Customer Reviews

Century Child

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

When you take the time to consider the more standout bands in the world of Metal nowadays, Nightwish is probably one of the first to come to mind. With each release Nightwish brings you into a diverse world that combines metal with arias and epic orchestrations. Tarja Turunen definitely has one of the best and most beautiful voices to come along in some time. She has led the way for modern metal women of today to find a stronger foothold in the music we love. "Century Child" was the first readily available releases in the USA courtesy of Century Media Records. This is a great CD, and it quickly follows up on the success of "Wishmaster". Beginning with "Bless The Child" you are quickly drawn into the sound of the band by Tarja's warm vocals and a very eerie haunting melody. When the "End Of All Hope" kicks in you find that the group can be heavy as they find the need. This number is full of incredible double drumming by Jukka and great guitar wizardry of Emmpu. For those who enjoy a hearty chorus the track "Dead To The World" might be most impressive. I admit that on the CD, these few are actually among my favorites. When Nightwish first played the States a little over a year ago, they performed some these and it made enjoying them all the more easier.

Showcasing her softer side, Tarja serenades you with "Forever Yours", it is the closest thing to a ballad that you will find on the CD. There is also an unusual item on the disk and that is "Phantom Of The Opera". Now I am not speaking of the Iron Maiden song of the same name, but instead the version from the Broadway play. While I am aware of this plays wide and worldwide popularity, I admit I found it amusing that a band from Finland would choose to perform it. Reservations aside, the band does not disappoint and brings the sound of Broadway to an entirely different audience with this one. You will be impressed.

Nightwish has since moved on from Century Media to Roadrunner Records as their label in the USA. Yet, I am not certain if they will also take on the back catalog. For now, if you need those you should look into CM's site. They reissued them here and added a track or two for the listener to enjoy it more. Nightwish is definitely one of those bands that if you are for some reason not looking into you should. They have defined a new level of style to it, and raised power metals bar a little higher.

Six months ago music like this was completely unknown to me. For fifty years my listening enjoyment was based on that offered by American radio - rock, pop, jazz, classical, country. During most of the past half century, it provided the emotional experiences wanted from music. But during the last few years, the emotion was slipping away, so much so that I considered turning it all off, which was not a happy thought. Then someone (one more time - thanks Jeff) gave me this CD. Unless you have experienced something similar to my 50 year musical history, you cannot imagine the shock of hearing something so powerful, so different, so beautiful for the first time. All of the reviews I have done here (except The Irish Volunteer), and all that I will do, are a result of listening to this one amazing work of art, which opened the doors to an amazing new world of listening pleasure.

Being the first "new" music experienced may have something to do with it being in my top five list, but there is no doubt the music itself deserves the rating. Of all the other similar groups, only Tarja seems to have the true operatic sound. Every selection is excellent in all ways, making it difficult to pick a favorite; however my ear deems Dead to the World as having a slight edge over the others. Marco, who has a very appealing voice, provides a perfect contrast to Tarja in this song. He adds a whole new, and positive, dimension to a group that already had more dimensions than most. In fact, their version of Phantom of the Opera on this CD is by far the best I've heard, which leaves me wishing they would get back together to record the whole sound track. (Please see my profile for a brief discussion of my rating philosophy.)

I had just gotten Nightwish's first CD "Once" and I soon rushed out to get another by the band. I picked out Century Child and was not disappointed...

Bless the Child- 4/5: This song is a pretty good introduction track. There is a guy's voice in the beginning and end that adds some more character to the already beautiful music.

End of All Hope- 5/5: One of my favorite songs on the CD, this song continues directly off of Bless the Child with a really fast beat and interesting lyrics

Dead to the World- 5/5: This is also pretty fast paced with both Tarja and Marco singing in it. The tune is very catchy and the lyrics are also pretty good.

Ever Dream- 4/5: This song is a little slower than the others and seems to be more of a love song. Tarja's voice sounds very nice in this track and I like to listen to it over and over, not getting bored of it.

Slaying the Dreamer- 4/5: This song starts out pretty good, but I don't like the song at the end. It's like the band didn't know which direction they wanted to song to go in and they split it in half. Both Tarja and Marco sing in it.

Forever Yours- 3.5/5: For some reason starting at this song and through the next two, the three songs never caught on with me... Forever Yours is good and catchy but it never really captured my attension like the others did.

