Prior to the popular discovery of Evanescence and their crossover success there was Nightwish who rightfully deserve all the respect and fans that Evanescence receives. On the other hand to some extent I can’t complain because I’m sure their exposure has opened the doors more for Nightwish to a wider audience.

Nightwish has played the states twice before, once at the esteemed Progpower festival in Atlanta and the famous Lamours in Brooklyn. Now they have returned to do a stint of dates in the states with a much rumored full tour to occur in 2005.

The venue was a packed house, and deservedly so because many of these Power/Prog Metal giants from the European countries have more fans in the states than they realize.

Even though their new disc “Once” has not officially been released in the U.S., they opened up the show with “Dark Chest of Wonders” and “Planet Hell” followed by crowd favorite “Come Cover Me” from “Wishmaster” and the haunting “Phantom of the Opera” off “Oceanborn”. The reaction to the newer tracks was so good that the crowd already new most of them showing that the new album has already made its mark regardless of an official domestic release, thus solidifying the power of Nightwish.

The beautiful voice and presence of Tarja instantly captured the audience’s attention with the siren utilizing all facets of her range showing there are no smoke and mirrors behind her in the studio. She stands both as a symbol of power and grace both in presence and voice. The rest of the band also stand as a force, creating a semi Gothic influenced, orchestrated Metal that reflects its namesake. Keyboards back the heavy guitars forming a cinematic and dramatic feel to each composition with Tarja’s voice generating a smooth gracefulness to the Metal backbone. Each member’s instrumentation has its place with no room for a muddy sound, guitars are crunchy, drums rumble and keyboards fill out their sound.

Tracks like “Wish I Had An Angel” and the pounding “Slaying the Dreamer” showed their punch with Tarja banging her head with the best. They also did a cover of “Symphony of Destruction” by Megadeth, where lead singer Tarja left the stage and backing vocals, usually done by the bass player who also on occasion takes the helm for some verses, took center stage. It was also accompanied on keyboards by Jens Johannson from Stratovarius (another fantastic band from Finland who are LONG OVERDUE to play the states), and the reaction to Jen’s presence showed in the crowd. Yes Timo, it’s time to get your band back on track and to the U.S!

Nightwish are to be recognized as the next generation of Heavy Metal legends along with other notables like, and yes I have said this before, Blind Guardian, Stratovarius, Gamma Ray, Edguy, Iced Earth, and Angra to name a few.