Nightwish
Once

THE REVIEW

The last firework, the ultimate swan song of one of the most extraordinary bands to emerge from the late '90s power metal big bang, now reduced to a pathetic state of cheap and grotesque caricature of itself: this is "Once" by Nightwish. The year is 2004 and the gothic turn, with darker atmospheres and more tormented lyrics, had already begun two years earlier with "Century Child," and "Once" continues confidently down this path with rather mixed results: true masterpieces alternate with decidedly less inspired performances that will later prove to be real warnings of that (now irreversible) compositional crisis that would later give rise to that musical abortion called "Dark Passion Play," but that is another (sad) story, already foreshadowed in the cover and the lyrics of "Dead Gardens" and "Higher Than Hope."

To elevate the overall level of "Once," there's naturally Tarja Turunen, the valkyrie with the angelic voice who, despite her practically null compositional relevance, was the true and irreplaceable cornerstone of the band, largely contributing to create that unmistakable sound now completely disappeared with her extraordinary vocal talents. The album opens with "Dark Chest Of Wonders," which perhaps in beauty is second only to "Stargazers": a solid and pounding riff, orchestrations of growing intensity, choirs and orchestrations adding solemnity and of course that wonderful voice that cannot help but fascinate and completely capture the listener, especially when it explodes in the beautiful chorus and the breathtaking finale. A great song is also the powerful and apocalyptic "Planet Hell," entirely played on the bounce between the voice of bassist Marco Hietala (somewhat ungraceful, to be fair, but in this context it works very well) and Tarja's, in a tense and very heavy metal atmosphere, just as tense and mysterious is the sensational "The Siren," where the hardness of the guitars blends with arcane, oriental sounds creating a very particular atmosphere, difficult to describe, with sitar and violins in the foreground and Tarja perfectly embodying the enchanting siren role.

A moment of respite among the thousand emotions of this album is the poignant ballad "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan," the perfect backdrop to the sunset over the Thousand Lakes, preluding to the conclusion of the album (and consequently of Nightwish themselves), which is "Higher Than Hope," the last magic of the Nightwish Desiderio: a melancholic and gentle arpeggio, that angelic voice soaring high, higher than hope, before becoming heavy and falling from the sky in that intense and dramatic chorus, which becomes more and more urgent and harder only to vanish into nothingness. The best of the best of "Once," however, consists of the two suites, in which Our Heroes display (also here for the last time) their technique and creativity elevated to the cube: there are the 10 minutes of the sumptuous "Ghost Love Score," which truly has everything: a powerful intro, oriental atmospheres, a dramatic chorus, moments of apparent calm, guitar solos, bass lines, orchestral fugues and digressions now sweet and lulling, now more tense and lively, bursts of triumphant power metal and a finale with the chorus fading elegantly in all its majesty, and then there are the eight and a half minutes of a masterpiece of disarming beauty, "Creek Mary's Blood," a moving and heartfelt tribute to Native Americans, with Tarja really giving goosebumps here, Divinely interpreting this sad and melancholic yet so powerful, so heartfelt, so universal song, where naturally the rest of the group gives their all as well, producing solos and orchestrations of excellent craftsmanship, leading to the end of the song, masterfully entrusted to the words of an Indian poem.

As I have already said, however, "Once" is also the album that opens the band's crisis, and it becomes clear right after the divine "Creek Mary's Blood" as Our Heroes place first "Dead Gardens" and then "Romanticide," two songs decent in themselves but adding nothing to the beauty of the album and the style of Nightwish, and especially the two singles (regularly skipped from the third listen) "Nemo" and especially "Wish I Had An Angel," which without Tarja's voice would be as much trash as "Amaranth."

Moral of the story, "Once" is a great album, to always and anyway buy just like all the Nightwish albums with Tarja, yet there remains the regret that such a great band burned out so soon, leaving behind five fabulous gems of rare beauty. To close my heartfelt analysis, an appeal to Nightwish or what's left of them: I implore you, disband immediately, and I say this as your great fan, because continuing like this only disrespects what you once were.

NIGHTWISH 1997-2004   R.I.P. ONCE... FOREVER.