[2007] Dark Passion Play – Nightwish

Dark Passion Play is the sixth studio album by Finnish symphonic power metal quintet Nightwish, released on September 26, 2007 in Finland, September 28 in Europe and October 2, 2007 in the United States. It was the first Nightwish album with the band’s new lead singer, Anette Olzon, and the first album not featuring former vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was dismissed in October 2005. Lead songwriter Tuomas Holopainen has referred to it as the ‘album that saved his life’.

The album has spawned five singles: “Eva”, released on May 25, 2007, “Amaranth”, released on August 22, “Erämaan viimeinen”, released on December 5 in Finland only, “Bye Bye Beautiful”, released on February 15, 2008, and The Islander”, released on May 21. Three music videos were filmed to accompany the album’s singles: The first two, “Amaranth” and “Bye Bye Beautiful” were both shot in Los Angeles, USA, in spring 2007 and cost 270,000€. The “Amaranth” video was released together with the single on August 22, and “Bye Bye Beautiful” on February 15. The third music video, “The Islander”, was finished in October, 2007, in Rovaniemi, Finland, and released in April, 2008. Holopainen has stated that at first they were planning not to shoot another video for Dark Passion Play, but when they were offered to make the video in a town with traditional Finnish nature, they couldn’t refuse.

The first single, “Eva”, was leaked on the Internet six days before its official release, prompting the band to release the single earlier to boost downloads. Several other versions of the song were posted on YouTube and torrent sites a month later. The entire album with record label voiceovers had been leaked on the Internet by August 2. The full album (without voiceovers) was leaked on September 21, 2007, as a result of several stores in Mexico selling the retail album much prior to the worldwide release date. The video for the album’s fourth single “Bye Bye Beautiful” was leaked early on YouTube and similar sites.

During the first week of its release, the album entered the European charts as number one in 6 different countries, it sold over 130,000 copies in Finland alone, where was certified with 4 Platinum Discs. Worldwide, Dark Passion Play sold more than 1.5 milion copies between 2007 and 2009, being Nightwish’s most successful album.

Info:

Artist: Nightwish
Album: Dark Passion Play
Release Date: September 26, 2007
Genre: Symphonic power metal
Label: Nuclear Blast, Spinefarm, Roadrunner
File Size: 120MB

Tracklist:

1 The Poet And the Pendulum
2 Bye Bye Beautiful
3 Amaranth
4 Cadence of Her Last Breath
5 Master Passion Greed
6 Eva
7 Sahara
8 Whoever Brings The Night
9 For The Heart I Once Had
10 The Islander
11 Last of the Wilds
12 7 Days of the Wolves
13 Meadows of Heaven

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Category: Rock