspired by epic film scores rather than classical compositions and it shows in his music. NIGHTWISH's main attraction, however, is the operatic female vocals of Tarja Turunen. After testing the waters with "Angels Fall First", albums like "Oceanborn" and "Wishmaster" saw the band's opera-metal style honed to perfection. In fact, the combination has worked so well that opera singers have since oversaturated the metal scene. "From Wishes To Eternity - Live" captures NIGHTWISH at their creative prime, on the "Wishmastour", and at home in Finland.
Although the trend nowadays is to release double DVDs, NIGHTWISH have surprisingly crammed a lot of material into one disc: a fifteen song live set, an interview with vocalist Tarja, an interview with bandleader Tuomas, two music videos, two bonus live tracks, and twenty-five minutes of "deleted scenes". If you're a diehard NIGHTWISH fan, you should already have this. If you're a casual fan (which is what I'd call myself), this DVD is still worth owning. As far as live concerts go, "From Wishes To Eternity - Live" is one of the best-filmed and performed DVDs on the market.
The songs sound fantastic and are almost studio quality. Aside from the bassist who stands in one place, the band members are energetic and get due attention from the camera, though Tarja remains the focus. Jukka Nevalainen likes to twirl his drumsticks, which adds an entertaining flare to his tight playing. Many of the live tracks are featured on "Over The Hills And Far Away", so if you own that EP, you'll know what to expect sound-wise. On the EP, however, the songs sound so close to their studio counterparts that they lack the requisite live feeling. Actually seeing NIGHTWISH rip through the songs on DVD is what brings the show to life. The performance is bolstered by a tasteful use of lighting and pyro. Often you see the silhouettes of crowd members clapping along to the songs, which is a nice touch. While there's not much by way of stage banter, at least the dialogue is in English and Tarja's accent rules: "I vant you to sing vith me."
Now, I must take aim at the setlist. As this is the "Wishmaster" tour, you can expect and will receive a large number of songs from that album. Personally, I would have substituted "Bare Grace Misery" for "Come Cover Me", but you can't always win. I'm glad they only included "FantasMic part 3", because the main reason I listen to "FantasMic" is to hear Part 3's catchy flute melody. Unfortunately, the "Oceanborn" album is poorly represented. I can't believe the soporific "Swanheart" made the set in favor of catalogue-highlights like "Stargazers", "Gethsamane", and "Passion And The Opera". "The Pharaoh Sails To Orion" is the only worthy inclusion from "Oceanborn". I'll agree that "Walking In The Air" is a fine cover, but it's not something I particularly wanted to hear live, and even though "Sacrament Of Wilderness" was once released as a single, the song is generic filler.
From "Angel's Fall First", the setlist includes two of that album's three good songs. An instrumental midway through the set gives Tarja some time to change clothes, which seems like a pop music thing to do.
One of the best ways to make a concert memorable is to include special guests, and the NIGHTWISH show features not one, but two guest appearances. First there is Wilska, who joins Tarja for "The Pharaoh Sails To Orion", as he did on the studio version. Wilska has since replaced Katla as the vocalist for FINNTROLL. Tony Kakko of SONATA ARCTICA joins Tarja on stage for "Beauty And The Beast", and despite his reputation for being weak live (due to asthma), Tony sounds amazing here, doing a "triumphant turkey trot" over Tuomas' studio performance. The beginning verses of this song are so strong, it's a shame they aren't reprised later.
Among the bonus features is an interview with Tarja and another with Tuomas. The Tarja interview is in Finnish with English subtitles, covering such pedestrian topics as "being a woman in a man's genre". The Tuomas interview is in English and delves into the mastermind's influences as well as NIGHTWISH's history. It doesn't dig very deep though, and NIGHTWISH fans are better off checking out the "End of Innocence" interview DVD for that type of information.
The bonus live songs appear in the main concert as well, which makes them useless inclusions, and the bonus music videos are for two weaker, mellower NIGHTWISH songs: "Sleeping Sun" and "The Carpenter". The latter is clearly a dedication to Jesus. If Jesus knew that such songs would be written about him, I wonder if he would have sacrificed himself in the first place. Tuomas' singing is particularly terrible. If I were his microphone, I would have issued a restraining order. As for the "Sleeping Sun" video, it succeeds only in making Tarja look unflattering: a very difficult thing to do.
95% of the deleted scenes are worthless. If you want to watch drunk people doing things that only a drunk person would find funny, you'll enjoy this section. The gem occurs close to the end, when opening band, SINERGY, return to the stage dressed as NIGHTWISH. It's ironic to see Marco Hietala (a member of SINERGY at the time) pretending to be NIGHTWISH's bassist, as he would later assume that role for real.
Although the bonus features are far from perfect, they are just that: "bonuses". "From Wishes To Eternity - Live" is first and foremost a concert DVD, and as a concert, it passes with flying colors. The songs are well played, the show is well filmed, and the four band members who matter perform with energy and hunger. Yes, the setlist doesn't coincide with my personal tastes, but the songs I don't like aren't terrible, and they're played well enough to hold my interest. If you want to learn more about the band members and the history of NIGHTWISH, get "End Of Innocence". But if you want a solid live show with great replay value, "From Wishes To Eternity - Live" is your medicine.
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