Once (Nightwish album)

In a 2008 Kerrang! interview, Tuomas Holopainen remembered: "Doing this kind of really orchestral, symphonic stuff for four albums, you have to be prepared to take the next step and go 10 steps beyond, and that's how we ended up with the London Session Orchestra. At that time we also had the financial resources to do it. This was like our second breakthrough in a way; Oceanborn (1998) broke us, took us to the big league. Musically it was pretty laid-back from our side because everyone involved in the orchestra really knew their stuff, so we basically spent two days lying on the couch hearing all these people playing our songs, enjoying every moment. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. The first song they started to play was 'Ghost Love Score', we had no idea what to expect, and I just thought: This can't be happening!"^[6]

The album continues the more streamlined musical approach first heard on Century Child, moving further away from the power metal-influenced sound of their previous albums into symphonic metal^[7] with a slightly more mainstream, approachable feel. Once utilizes a full orchestra in nine of the eleven songs on the album; unlike Century Child, Nightwish chose an orchestra outside of Finland, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been featured on every album released since.

Once is their second album to feature a full-length song in Finnish, "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan". The band added new elements to their music for this album, such as the chorus riff and synthesized drumbeat of "Wish I Had an Angel", and a long prayer chant, supposedly in the Lakota language, on "Creek Mary's Blood". However, a young member of the tribe and fluent Lakota speaker found that the lyrics Two-Hawks supposedly wrote in the language were 'nothing more than absolute gibberish.' This was later confirmed by David Little Elk, a certified Lakota language expert.^[8]

The song "Ghost Love Score" was described by Hietala as follows: "I'm a big fan of old prog rock and this is a song that has a lot of different parts going on, and different atmospheres in different places in order to support the story. [...] My biggest influence from the prog world would be Jethro Tull, but I also love listening to Yes and Genesis and all those bands, and there's a correlation between the structures and the length of a lot of their songs and this one."^[9]

"Dead Gardens" was the first song written for the album, and deals with a bout of writer's block Holopainen was having. After completing the song, Holopainen says the songs "started flowing like water", and writing the remainder of the album was simple. ^[10]

The album's final track, "Higher Than Hope" is dedicated to Marc Brueland, a fan of the band who became friends with Holopainen. Brueland died of fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma in October 2003, and the track features narration by Brueland taken from an interview shortly after his first cancer surgery, when it seemed like he was in remission. Lyrically, the song deals with Brueland's illness, death, and its effects on Holopainen. ^[11]

The angel on the album cover is a view of the Angel of Grief, a sculpture by William Wetmore Story. The original is in the Protestant Cemetery of Rome, Italy.^[12]

The success of the album allowed them to perform the Once Upon a Tour, which enabled them to play in many countries the band had never visited before.^[13] Nightwish performed at the opening ceremony of the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, held in Helsinki.^[14]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[15]
Metal.de	[16]
Metal Hammer (Germany)	[17]
Metal Storm	[1]
PopMatters	7/10[18]
Rock Hard	9.5/10[19]
Sea of Tranquility	[20]

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During the first week of its release, Once entered the Finnish, German and Norwegian charts at number one,^[21][22][23] later topping the European Top 100 Albums chart.^[24] It was also the first Nightwish album to chart in the United States, reaching No. 42 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart,^[25] and the band's first album to chart in UK, reaching No. 10 on the Rock Chart.^[26] In 2005, Once was ranked number 383 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.^[27] In 2017, it was ranked 89th at Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".^[28]

Once has been certified double platinum in Finland,^[29] triple gold in Germany,^[30] and gold in Sweden.^[31] The single "Nemo" topped the charts in Finland^[32] and Hungary,^[33] and reached the top ten in four additional countries.^[34][35][36] It remained on the UK Rock Chart for more than a year.^[37] "Nemo" therefore remains their most successful single ever, and Once reached number 47 in the list of best-selling albums of all time in Finland.^[38] As of June 2013, the album had sold 2.3 million copies worldwide, Nightwish's best-selling album to date.^[39]

All lyrics are written by Tuomas Holopainen, except where noted; all music is composed by Holopainen, except where noted; all lead vocals by Tarja Turunen, except where noted.

All information from the album booklet.^[40]