First of all,
Oceanborn is a huge step when thinking about
Nightwish's debut album,
Angels Fall First. All the elements of
folk music and ambience are forgotten, and instead
Nightwish have concentrated on using
Tarja Turunen's wide voice and playing pure
heavy metal. Or, well, another description could be
opera metal. Drama and a variety of melodies are used and effective, but overrule all expectations. Songs are catchy, but they have a long lifetime. Also, the whole band does great work: even though they seem like another
Dream Theater-wannabe,
Holopainen and
Vuorinen use their instruments with patience and don't slope into unneeded tricking. So everything seems to be alright, but the album as a whole lacks a little bit of diversity, and sometimes falls into repeating itself. The songs are, however, very strong, and the album as a whole works great.
Oceanborn is, so far,
Nightwish's most successful album. ~ Antti J. Ravelin