Ocean Soul- 3.5/5: I first I didn't like this song at all, but it eventually grew on me. The lyrics felt ackward with the music but once I listened to it a few times I got the beat better and the song wasn't as bad.

Feel For You- 4/5: I liked this song the best compared to the two previous. The lyrics were strange but I liked them. When Marco came in and began to sing, it added some more to the song as well.

The Phantom of the Opera- 5/5: I liked this more that the original. I wasn't really a fan of the Phantom of the Opera but when I heard this song, I was captivated. I ersonally think it sounds better than the original.

Beauty of the Beast- 5/5: This is undoubtedly my favorite song on the album. I normally don't like really long songs, but this one kept my attension the entire ten minutes. The lyrics and the music is wonderful, and the guy from the beginning in "Bless the Child" comes back for a few lines at the end of this song.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this CD and would recommend it to fans of Nightwish.

Oh majestic album, how i worship thee. I worship thine complex layers of orchestral and heavy denseness and thine inlay with thine beautiful artwork, especially Tuomas, you glorious Keyboard Fingers and composer extrordinaire.
As you have probably guessed, I think this album ROCKS! It's different, original. Extremely pompous but accessable too. it sounds like the soundtrack to an epic film (and a couple of the songs, E.G. End Of All Hope have been used in films.)
This album covers many emotions from utter dispair to love to hate. Its inspiring, relaxing and thought provoking.
Tarja has toned down her operatic voice a little since Wishmaster but her trademark sound is still there. The addition of new vocalist/bassist, Marco Hietala, adds something new and exciting to the music. And, contrary to what some people say, he is rather spectacular in the cover of Phantom Of The Opera.
I really could rave on forever about how great this album is (especially the last, and my favourite, track, Beauty of the Beast, a ten minute epic), but I shall refrain.

One thing I love about Nightwish's music is that from the first seconds of the opening track you're entranced, you're on a ride, you're hearing something original. When I first got into Nightwish I regarded Once as their best CD, but while going back and listening to each of the CDs I own of theirs, I've come to the conclusion that Century Child has taken the reigns as my favorite offering from Nightwish. Each release tends to have the same feel with gorgeous use of strings, great melodies, and some of the best vocals you'll ever hear. But for me Century Child perfected those trademarks. Some songs have a rather corny feel to them, such as Dead To The World's techno-ish feel to it in the opening, but irregardless, this is amazing music.

Bless The Child was a good way to start, there's everything you'd expect a Nightwish track to have in it, and it never once loses your attention. Dead To The World is definitely a solid track with very good male vocals. I might add that often male vocals aren't good when contrasting female vocals in a metal band, but Nightwish nabbed themselves a good singer. I'm not saying that it won't take time to come to like it, but it's not nearly as annoying as some bands male counterparts. I like Slaying The Dreamer mainly for the excellent guitar parts. The verses have a great flow to them but the best part of this song is the awesome beat at the 2:35 mark, the male part is insanely catchy too, so I have no complaints for that. Forever Yours was the first ballad-esque song I ever heard by Nightwish and it's held up as my personal favorite. Tarja has a great voice and if you have any doubts, this song is sure to change your mind. One of the best songs included on here is probably Nightwish's rendition of The Phantom Of The Opera. This is the song where you really get to hear how well the female/male dynamic works when it's used. Beauty Of The Beast is probably the best song offered. The way the verses and choruses are presented is amazing, the music is nothing short of gorgeous, and I need not evaluate Tarja's performance. I like how it plays as a three part song, the second part being my favorite.

My favorite songs are Bless The Child, Slaying The Dreamer, Forever Yours, The Phantom Of The Opera, and Beauty Of The Beast. One thing you're sure to notice after listening to any Nightwish CD is that every single song is a masterpiece, and when you listen to the entire CD all the way through you're bound to notice that the music is epic in every way. I once thought the only good dynamic to this band was Tarja's vocals, but after listening to their CDs I realize that the entire band makes this music what it is. Make no mistake, this release isn't for everyone. Your average rockers will, no doubt, despise bands like this, and your so-called 'lovers of all genres' probably have already dismissed Nightwish. So go in with an open mind and you just might come out a fan.

