​10 interesting facts about Nightwish

Nightwish is one of Finland's most famous bands whose music can be described as a combination of strong female vocals, metal guitar riffs, and solos, as well as atmospheric keyboard parts played by the frontman Tuomas Holopainen. Ahead of Nightwish’s concert in Kyiv, we made a selection of 10 interesting facts from the band’s biography.

1. Nightwish are on the third place in the list of best-selling artists in Finland. Their first single "The Carpenter" debuted in 1997 at the eighth position, taking a bit later the third place on the Finnish chart. The song "Sacrament of Wilderness", from the band’s second album "Oceanborn", reached the first position in the singles chart for a week in 1998.
   
   
2. Four compositions "The Carpenter", "Beauty and the Beast", "Astral Romance" and "Once upon a Troubadour" from the debut album "Angels Fall First" are the only songs in Nightwish’s discography featuring Tuomas Holopainen’s vocals.
   
   
3. Nightwish’s songs were used as soundtracks in movies "Kohtalon kirja" (tracks "End of All Hope" and "Slaying the Dreamer"), "The Cave" (the track "Nemo") and "Alone in the Dark" (the song "Wish I Had an Angel").
   
   
4. In 2000, Nightwish was accepted in the Finnish Eurovision Song Contest tryouts with the song "Sleepwalker". Despite winning the public vote, Nightwish eventually finished in second place, with the jury choosing local gospel singer Nina Åström to represent Finland.
   
   
5. The fifth album "Once" was recorded with London Symphony Orchestra, whose musicians also took part in "The Lord of the Rings" soundtrack recording. One of the LP’s songs "Creek Mary's Blood" featured the Indian John Two-Hawks from the tribe Lakota. He sings in his native language and plays the flute on the track.
   
   
6. In 2005, Nightwish performed "Nemo" at the opening ceremony of the World Championships in Athletics, held in Helsinki.
   
   
7. In October 2005, the members parted with Nightwish’s singer Tarja Turunen, informing about their decision through an open letter.
   
   
8. In 2007, the band played a "secret" concert with the new singer Anette Olzon in Tallinn’s Rock Café on September 22, disguising itself as a Nightwish cover band called "Nachtwasser".
   
   
9. Along with the new album "Imaginaerum" recording, Nightwish started filming the musical fantasy film based on the forthcoming self-titled LP. The film premiered on November 10, 2012, in Helsinki during the band’s debut concert with the new vocalist Floor Jansen.
   
   
10. Nightwish’s last presently album "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", released in late March, 2015, was influenced by the poet Walt Whitman and scientific works of the naturalist Charles Darwin. The record featured the popularizer of science Richard Dawkins, who narrated in the songs "Shudder Before the Beautiful" and "The Greatest Show on Earth".