Showtime, Storytime

It's been a bit since I've featured anything female fronted. So lets change that with some Nightwish. Perhaps the biggest band to come out of the Symphonic/Opera Metal scene, Nightwish has been turning out albums since '96. The band once thought to be constant and never changing has gone through a few lineup changes in the past decade. Now on lead vocalist number three. The band has enlisted former After Forever frontwoman Floor Jansen. And really what better way to debut her vocal talents than on a double live album.

'Showtime, Storytime' was recorded Live at the Wacken Open Air Festival on August 3rd, 2013 and the album was released a few months later in November. This marks the debut of Floor on vocals and she kills it. A perfect fit, that most fans thought would replace Tarja when she was fired by the band. Floor fills in where Tarja left off with an amazing versatile vocal range and it shows on in the Live environment. This album captures the bands more recently material, covering some of the more well known Nightwish tracks. While I wish this album went a little deeper into the bands catalog, it's a good starting point to show off the new members.

Nightwish continues to release new material with the upcoming release, 'Endless Forms Most Beautiful', the bands first official studio album with the new members. I will continue to say that Nightwish is a good starting point for people not necessarily into Metal. While it's a bit different, and to some hard to take in, it does show that there are other sides to an ever growing genre.

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