First of all... Nighwish is the best band ever!!! I will talk a little about their newest album CENTURY CHILD.... For me its their best ALBUM so far... you can see how much they have grown with the years , you can see a lot of maturity on the lyrics and everything.... its their most agressive album so far... also they has a new Bassist Marco Hietala who is one of the best male singers I ever heard!!! you know , 2 powerful vocalist on a band??? isnt that great?!??? damn...I loved Wishmaster , Oceanborn and Angel's fall first... but CENTURY CHILD for me its better in a lot of ways... the only bad thing about it , its that Tarja has toned down a lil bit , but it is ok because it fits with the lyrics.... there is NOT any changes between the import version of CC and the USA version of CC.... if you dont have it , go and GET IT NOW!!!!!

With this album, Nightwish made some changes. Tarja's operatic vocals have now been toned down, and while they're still powerful, they're not the same. Also, bassist Sami Vanska left the band and Marco Hietala (of SINergy and Tarot) stepped in on bass and vocals. This album is nowhere near as good as Once, however I don't think it deserves all of the bashing it's been getting.

1. Bless The Child- The album opens up with a beautiful choir and a spoken intro done by Sam Hardwick (who played the Dead Boy on Dead Boy's Poem). The guitar and drums kick in at about 30 seconds into the song, and then about thirty seconds later, the powerful keyboards join in. There's a spoken outro, too, bleeding right into End Of All Hope. This song is just gorgeous, especially the chorus: 'Why am I loved only when I'm gone? Gone back in time to bless the child. Think of me long enough to make a memory. Come bless the child one more time.'

2. End Of All Hope- Apparently Nightwish took a cue from their song Wishmaster with the immediate chorus (they do something similar on Wish I Had An Angel, on their album Once). This song is about losing your innocence. The choir is in this quite a bit, mainly in the chorus, but you can still hear Tarja.

3. Dead To The World- This is the first song that Marco appears in. It's a heartbreaking song about not being noticed and just wanting to go back to being innocent (Heaven Queen, cover me in all that blue). The tempo changes keep this song fresh, but even if there were no tempo changes the song would still be absolutely gorgeous.

4. Ever Dream- This is an elegantly done love song. It starts off very slow, but gets much faster. The chorus is a masterpiece in and of itself... I think this could be my favourite song off of the album, it's just so beautiful to listen to. 'Your beauty cascaded on me in this white night fantasy.'

5. Slaying The Dreamer- If you're afraid you softened up too much while listening to Ever Dream, don't worry: Slaying The Dreamer is much different. Tuomas was very frustrated when he wrote this song. Marco is in it again, towards the second half. I love the bridge 'Blame me, it's me. Coward, a good-for-nothing scapegoat. Dumb kid, living a dream. Romantic only on the paper.' I think it's easy to fall in love with this song, because it's the perfect song to play when you're angry.

6. Forever Yours- Slaying The Dreamer is just surrounded by love songs! This is another one, but it's not as well done as Ever Dream. It's rather slow and dull, although Tarja's vocals are still amazing. The flute is a nice touch, too.

7. Ocean Soul- Unfortunately, Tarja said they would never play this song live, and that's a shame because it's a wonderful song. It starts off with chiming in the backround and then the guitars and drums kick in. The chorus is very catchy, and I love the lyrics.

8. Feel For You- This was one of the first Nightwish songs I became attracted to. The lyrics are certainly different, and both Marco and Tarja are on this. It's about unrequited love, only it's masterfully down. The way the song ends is rather unsatisfactory, but it's eerie. While the title may make this song sound like yet another love song, it's not: Far from it.

9. The Phantom of the Opera- I've heard that the life version of this song is much better, and I'm sure it is. I don't like this very much, mainly because I doubt anything can beat the Sarah Brightman/Michael Crawford version. I heard Tarja was sick when they recorded this, though, so I must give them credit and I think they did a good job, considering that. Marco makes a very good phantom, though!

10. Beauty of the Beast- A beautiful ten minute song; the longest one Nightwish has ever done (it beats Ghost Love Score by mere seconds). It's divided into three parts: Long Lost Love, One More Night To Love, and Christabel. Long Lost Love is basically the introduction the Beauty of the Beast; I think One More Night To Live is my favourite part, it's where all of the most exciting tempo changes are. Christabel is a beautiful poem read by Sam Hardwick, a good way to close the album.

I think you should probably buy another Nightwish album first, mainly becuase if you buy this one first, you might get the wrong impression of Nightwish. I'd suggest buying Once first, because that will get you used to Nightwish's new sound. I do hope that whichever one you buy first, you enjoy!

