nightwish, oceanborn

The name Nightwish unfortunately brings mixed emotions into the metal conversation, but Oceanborn and Wishmaster should not. There’s a reason Tuomas had the title be the very second word on the first song of Endless Forms Most Beautiful. He wanted us to think they were “back.” It’s a shame, because for about six minutes they fooled me. Forget the fat goth Hot Topic audience, forget Tuomas’ Jack Sparrow posturing, forget the orchestras, and forget the fact that they descended into Evanescence pantomime shortly after the Over The Hills and Far Away EP. Oceanborn is an 80s metal classic telling the Nirvanas, the Soundgardens, the Machine Heads, the Tools and the Panteras to take their groovy, atonal backwash crap and shove it back up their ass.