:: Nightwish - Made In Hong Kong (And In Various Other Places) w/DVD

Nightwish

It may have been a difficult two years following the parting of ways of vocalist Tarja Turunen in 2005 for Finnish operatic/symphonic power metal act Nightwish, but since the recruiting Swedish vocalist Anette Olzon, and the release of their sixth studio album ‘Dark Passion Play’ in 2007, Nightwish have seemingly gone from strength to strength with the album selling more than a million copies worldwide, and the band undertaking their most successful tour to date across the globe. In celebration of their overwhelming success on the tour front over the last two years, Nightwish have put together the compilation CD/DVD effort ‘Made In Hong Kong (And In Various Other Places)’ as a stop-gap before commencing work on a new album. As the title suggests, the eight live tracks that make up the bulk of the audio C.D. are lifted from several performances from various locations, but all lifted from ‘Dark Passion Play’ exclusively. Performance wise, there’s little to fault. Olzon’s vocals are near flawless throughout, while the remainder of the band is as impressive as we’ve come to expect. While all eight live tracks are highlights in themselves, tracks such as the heavy ‘Bye Bye Beautiful’, the single ‘Amaranth’ the epic ‘The Poet And The Pendulum’ and ‘7 Days To The Wolves’ are definite favourites. Filling out the remainder of the audio CD are some various hard to find studio tracks, including the stunning ‘Escapist’, the piano based ‘While Your Lips Are Still Red’ and an interesting previously unreleased demo version of ‘Cadence Of Her Last Breath’.

On the DVD side of things, the disc is centred on the documentary ‘Back In The Day… Is Now’. Running for thirty-seven minutes, the feature focuses on the two years Nightwish spent on the road in support of ‘Dark Passion Play’ with a collection of interviews and some snippets of live footage. Despite its short running time, ‘Back In The Day… Is Now’ is interesting and informative, but also candid and funny (Check out ‘The Drunken Uno Game’) as well. Finishing up the second disc is the promotional video clips for ‘Amaranth’, ‘Bye Bye Beautiful’ and ‘The Islander’. While it would have been nice to have seen more live footage included on the DVD, it’s understandable that ‘Made In Hong Kong (And In Various Other Places)’ merely stands as a stop-gap release. And it’s with that in mind that this release is exclusively aimed as a small offering to diehard fans who desperately want something new from the band prior to the release of the next album, and nothing more.