Nightwish
Demo 1996

For the series "revivals from the past," today we take a leap back just eleven years, to listen to the first work ever recorded by one of the symbol bands of Finland, those Nightwish who made symphonic power metal with gothic influences their fortune.

Formed in 1996, Nightwish initially were not exactly a metal band; in fact, they had little to do with metal since they proposed entirely acoustic music, mostly derived from the folk tradition of Northern Europe all seen from a decidedly gray perspective.

"Demo," this is the title of the demo (excuse the repetition), is a brief album composed of only three tracks, two in English and the other in their native language, in which the only instruments that appear are Emppu's classical guitar, Toumas's keyboard, and the voice of an already prepared, although a little unripe, Tarja. The three pieces all present themselves as extremely simple and not very elaborate from a melodic point of view; nevertheless, the emotional charge they can release is striking due to their ability to be particularly direct and of immediate assimilation.

"Nightwish" opens the demo with Toumas's atmospheric and icy keyboards, to which Emppu's guitar is then linked, creating a melody that will be repeated throughout almost the entire duration of the song: this very sense of continuity and the slow tempos mark the desire to create particularly sad musical moments; in addition to all this, Tarja's voice is extremely passionate in the interpretation, but also the presence of flutes in the instrumental breaks that contribute to "weighing down" the mood of the piece. Note the presence of what will then be the main theme of "Beauty And The Beast" in the subsequent album, taken right from this track.

"The Forever Moments" continues in the vein of the previous one, but gives more prominence to the vocalist, around whom are created melodies of great class, from which already emerges the desire to combine classical music, folk, and something that approaches metal, while still not sounding like metal. Splendid is the solo part by Holopainen, who proves to be a great composer and performer. A threatening male voice opens the last piece of the platter, "Etiäinen", which will also appear on "Angels Fall First", in this case in a slightly different version, not too far from the one that will then appear on the debut album. Excellent work by everyone, with due applause to the guitar work, clean and virtuosic (yes, 100% virtuosic) even if extremely emotional.

The band, although still a little inexperienced, proves capable of striking the listener, thanks to a truly convincing musical proposal, which will make them a money-making machine. I preferred them in this more sincere guise, devoid of the more metallic elements, now it's up to you to make the difficult judgment.