It is almost painful for me to give this album such an "awful" review. I love Nightwish -- They are one of my favorite bands and I listen to every one of their CDs fanatically. However, unlike most of their other albums, I had to delete some tracks when I copied this to my computer using iTunes. This simply isn't one of their better albums, and it's a shame, because it easily could be.

This is the album where Nightwish started to get darker, harder, and faster (Faster Harder Nightwish, anyone?). That's perfectly okay, but this album is the transition point, and thus mediocre. It has some great songs, but it also has ones -- the ballades, mainly -- that fall flat. Some of the lyrics aren't up to par with other works; some the songs don't sound as good; some are just out-right boring. The others are absolutely beautiful, but as a result, make the other ones sound that much worse.

Like my Once review, I will now go into a song-by-song review, before summarizing my thoughts. If you don't care about the songs individually, you may of course skip through it.

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Bless the Child (4/5) - A wonderful way to start off the album. The lyrics are excellent, the song itself is beautiful, and it leads perfectly into the next song. The only reason it isn't 5/5 is because it gets dull. The song is six minutes long, but unlike some of Nightwish's song, after a while one begins to notice how long it is and get a little bored with it. For the occasional listen, however, it sounds lovely.

End of All Hope (4/5) - This song is almost half the length of Bless the Child, not to mention heavier and more "metal". I don't think it needs to be said that the lyrics are a tad cheesy -- just look at the title -- but it doesn't detract from the song; there is some decent imagery in it if one ignores how obvious the meaning is. The melody and Tarja's singing match perfectly, making up for the so-so lyrics and making it one of my favorite songs on the album.

Dead to the World (4/5) - The lyrics to this song are positively beautiful, and some of the keyboard pieces are insanely awesome. However, I am not fond of Marco's voice, and seeing as he sings most of this song, that detracts from the track in my opinion. The fast tempo and melody are brilliant, however, and Tarja's voice makes the song more tolerable. I just couldn't give this song below 4/5, all things considered.

Ever Dream (5/5) - I don't know what it is about this song, but one day I feel in love with it, and have listened obsessively to it since. The lyrics aren't that great, but the song itself is gorgeous. It's one of Nightwish's heavier "ballades", with a piano and strings complementing the guitars very well and producing a gorgeous melody. Tarja sounds heavenly, and the last minute or so of the song is chilling in how gorgeous it sounds. I normally don't like a song that has mediocre lyrics, but this is wonderful enough to make an exception.

Slaying the Dreamer (4/5) - One of those standard heavy songs that you have to love. The lyrics are strangely interesting, and it took me a lot longer than it should have to figure out what they're about; that's normally a good thing for me. Marco, when he appears for a brief moment, sounds better than he did before, and adds to the song. The melody itself is standard metal -- crazy guitar riffs and the works -- but it fits the song, so it's all good.

Forever Yours (2/5) - Nightwish can produce some great ballades. This is not one of them. It's very slow, but the melody is dull, the lyrics are uninteresting, and Tarja doesn't sound nearly as beautiful as she usually does. Also, I prefer heavy metal to wake me up, not put me to sleep. I have listened to this song so little that I can't say much more than that.

Ocean Soul (3/5) - It's better than Forever Yours, at least, but that may only be because it's heavier. I used to love this song, and indeed the beginning is rather pretty. However, the melody and Tarja sound standard, and the lyrics don't help it, being they are too dry and, well, standard. It's not bad, but there is nothing that stands out, dropping its rating.

Feel for You (2/5) - A Forever Yours clone, except with better lyrics. The only problem is that they're about very similar, if not identical, topics. So while Feel for You does have pretty imagery, it feels as if one has heard it before.

The Phantom of the Opera (3/5) - Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. It's like Ocean Soul; nothing in particular stands out. Tarja sounds good and hits the high notes as expected, Marco actually sounds pretty decent, and the melody is what I imagine a heavier version of the Broadway song sounds like. However, like Bless the Child, it gets dull after a while, and is only good for the occasional listen.

Beauty of the Beast (4/5) - The middle part of this song is the best, shortly followed by the third. The first part is pretty, but a tad slow, and generally it's not a good idea to start a ten-minute song off slowly. However, once beyond that part, one forgets it's so long because it turns fast and spectacular. I love the lyrics and many times have been tempted to sing them down the hallway of my high school to see what happens.

