Nightwish Albums Ranked

Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Nevalainen, and then bassist Sami Vänskä after the release of their debut album, Angels Fall First (1997). In 2001, Vänskä was replaced by Marko Hietala, who also took over the male vocalist role previously filled by Holopainen or guest singers. Nightwish is the third-best-selling band and musical entity in Finland with certified sales of nearly 900,000 certified copies. The group is also the most successful Finnish band worldwide, selling more than 9 million records, and receiving more than 60 gold and platinum awards, having released six Number 1 albums and thirteen Number 1 singles. On October 26, 2018, Nightwish was inducted into the Finnish Music Hall of Fame, becoming the honorary gallery’s 11th member. Here are all of Nightwish’s albums ranked.

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10. Human. :II: Nature. (2020)

“The singing is what I can only describe as “Unusually frequent jumpiness”. Across my first couple of listens, I hated it. I thought it was pointless and it took center stage for all the wrong reasons! Across subsequent listens, this style did begin to grow on me. Looking past the descriptive aspect of these vocals, it becomes apparent that these are complex vocals which harmonize beautifully with the underlying music, which is itself also fairly complex.”

9. Angels Fall First (1997)

“A great debut album, which already showed the Nightwish sound. Also, Tuomas Holopainen does some of the vocals here, and I think he could still be doing it on the more recent albums as well, though it seems he has let the male voice parts go to Marco. Whereas Marco has a more brutal voice Tuomas has a nice depth in his, which I think would suit some parts better. If I recall right, “The Carpenter” was the first Nightwish song I ever heard, and that was immediate love for the sound of the band, a sound, which I think did improve for a good bit with time.”

8. Highest Hopes: The Best Of Nightwish (2005)

“This is probably one of those albums that give a good introduction to a band, if not familiar with it before. Still, I feel the track order is something that I dislike rather much. It somehow feels like a very messy thing, without a real balance with the tracks. And also my own personal choice of tracks would be quite much more different, with more focus on the older material. Rarely played by me, as a I prefer listening to the original studio albums rather than this compilation.”

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7. Wishmaster (2000)

“The album starts strongly with three good tracks. ‘Wanderlust’ is next and I have this sudden feeling of deja vu. Hang on, I’ve been here before, back at ‘Gethsemane’. Never mind though, the feeling soon passes and it’s time for a bit of a nap as we get to ‘Two for Tragedy’. I’m immediately awakened though by ‘Wishmaster’, perhaps the best track on this album.”

6. Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015)

“Endless Forms Most Beautiful is arguably quite a self-important and bloated release. It’s a nearly 79-minute long album with a cosmic concept and a symphonic orchestra, so it’s fair to guess that “more is always better” is a major guiding principle behind it.”

5. Oceanborn (1998)

“This is probably one of the more experimental Nightwish releases, with the material going in quite many different directions as the album goes forward. Still it sounds very much like Nightwish. I think this album is a good way of proving that Tuomas Holopainen actually has a good mind for composing stuff, and after the true experimental phase of Nightwish on this album, I think Tuomas got quite clear visions for the future in what direction he wanted the band to get, as some parts of the experimental phase heard here did vanish in the future releases of the band.”

4. Imaginaerum, (2011)

“Imaginaerum is a concept album about an old, dying artist and his thoughts. However, it doesn’t really follow a specific story as much it simply features various poetic scenarios and thoughts about life, art and death from this general framing. It often reads like an author tract in defense of imagination and openness to experience – generally quite wholesome stuff, and although it has a darker side, it feels like it’s handled with increased maturity compared to any previous Nightwish album.”

3. Dark Passion Play (2007)

“I think this album pretty much proves Nightwish can change vocalists, and still remain a very good band. Tuomas Holopainen shows that he can write music for more than one vocalist (and probably more than one band as well). Really pompous, emotional and at times rather angry material, which probably reflects in various real-life things. Great melodies, and for once a very good symphonic metal album, where the symphonies actually suit in to the rest of the material really well.”

2. Century Child (2002)

“The best Nightwish album by miles. While the previous ones were a little immature or a little too power, and the followers are a little bit boring / have awful singers, this one is just perfect. Ten songs of greatness and beauty. You have ballads (the heart breaking “Forever Yours”, the enchanting “Ever Dream”) and heavy songs (“Dead to the World” and “Slaying the Dreamer”, which are the ones I like the less, and the super funny “End of All Hope”), but my favorites are “Bless the Child”, “Phantom of the Opera”, and of course my favorite Nightwish song: “Beauty of the Beast”. But all of these songs would need a special mention. I haven’t mentioned the lyrics yet! I think Tuomas was the best lyricist ever existed at that time. He used to write pure poetry.”

1. Once (2004)

“‘Once’ was the album that got me into the band and gave me a huge appreciation of the genre. I quickly fell in love with it, but over time, I appreciate other albums of theirs more than this. The album overall, is very bombastic, and has a large orchestra backing the tracks. It opens with “Dark Chest Of Wonders” which is just ace; it is fast, heavy, melodic, and features great symphonic elements. Next is “I Wish I Had An Angel” which has a strange Pop beat, then the ballad- like “Nemo” follows. These are very commercial songs for Nightwish. After that, you get more variation and experimentation. “Creek Mary’s Blood” has some Native Indian style chanting, and “Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan” is a ballad with Finnish lyrics. “Ghost Love Score” is simply epic, clocking in around 10 minutes, but keeps you entertained throughout. I think Tarja has a softer, cleaner tone to her vocals on this album, and it was her last studio album with the band.”