Number one in Germany and number one in the European Top 100, Once's success was the product of a band at the top of its game following years of hard work. Released in 2002, Century Child proved a massive hit in Finland and around Europe, but 2004's Once saw them go one step further and conquer Europe. (by Century Media, which reissued their previous albums in 2001 as well). Not only did it top the Finnish charts, but it also became the group's first album to be released in the U.S. Nightwish toured Europe heavily, consolidating their success, and in 2000 recorded their third album, Wishmaster. The follow-up, Oceanborn, appeared in late 1998 and made Nightwish a bona fide mainstream success in their homeland the album reached the Finnish Top Five and spun off three Top Ten singles. Nightwish's demos landed them a contract with the Finnish label Spinefarm, which released their debut album, Angels Fall First, in late 1997 (it appeared in the rest of Europe the following year). Initially attempting to create acoustic music, he recruited trained opera vocalist Tarja Turunen, but soon added full metal band instrumentation in the persons of guitarist Emppo Vuorinen, bassist Sami Vänskä, and drummer Jukka Nevalainen. Nightwish was founded in 1996 by keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. Nightwish is the most successful Finnish band worldwide, selling more than nine million records and netting more than 60 gold and platinum awards, including five number one albums and 13 chart-topping singles. Her first studio album was 2015's Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Dutch soprano Floor Jansen ( After Forever, ReVamp) was hired to complete the remaining dates, and fit in so well with the group and fans that she was asked to join formally. Olzon also sang on 2012's conceptual outing Imaginaerum before leaving Nightwish while on tour. (She has since gone on to have a successful solo career.) In 2007, Anette Olzon was chosen as her replacement, and her debut with the band, Dark Passion Play, went multi-platinum and the subsequent tour lasted nearly two years. Once, released in 2004, put them at the peak of early commercial success, but Nightwish parted ways with Turunen after the tour. By the time they issued their second album, 1998's Oceanborn, featuring the operatically trained vocalist Tarja Turunen, they had begun filling concert halls and small sports arenas across Europe. While they're hardly the first goth-influenced metallers with a woman up front - the Gathering from the Netherlands, Italy's Lacuna Coil, and Sweden's Therion all preceded them - their rich melodicism, dynamic textures, and theatrical approach to performance make them a unique musical entity with global appeal.

Finland's Nightwish are an award-winning, best-selling symphonic metal band fronted by Floor Jansen, their third female vocalist.

Nightwish new album 2019