History Kitee, Finland (1996 – present)
Nightwish is a symphonic power metal band, formed in the town of Kitee, Finland in 1996. The band currently consists of Anette Olzon (vocals), Tuomas Holopainen (keyboards), Marco Hietala (bass, vocals), Emppu Vuorinen (guitars), and Jukka Nevalainen (drums and percussion).
The vocalist 1996 to 2005 was Tarja Turunen. Anette Olzon (ex-Alyson Avenue) joined the band on their 2007 album Dark Passion Play, the corresponding World Tour and the Made in Hong Kong (and in Various Other Places) live album.
The band’s leader, keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, composes songs that are often classified as either symphonic metal or power metal; their musical style has also been described as a symphonic metal variant, called opera metal and even in some cases called ‘epic metal’.
Nevertheless, Nightwish is considered one of the main developers of the symphonic metal genre, which encompasses similar bands such as Within Temptation, Therion, Epica, Edenbridge, Lunatica, and Visions of Atlantis.
The original idea of Nightwish was largely inspired by The Gathering, and the idea was to use keyboards, acoustic guitars and the operatic vocals of their then singer Tarja Turunen. This idea was changed in 1997, as a drummer was added, and the acoustic guitar was replaced by an electric guitar.
The idea of using operatic vocals was changed dramatically with their third album Wishmaster (2000), and more so on future albums, especially Dark Passion Play (2007). In 2001, Holopainen asked Sami Vänskä, their bassist since 1998, to leave, and he was replaced with Marco Hietala (Tarot, ex-Sinergy), leaving Sinergy.
Read more… 
