Nightwish – End Of Innocence

End Of Innocence, released in 2002, is not the typical band DVD. There are videos, concert performances, photograph galleries in the “Extra” option and there is an “Extra of the Extra’s” option. The main choice is a documentary, or interview, with Tuomas Holopainen, Jukka Nevalainen, Tapio Wilska (yes, he is not in the band but he has done guest vocals and is a friend and apparent drinking buddy as you see on this DVD).
The DVD has many humorous moments: the boat motor that won’t start, Tuomas musing over the lyric “The scent of a woman was not mine…” as being not something a man would write, Jukka still wondering about the oak leave pictures and still not getting the reason for them, Tapio thinking something was wrong with Tuomas on the release of Century Child because the lyrics seemed so sad…

The island they are on, owned by Tuomas’s family, is also the same place Nightwish came into being; the place immortalized in Sacrament Of Wilderness from Oceanborn. There is a small dwelling on the island where much of the interview takes place, the sky is overcast and from the chosen attire worn by the people the weather is growing cooler. Along with the booze and the intimate setting, the pace of the documentary is slow and mellow, and relaxed: just three friends taking a day out to reflect and muse.

There are outtakes from backstage, in the studio while making Century Child, on the tour bus, at hotel’s; the band and crew playing pranks on each other and other bands, Tuomas in the state of F.U.B.A.R. and being led to his hotel room where he is lain on his bed. The crew, having noticed something peculiar with Marco Hietala, put a camera on an amplifier and recorded just a single concert and what he was doing (I’m not going to say but the look on his face when he notices the camera is priceless), and what a concert sounds like behind the drums while playing.
The interview is informative, introspective, and a bit nostalgic to the point of sadness as the discussion goes back and forth from the earlier times of the band to the recorded present. It is this intimacy that makes End Of Innocence compelling, so much so that the extra content seems piddling by comparison.

This DVD is still in circulation in the United States and can be purchased, counting whatever retailer you patronize has a distributor that carries releases not widely known (my CD store here in Missoula, Montana does, yeah me! Got me Kiske/Somerville, but the owner carries a wide selection of metal music from Europe).

Listing for End Of Innocence:

01: “The Whole Story” Documentary/interview

Extra:

01: Videos: Over The Hills And Far Away
                   End Of All Hope

02: Photo Gallery
03: Interview with Mtv Brazil
04: Live performance in Oslo, Norway (4^th of July, 2003)
      01: Sleeping Sun
      02: Wild Child (W.A.S.P. cover)
      03: Beauty And The Beast
      04: She’s My Sin
      05: Slaying The Dreamer

05: The Extra Of The Extra’s

Live performance at Summer Breeze Festival 2002
      01: End Of All Hope
      02: Dead To The World
      03: 10^th Man Down
      04: Slaying The Dreamer
      05: Over The Hills And Far Away
      06: Sleeping Sun

Supposedly, there is a hidden outtake of Tarja singing an Acapella version of Sleepwalker. I have never been able to unlock this.

End Of Innocence is worth the money you will spend on it. If you attempt to download it you will not get anything but the documentary if pirating. If you like Nightwish buy the damn thing and support the band (that goes for any band you like. If they don’t make money how can they continue making music?)

Nightwish – Century Child

Released in 2002, Century Child, the fourth full length studio album from Nightwish, was a return to a more personal theme than was apparent on Wishmaster.
Century Child has a major theme, that of the character Dead Boy/ Lonely Soul/ ocean soul, Tuomas Holopainen’s not alter-ego but the childlike innocence once inside him; although the charcter does not appear in every song.

Century Child is also the first album (but not song) recorded entirely with bassist  Marco Hietala, who also sings lead and co-lead vocals on a couple songs and backup vocals throughout the album.

It is hard to describe the album as anything but very focused and well produced. The band seem to have calmed down from youthful exuberance to seasoned musician (it’s no wonder why the DVD released after the ensuing tour was aptly titled End Of Innocence).

There are many stand-outs on this album both vocally and musically. Slaying The Dreamer has Tarja Turunen singing in lower tones with a hint of coming malice that crescendos to Marco Hietala’s angry demonic scream/growling tirade against the business end of music, be what it may.
Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom Of The Opera is suprisingly excellent and even better live. Again, it is the malicelike quality, this time in the male vocals of Hietala, that bring a depth to the song not heard in the play or the movie version. After all, there is a reason people are afraid of the phantom and Nightwish touched upon that reason better than anyone has.

Tracklisting for Century Child:
01: Bless The Child*
02: End Of All Hope*
03: Dead To The World*
04: Ever Dream
05: Slaying The Dreamer
06: Forever Yours*
07: Ocean Soul*
08: Feel For You
09: The Phantom Of The Opera
10: Beauty Of The Beast

Released with the the single of Bless The Child were two extra songs not on the album, Lagoon and The Wayfarer. Lagoon, to me, is almost another Ocean Soul and has a sound reminiscent of Sleepwalker.

(The astrix [*] at the end of a title denotes that the Dead Boy/ Lonely Soul/ Ocean Soul is mentioned and/or explained within the lyrics)

Tuomas Holopainen has said that the song Ocean Soul, for personal reasons, has never and will never be performed during a live performance.