Nightwish - Angels Fall First
Released 1997
The Band:
Tarja Turunen - lead vocals
Emmpu Vuorinen - guitars, bass
Tuomas Holopainen - keyboards, male vocals
Jukka Nevalainen - drums
Background:
Originally started as an acoustic folk group founded by Tuomas, Nightwish turned more to metal with the addition of Jukka. They recorded Angels Fall First and the following summer they recruited bassist Sami Vanska. Sami remained with them for 2 full-lengths (Wishmaster and Oceanborn) and an EP (Over The Hills And Far Away) before leaving near the end of 2001. He was replaced by Marco Hietala (who also took over the role of male vocalist :-D)from Tarot and Sinergy. The band released albums since: Century Child and Once.
The Tracks:
1. Elvenpath - 4:40 - A fast-paced epic about the rings of power (that's from the Lord Of The Rings for those of you who don't know). Very epic; hell, all their songs are epic. Some cool spoken word samples help tell the story. Good song.3.5/5
2. Beauty and the Beast - 6:24 - This track has some really awsome vocal trade-offs between Tuomas and Tarja. A very beatiful song about the fairy tale "The Beauty And The Beast." Tarja really shows off the power of her voice near the end. Excellent. 5/5
3. The Carpenter - 5:57 - The Carpenter is the first single the band ever released. A very good song, one of the best on the album. Has some really mellow verses and the choruses become heavier. Its a song about Jesus that really doesn't come across as preachy at all. Very enjoyable; I absolutely love the flute parts here. 4/5
4. Astral Romance - 5:12 - Starts out with a wicked guitar intro after which Tarja lets out some awsome vocals which sound sort of like a slow opera-rap (it's way better than it sounds, trust me). Probably one of the heavier songs on the album. 4.5/5
5. Angels Fall First - 5:43 - A nice mellow ballad which focuses on Tarja's voice over some really nice acoustic guitar by Emmpu.Beatiful. 4/5
6. Tutankhamen - 5:31 - In accordance with the name, there is a very Egyptian feel to the song. Very cool sounding; it really fits Tarja's vocals well. 4/5
7. Nymphomaniac Fantasia - 4:47 - One of my favorite tracks on Angels.... The flutes in the begining are awsome. The lyrics are quite titilating, as the title suggests. After the flutey intro, Tuomas does an awsome orchestral opening to the song, which is, lyrically, one of the shortest on the album. 4/5
8. Know Why The Nightingale Sings - 4:14 - Here is the best song on the album. A straight-up head banger; the folk tendancies really take a backseat to the metal part of the band. The guitar, bass, and drums take precedence over the keyboards for once, and the result is spectacular! 5/5
9. Lappi (Lapland) I: Eramaajarvi - Lappi I is short, mellow and sung completely in Finnish. 3/5
10. Lappi (Lapland) II: Witchdrums - An instrumental, kind of boring, honestly. 2/5
11. Lappi (Lapland) III: This Monent Is Eternity - Heavier than the other "Lappi's", but nothing too special. 3/5
12. Lappi (Lapland) IV: Etiainen - Reminiscent of the title track only not as good. Good but not great. 3/5
Overall:
If this review had of been written before i got Century Child and Once, the scores would have been much higher. However, after hearing what Nightwish was truely capable of (not to mention Marco's awsome vocals :-D), this doesn't seem as significant. It is easy to see the potential here that they would unlock later. As it stands though, this is indeed an excellent album with awsome musicianship (although Tuomas' vocals are nowhere near Marco's) and deserves to be listened to. 4/5
But if you don't listen to the band, don't download/buy this one. :>
. I know I am a bad hardcore Nightwish fanboy. 