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Overall, six of the ten songs are a good listen, which is a little lower than normal Nightwish quality, but not bad. Here are some of its main flaws:

Variety: Once has the same issue; for some reason, Nightwish's modern albums have variety problems. The two ballades on the album sound nearly identical. Bless the Child and Beauty of the Beast are somewhat similar, and some of the faster tracks also sound rather similar, or even "standard" for metal. The only song I can think of that stands on its own is Ever Dream (I'm not counting Phantom of the Opera seeing as it isn't theirs).

Lyrics: One of my favorite aspects of Nightwish is their lyrics; even when they about something as pointless as a bad day they still sound wonderful. However, in this album, many of the lyrics aren't very poetic, and in some cases are just dry and dull. Lyrics are very important for me in a band; a band or song has to be just plain brilliant for me to even remotely consider listening to them if they have cheap lyrics. Some of the songs on this album don't have that brilliance to counteract the lyrics.

That is it for glaring flaws; I also mentioned minor ones before and during the song reviews. As for the positive aspects? Tarja and Marco sing very well in this album. The band itself sounds wonderful in many of the songs, complementing the orchestra. I'm fairly certain this is the first album of Nightwish's to feature an orchestra, so they did well on the first try. Speaking of first tries, considering how different this is from their other albums, Nightwish did very well making it sound great without losing their style.

It is, in the end, not an awful album. It has its great songs that one may listen to obsessively, and it is a pretty good transition point to a different Nightwish style. If it weren't for those few songs that detract from it, I would happily give the album four stars, but alas, I am a perfectionist and those few songs lower the rating.

I would recommend the album to people who are already familiar with Nightwish, but Oceanborn or Wishmaster may be better for people who are just trying out the band.

Thank you for reading, and happy listening!

I take it a lot of people do not like this album because (whine whine) there's growling on it! A gutteral singer has no place on an album with the brilliant Tarja, right?

Wrong. Tuomas was the one who was out of place on the debut, and Marco does a great job filling in his old position. That is why he is singing on this one, right? Marco's vocals can hardly be described as "growling" anyway in those few places where he sounds a little rougher. Pick up some black or death metal (make sure it's not Cradle of Filth though...that's not real growling either) and you'll know what growling really sounds like.

As for this album, it is simply breathtaking. Wishmaster was too epic, Oceanborn a little too experimental for my taste, and this one slides in right between the two. It is not as pop as Once, which is also a plus. Tarja tones down the operatic vocals after Wishmaster, as everyone has pointed out, but that does not mean a great deal of her impact has been lost. Quite the contrary, "Dead To The World", "Slaying The Dreamer", and the cover, "Phantom Of The Opera", all have the same intensity as anything off Wishmaster, but some of the cheesiness has been lost (thank goodness).

So far, they have not gone with The Gathering and become overly pop. Let us cross our fingers that Once is not a sign of them continuing down that road and that their next album will be as much a pleasant surprise as this one.

I cannot believe the negative things I have heard about Century Child. A band decides they don't want to do the same thing over and over again and all of a sudden they're being blasphemed? What is everyone's problem? AAAAGGHHHHH!!!

Sorry, just needed to let my frustration out. Anyways, here we have it, Nightwish's fourth masterpiece. And a masterpiece it is. I consider Century Child to be one of Nightwish's best works so far (my second favorite actually, just under Oceanborn which was slightly more diverse). Rather than cloning 2000's Wishmaster (which in my honest opinion fell a bit flat), the band decided to lessen the use of Tarja's high-pitched singing, slow down their songs to a more laid-back tempo, and just continue to do what they do best: make beautiful music.

Personally, I prefer Tarja's "clean" singing over the operatic alternative - both are great, and contrast each other well, but there's something about her calmer vocals that really send chills down my spine. Tuomas Holopainen, mastermind and keyboardist behind Nightwish, once again strikes gold with his newest collection of songs. New member Marco Hietala (ex-Sinergy/Tarot) camouflages himself into the band quite well, adding some bass lines that pack a punch and some decent vocals too. Emppu slows things down a bit, offering heavier riffs, that aren't quite downtuned, but considerably close. His work on "Slaying the Dreamer" eerily reminds me of Metallica. Of course, Jukka's always been an excellent drummer, and here he's no different.

Highlights for me include the beautiful opener "Bless the Child", the fast 'n' heavy "End of All Hope", the beautiful single "Ever Dream", the tender ballad "Forever Yours", the catchy-as-hell "Ocean Soul" and the epic cover of "the Phantom of the Opera".

Just a great album. Buy it if you have any musical taste whatsoever - you'll love it!

10/10