Angels Fall First Explained

Angels Fall First
Type:studio
Artist:Nightwish
Cover:Nightwish Angels Fall First.jpg
Alt:A nighttime image with a tree far in the distance and the moon above in the skyline. The sky is a dark black and the image colors fade to a bright red near the tree.
Recorded:April–September 1997
Studio:Huvikeskus (Kitee)
Genre:
Length:51:29
Label:Spinefarm
Producer:
Chronology:Nightwish studio album
Next Title:Oceanborn
Next Year:1998

Angels Fall First is the debut studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, originally released by Spinefarm Records on 30 September 1997 as a 500-copy limited edition.[1] This edition is highly sought after by collectors and in 2012 a copy was sold for $1137.23 on eBay.[2] It was subsequently released to the general public on 1 November, with four additional songs. The album was released in the US by Century Media in March 2001.[3]

Angels Fall First is a power metal album with gothic, folk and classical elements.

Background

Tuomas Holopainen wrote the music for the album during his time in the Finnish Army.[4] In a 2008 interview with the British magazine Kerrang!, 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.[5]

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 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".[6]

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".[7] Following this release, Holopainen never sang credited on an album again, because he thought that he was not good enough.[7]

Track listing

See main article: List of Angels Fall First editions.

Personnel

All information from the album booklet.[8]

Nightwish

Additional musician

Production

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: First album out . Nightwish's Official Website . 1 November 1997 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091006112921/http://www.nightwish.com/en/news/archive?month=11&year=1997 . 6 October 2009 . 25 August 2014 .
  2. Web site: Nightwish - Angels Fall First limited 500 copies, Metallica, Exodus, Overkill . Heavy Metal CD.com . 13 April 2014 .
  3. Web site: Nightwish releases to hit the USA . Nightwish's Official Website . 22 February 2001 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100102072220/http://nightwish.com/en/news/archive?month=02&year=2001 . 2 January 2010 . 25 August 2014 .
  4. Web site: Everley. Dave. How Nightwish became a modern metal phenomenon. Metal Hammer. Team Rock. 2 January 2016. 8 December 2015.
  5. Web site: Tilastot - Nightwish . fi . . 25 August 2014 .
  6. Web site: Chat Transcript: Friday 17th June . 17 June 2011 . 21 November 2011 . Tuomas-Holopainen.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111018202517/http://www.tuomas-holopainen.com/index.php/en/interviews/85-chat-transcript-friday-17th-june . 18 October 2011 .
  7. Web site: Nightwish - Interview With Tuomas Holopainen . Lahtinen . Luxi . Metal-Rules.com . November 2002 . 13 April 2014 .
  8. (1997). "Angels Fall First liner notes". In Angels Fall First [CD booklet]. Spinefarm.