''Angels Fall First'' is the debut studio album by

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

, originally released by

Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is a Finnish independent record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. History Spinefarm Records was originally founded in 1990 by Riku Pääkkönen as a mail-order distrib ...

on 1 November 1997. The original 500-copy limited edition features seven tracks, two of which are not on the regular edition. This edition is highly sought after by collectors and in 2012 a copy was sold for $1137.23 on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

. The album was released in the US by

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in March 2001. ''Angels Fall First'' is a

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

album with

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and classical elements.

Background

Tuomas Holopainen Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish songwriter, record producer and musician, best known as one of the founders and the leader, keyboardist and songwriter of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that hi ...

wrote the music for the album during his time in the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army (Finnish: ''Maavoimat'', Swedish: ''Armén'') is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft ...

. In a 2008 interview with the British magazine ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'', Tuomas Holopainen remembered: The original pressing featured Holopainen's home contact address, an accident from reprinting the demo sleeve for the album. As of December 2009, ''Angels Fall First'' has sold more than 36,000 copies in Finland alone. The songs of the album were played more and more seldom live leading up the departure of vocalist

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half o ...

in October 2005, and no songs from the album were performed with vocalists

Anette Olzon Anette Ingegerd Olsson (born 21 June 1971), known by the stage name Anette Olzon, is a Swedish singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish from 2007 to 2012. She is also the vocalist of Swedish class ...

Floor Jansen Floor Jansen (; born 21 February 1981) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Jansen first became known as a member of symphonic metal band After Forever, standing as their lead vo ...

until the '' Decades: World Tour'' in 2018. The band, and especially band leader and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen has since frowned upon the album, considering it essentially an extended demo. In a 2011 interview, when asked what album other than ''

Imaginaerum ''Imaginaerum'' is the seventh studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released on 30 November 2011 by Scene Nation Oy and Sony Music in Finland, then on 2 December in Nuclear Blast in the rest of Europe and Roadrunner Re ...

'' Holopainen wanted to make into a movie, he replied that it would be ''Angels Fall First'', and that it would be "a black-and-white comedy". The male vocals heard on "Beauty and the Beast", "The Carpenter", "Astral Romance" and "Once Upon a Troubadour" are sung by keyboardist–band leader Tuomas Holopainen, as well as the whispers in the beginning of the demo version of "Etiäinen". Following this release, Holopainen never sang credited on an album again, because he thought that he was not good enough.

Track listing

Personnel

All information from the album booklet.(1997). "''Angels Fall First'' liner notes". In ''Angels Fall First'' D booklet Spinefarm. Nightwish *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

– keyboards, piano, male vocals (on track 2, 3, 4 & "Once Upon a Troubadour"), arrangements *Emppu Vuorinen – guitars, bass *

Jukka Nevalainen Jukka Antero "Julius" Nevalainen (born 21 April 1978, in Kitee, Finland) is the former drummer in the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Personal life He spent his early years in the city of Kitee. His music teacher at school told him t ...

– drums, percussion Additional musician *Esa Lehtinen – flute Production *Tero Kinnunen – engineering, mixing, recording *Mika Jussila – mastering *Garry Black – cover photo *Toni Härkönen – photography

Charts

Album

Singles

Certifications

References

Bibliography

External links

Nightwish's Official Website
{{Authority control Nightwish albums 1997 debut albums Spinefarm Records albums Finnish-language albums