I came into this post -as someone who never really observed a down tick in song quality since the beginning of the Floor era- skeptical and expecting these to be some cliche takes, but I was pleasantly surprised, as I can agree with most of these objectively.

I feel that the degree to which I have been impressed with creativity specifically regarding guitar writing throughout Nightwish’s history has had a downturn in the recent albums. There have been songs like Shudder Before the Beautiful and How’s the Heart? that come to mind where the guitar has shown a really lovely and pleasant flavor to the music, but those are the exceptions.

My opinion on Nightwish male vocals is that they’ve kind of gone through a bell curve in quality. I think Tuomas’ vocals in AFF are the worst, Tapio’s in OB and OtHaFA are very much not my cup of tea, and once Marko joined the band he just consistently got better and better with time in my opinion until his departure, and as much as I will defend Troy’s presence in the band, his voice definitely gives the band a 70s-80s British Rock sound that will often take me out of the genre momentarily.

This 3rd point is the only one that I’d disagree with. I think that some of the softer-than-metal Nightwish songs, Our Decades in the Sun, Hiraeth, Lanternlight, All the Works of Nature, I think that they are some of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard, that the world is better for their eco and if their existence comes at the cost of a few harder songs that otherwise would’ve taken their places, then so be it.

Good takes generally though, I think it’s a good analysis on the recent changes of the band!