Century Child [Import]

Nightwish | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bmg
• ASIN: B000068CD2
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,301 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Bless the Child

2. End of All Hope

3. Dead to the World

4. Ever Dream

5. Slaying the Dreamer

6. Forever Yours

7. Ocean Soul

8. Feel for You

9. The Phantom of the Opera

10. Beauty of the Beast: Long Lost Love/One More Night to Live/Christabel

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful & Powerful Symphonic Metal, October 9, 2002

By 

MishL (Dover, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Century Child (Audio CD)

Ah . . . Nightwish, truly one of the most stunning and awe-inspring bands today. The first time that I heard Tarja Turunen's powerful and beautiful voice, I was totally blown away. Who would have thought that you could take a female opera singer and have her front a metal band -- and somehow make it work so convincingly.

Wishmaster is the album that first turned me on to this fabulous band, and it still stands as my favorite Nightwish release. Although Century Child is a very good album, for some reason it seems to fall a little flat when compared to the majestic grandeur of that previous release.

Century Child starts out in typical grandiose Nightwish fashion with "Bless the Child;" but once Tarja's voice kicks in, you immediately notice that something is different. Her usually soaring operatic vocals seem to have been reined in a bit and while she can still belt them out, it just seems to be missing that little extra "ompf" that made me drop my jaw in wonder in the first place. I don't know if this was to try to make the band a little more commercially acceptable, or if it was to make it easier on Tarja's voice when the band performs live.

The other real noticable difference is the overabundance of male vocals on Century Child; courtesy of new bassist Marco Hietala (formerly of Sinergy). Not that he has a bad voice -- in fact it's pretty good -- but most people who listen to Nightwish do so to hear Tarja. The dual vocal style on several of the songs reminded me a little of Lacuna Coil -- but in a more grand style of course. Marco and Tarja do manage to belt out a fairly kicking rendition of "Phantom of the Opera" (yes, from the Broadway play of the same name)that almost seems to harken back to the overwrought stylings of producer Jim Steinman.

The vocal work aside, the rest of band seems to be in fine form with keyboardist Tuomas Holopanien once again raging like a man possessed; and guitarist Emppu Vuorinen cranking out some super chunky riffs and hot fret work.

While there is plenty to like about Century Child ("End of all Hope", "Ever Dream", "Ocean Soul", and "Beauty of the Beast"), there are a few misses too ("Slaying the Dreamer" has some of the hokiest lyrics yet, and the sleep-inducing "Forever Yours" sounds way too much like the love song from Titanic for my liking). But as far as musicianship goes, Century Child can match anything on Wishmaster or Oceanborn.

But as good as Century Child is, I still couldn't give it the five stars that I normally would give to a Nightwish release. As a whole, the album seems to be a step backward for the band. While each album has seen them progress and grow, Century Child at times seems to be a little stimied -- never quite matching up the mesmerizing grandeur of Wishmaster or Oceanborn.

If you are a long time fan of the band, you'll probably be pleased by the overall effort. But if you are new to the band or haven't heard a lot of their material, then I suggest you start with Oceanborn and/or Wishmaster. For despite Nightwish's small misstep with Century Child, they are still better then many bands out today and really do deserve to get a lot more recognition -- especially in the States.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can it get ANY better than this?, September 10, 2002

By 

Wendy L. Pritchett (Newport News, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Century Child (Audio CD)

I certainly don't think so.

In all fairness, I'm a recent fan of Nightwish, but I did start by getting the albums in the proper release order. Angels Fall First was amazing despite being a little rough (expected, though, for a first release) and each album got progressively better. Wishmaster is still my favorite all time, but Century Child gets very close to taking over.

In my opinion, the vocals are as operatic and powerful as ever, the keyboards and guitars are simply amazing. And, as far as I can tell, this album does something they hadn't done with any of their previous releases: All of the songs tie into each other in a typical rock operetta style.

This is, by far, the best release by the band and if you liked their previous 3 releases, this one certainly will *not* disappoint. I wonder how they plan on topping this album. Additionally, they rock just as much live. Check out fabchannel.com to see the archived stream of their 8.28.02 performance at the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam. Truly amazing!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars more like 4.5, September 26, 2002

By 

maxnik (NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Century Child (Audio CD)

This is my third Nightwish CD - the other two are Oceanborn and Wishmaster. These guys keep putting out excellent music. However after listening to Oceanborn, which is still my favorite Nightwish album I expect all of their new albums to be as good. But so far Wishmaster and Century Child, both being excellent CDs, have failed to top Oceanborn.
Their female singer Tarja - is the central point of the band. She has really great operatic voice and can carry whole songs just with it. Music is some sort of Powermetal, with great female vocals, a lot of energy and rather good musicianship.
Compared to the other albums, I think they made an attempt to change their style a little - by making music more guitar oriented and heavier and having their bass player sing some male parts on the album. I can't say he is an outstanding singer, but I don't think he messed anything up, just added dialog like feel to some songs. All songs are very good and they even played Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Weber.
I definitely would recommend this album, there no other bands like that out there, that I know of. And make sure you get Oceanborn and Wishmaster.