Nightwish

With every year that we move further away from our childhood, we lose more of the fascination for the world and forget our initial sense of beauty. The world grows duller, gets swept by everyday routine and a work-sleep-eat-repeat-rhythm – but every few decades, a bunch of musicians are able to break down these grey walls of concrete. And those who’ve seen NIGHTWISH live since their inception in 1996, know that they are the ones to shine a little light with magic, intensity and melancholy into the corners of the one’s mind that seemed long lost and forgotten…

Any Nightwish fan who looks at the track list for this album will instantly notice that a lot of Nightwish’s well-known and classic songs are on this album. For example Dark Chest of Wonders, Wish I Had an Angel, Nemo, Planet Hell and of course Ghost Love Score are all on Once…

Released at a time when Nightwish's future appeared uncertain because of the shocking departure of charismatic frontwoman and de facto band calling card Tarja Turunen, Highest Hopes is a comprehensive greatest-hits collection spanning the chart-topping Finnish pop-metal act's entire first decade. Summarized in one convenient CD at last, the 16-song set proves that Nightwish were nothing if not consistent – both in terms of quality and overall style – throughout the five and a half studio albums recorded during that period…

Following in the footsteps of the Gathering and Lacuna Coil (goth-influenced "symphonic" metal bands with female vocalists), Nightwish were formed in Kitee, Finland, in 1997 by keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. 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…

There's an element of Zen that's involved when listening to Nightwish – you don't question the pageantry or analyze the music; you just let go and enjoy the experience. Perhaps it's no surprise then that End of an Era beings with "Red Warrior" from The Last Samurai booming over arena speakers while thousands of fans roar their approval. It's a dramatic introduction for a band that specializes in theatrics, all of which are captured on the album…