Nightwish at the opera

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If you are unfamiliar with the Nightwish sound, think Euro power metal (Halloween, Blind Gaurdian, Iron Maiden) crossed with operatic vocals. I belive that singer Taja is actually a trained opera singer: she certainly has a very powerful yet beautifully soothing voice.

The band is very tight indeed. Keyboards predominate; a nice change from some metal bands whose keyboards tend to get drowned out by the guitars. Nightwish's set consists mainly of material from their new album Once along with a few older numbers such as Bless the child and Gethersome. Despite these mainly unfamiliar songs, they engage well with the audience, working the crowd masterfully.

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Shaddows somewhat dim

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This, clearly, is the sound that Shaddows Fall are trying to recapture and repackage for a younger audience unfamiliar with the likes of Testament, Death Angel and Exodus. Their performance, however, lacks the subtle variation in time and tempo of those earlier bands. They are simply too mechanically relentless (or perhaps I am an old fogey stuck in the mid-eighties).

Shaddows Fall redeem themselves somewhat by ending with a terrific cover of Motley Crue's Live Wire. This goes down a storm with those few in the audience who know it. Most of the crowd here tonight, however, would not have been born when this song first came out.

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