''Over the Hills and Far Away'' is the first EP by Finnish

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 ...

, released on 25 June 2001 through Spinefarm Records in Finland, and

Drakkar Records Drakkar Entertainment GmbH, also called Drakkar Records or Drakkar Publishing, is a German record label with its headquarters in Witten. It is a joint venture with Bertelsmann Music Group. History Originally Kopec Music Publishing, Drakkar En ...

in the rest of Europe. It was also released by Toy's Factory in Japan and

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

in the US. Bassist Sami Vänskä left the band after its recording, due to musical differences between him and Tuomas Holopainen. He was replaced by the bassist and male vocalist,

Marko Hietala Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic ...

. The editions by Drakkar and Century Media contain different live tracks taken from the live DVD '' From Wishes to Eternity'', recorded in Tampere, Finland, on 29 December 2000. The EP debuted at number one on the Finnish Singles Chart and spent twelve weeks in the top three, topping it for another four weeks and spending six weeks at number two. It charted for a total of 49 weeks, including two weeks in early 2004. The EP has been awarded double-platinum certification in Finland and has sold over 36,000 copies to date, becoming the sixth-best-selling single of all time in Finland. ''Over the Hills and Far Away'' entered also the European charts, in the Top 100 of Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland. The EP has two new songs and a remake of '' Angels Fall First's'' "Astral Romance", sung by Tony Kakko beside Tarja Turunen. The title song is by Northern Irish singer and guitarist

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

, and has backing vocals by Tuomas Holopainen and Kakko. "It had a bit of a karaoke vibe because the backing track was so similar," Moore observed. "I don't mean that insultingly, but it was almost identical. I believe they're a pretty big band now, so it's cool that they did it." Tapio Wilska sings on "10th Man Down".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Over the Hills and Far Away'' adapted from liner notes.(2001). "''Over the Hills and Far Away'' liner notes". In ''Over the Hills and Far Away''

D booklet D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...

Spinefarm. Nightwish * Tarja Turunen – vocals * Tuomas Holopainen – keyboards, backing vocals on "Over the Hills and Far Away", mixing *Emppu Vuorinen – guitars * Sami Vänskä – bass guitar, cover photo * Jukka Nevalainen – drums Additional musicians * Tapio Wilska – vocals on "10th Man Down" * Tony Kakko – vocals on "Astral Romance", backing vocals on "Over the Hills and Far Away" Production *Tero Kinnunen – producer, mixing, recording *Mikko Karmila – recording, mixing *Mika Jussila – mastering

Charts

Certifications

References

External links