Magnus

It's a great album, but I think you're right in that most hardcore fans suffer from "Once fatigue" at this point. It feels like they barely let Dark Chest of Wonders, Wish I Had an Angel, Nemo and Ghost Love Score rest for more than half a tour at most. I don't expect them to just stop playing songs from this album, but I'm crossing my fingers that the next tour will feature other songs from it in their place - like The Siren, Higher Than Hope and even something as obscure as White Night Fantasy.

Not only that, but they recorded two shows and while Floor was feeling a bit under the weather during one of them and thus might not be too pleased with her overall performance in that one, I am confident the other one was great and that the inferior show can still be used as back up to replace any mistakes and flaws found in the main one. That's a really good way to preserve the live atmosphere without having to rely on melodyne and other studio tools as a more convenient but unconvincing way to do it. I really want Dead Boy's Poem and Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean to be the promotional videos for this release. Maybe also the Kinslayer. Pretty please let it not be anything from Once, Dark Passion Play, Imaginaerum or EFMB. Those already have enough official representation on YouTube, with or without Floor on vocals.

I think Dark Passion Play outsold Once actually.

I'd like an update as much as everyone else, but I don't see any reason to worry about it being cancelled. It wouldn't surprise me if they just announce a release date out of nowhere and it's just a month later or something.

Nightwish is definitely bigger than Evanescence in Europe at this point. Evanescence has like 3 songs that people know and they're all almost two decades old. There really is no comparison. Are they bigger than Tarja though? I don't know. I feel like that probably varies from country to country. They're big enough to not be an opening act, but then again I feel like Tarja is way past that point as well and a double bill seems more appropriate. And I'm only talking about Europe now of course. I'm happy to hear that the new album will feature more of her personal input. That's when she shines the brightest, I think. But I've already talked about this in greater detail in the past so no need to elaborate on it again. The first single is a bit meh, but then again that's usually the case regardless of whether the album is a hit or not.

They're not a minority and they're not oppressed. Context is key. Being intolerant of intolerance isn't the same as not letting someone speak their mind just because you disagree with their views. You would never use this kind of Devil's advocacy about Hitler, would you? And yes, I just invoked Godwin's Law here, but it serves its purpose. Why on earth would anyone rush to Hitler's defence and claim people who disagreed with his unquestionably vile views were being "intolerant" and thus "bigots"? The point I'm trying to make here is that the word "bigot" is not used in this context. It's a word that collectively describes people with prejudice, hateful and/or harmful opinions and actions against marginalised people (in other words, people who are sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic etc - I think you get the picture). It's never used in the context of two people simply not respecting each other's personal opinions about trivial matters.

And I agree with Himiko, in that defending homophobia just to criticise a fellow forum member for the way they word their posts is not a hill anyone who's got their priorities right should be willing to die on. If you genuinely think that I am being dismissive of other people's opinions in general, why out of all my posts would you choose quote this one? I would like to believe that you just happened to quote this particular post without thinking about what kind of stand you'd take in doing so. I'll gladly apologise if you think I've been rude to you in general. And I'd mean it too. But don't expect me to be anything but unapologetic in my defence of human and equal rights. I'm not going to mince my words when it comes to such an important issue. To quote Bill Maher; "don't get so tolerant that you tolerate intolerance". Which is exactly what you're doing when you implicitly argue that I need to respect people who don't believe in something so basic as equality. The answer to that is no, I most certainly do not need to respect everyone who reacted to Within Temptation's message about love and understanding with anger and vitriol. I don't care if being called out on their blatant homophobia hurts their feelings. They are objectively speaking the oppressors, not the oppressed.

That's not how it works. I don't expect to be loved by all, but I've never called someone a bigot for simply disagreeing with me about something as trivial as taste in music. I've never threatened or thrown personal insults at people whom I've disagreed with. If you are a homophobe, then you are a bigot. Period. People don't choose their sexuality, just like they don't choose the colour of their skin. People's natural state of being are not opinions you can disagree with.

I honestly would never have guessed that Imaginaerum would turn out to be such a sleeper hit. It got a good reception back when it was first released, but I've seen so many people praising it since as one of their very best even after a lot of time has passed (not just fans, but journalists and professional music critics too).

Good on Within Temptation for promoting equality and sticking it to the bigots.

June is the first month of summer, so I'd argue it is.

Century Child - I love how thematically driven it is. Almost perfect too. The Phantom of the Opera should have remained a b-side, whereas The Wayfarer and even Lagoon deserved to be on the main album. Dark Passion Play - Pop vocals alone does not a pop album make. I do appreciate the studio recordings, but the songs truly come alive when performed by the current line-up. Imaginaerum - It sadly loses momentum halfway through the album, as Arabesque heats up the "winter magic" soundscape and is followed by a couple of songs that invoke a campfire vibe. It's not so much that the songs themselves don't fit in, but rather the arrangements. It then finds its way back on track with Last Ride of the Day. Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Great songwriting all around, if a bit on the safe side. Our Decades in the Sun still has me all teary-eyed. Oceanborn - Heavy and melodic, but also very playful. I'm still having issues getting into Pharaoh, but other than that it's golden. Once - A collection of well-written yet seemingly random songs. Wishmaster - I feel a bit bad for placing this so low on the list, because it's still a very competent album - but it's a testament to how great their overall body of work is. I think it's biggest flaw is that many of the songs sort of just blend into one another. Two for Tragedy is still one of their best ballads though. Angels Fall First - A good first effort, hinting at the greatness that would follow.

The album is great. You can hear some similarities with Tarot, but there's also a lot of Finnish melancholia in there as well as some prog elements. It's very Marko in the same way that "Scrooge" is very Tuomas - in the best possible way.

Wouldn't mind seeing both TDC and DYU remastered and re-released with all official b-sides as bonus tracks

Late reply, but the name is of German origin. We've got our own variation of it here in Sweden: Annika. Similar but not identical pronunciation. Yeah, I don't think either song is anything special. I feel like these two songs highlight the difference between not knowing how to write for a specific voice and having the singer explore the softer side of it to bring forth the intended emotions and what the music requires (Endless Forms Most Beautiful).