Sami Vänskä
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Sami Vänskä
Sami Vänskä (born 26 September 1976) is the former bassist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Background Vänskä started playing bass when he attended music school when he was nine years old. Rush, Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ... has been cited as sources of inspiration to his bass playing. He also studied computer science in university. When Emppu Vuorinen, Holopainen and Jukka Nevalainen, remembered Vänskä who was previously in the band Nattvindens Gråt, they asked if he wanted to play with them. Vänskä first appeared on the second studio album, '' Oceanborn''. He played on the following tour but kept to himself while on tour – often staying at the hotel with Tapio Wilska, who was with t ...
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Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Nevalainen, and then bassist Sami Vänskä after the release of their debut album, ''Angels Fall First'' (1997). In 2001, Vänskä was replaced by Marko Hietala, who also took over the male vocalist role previously filled by Holopainen or guest singers. Although Nightwish have been prominent in their home country since ''Angels Fall First'', they did not achieve wider success until the release of the albums ''Oceanborn'' (1998), ''Wishmaster (album), Wishmaster'' (2000) and ''Century Child'' (2002). Their 2004 album, ''Once (Nightwish album), Once'', has sold more than one million copies and was the band's breakthrough in the United States. Their biggest US hit single, "Wish I Had an Angel" (2004), received MTV airplay and was included on three ...
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Symphonic Metal
Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars of metal with different elements of orchestral classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, or just keyboard orchestration. Symphonic metal bands can feature classically trained vocalists, in which case they can be attributed nicknames such as opera metal or operatic metal. Perhaps the most prominent examples of symphonic metal bands are Swedish band Therion (band), Therion, Finnish band Nightwish, German band Xandria, Italian band Rhapsody of Fire, American bands Lorna Shore and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Dutch bands Epica (band), Epica and Within Temptation. Those bands place a large focus on elements prevalent in film scores in addition to the more basic classical components utilized more wi ...
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Rush (band)
Rush was a Canadian rock music, rock band formed in Toronto in 1968 that consisted primarily of Geddy Lee (vocals, bass, keyboards), Alex Lifeson (guitars) and Neil Peart (drums, percussion). The band's original line-up consisted of Lifeson, drummer John Rutsey, and bassist and vocalist Jeff Jones (bassist), Jeff Jones, whom Lee immediately replaced. After Lee joined, the band went through a few line-up changes before arriving at its classic power trio line-up with the addition of Peart in July 1974, who replaced Rutsey four months after the release of their Rush (Rush album), self-titled debut album; this line-up remained unchanged for the remainder of the band's career. Rush first achieved moderate success with their second album, ''Fly by Night (album), Fly by Night'' (1975). The commercial failure of their next album ''Caress of Steel'', released seven months after ''Fly by Night'', resulted in the band nearly getting dropped from their then-record label Mercury Records. Rus ...
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Faith No More
Faith No More is an American Rock music, rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before September 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Roddy Bottum and drummer Mike Bordin are the longest-remaining members of the band, having been involved since its inception. The band underwent several early lineup changes, and some major changes later. The lineup of Faith No More consists of Gould, Bordin, Bottum, lead guitarist Jon Hudson, and vocalist/lyricist Mike Patton. After releasing six studio albums, including best-selling records ''The Real Thing (Faith No More album), The Real Thing'' (1989) and ''Angel Dust (Faith No More album), Angel Dust'' (1992), Faith No More officially announced its breakup on April 20, 1998. The band has since reunited, conducting The Second Coming Tour (Faith No More), The Second Coming Tour between 2009 and 2010, and releasing its seventh studio al ...
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Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk, punk rock, hard rock, Hip hop music, hip hop, and psychedelic rock, and have influenced genres including funk metal, rap metal, rap rock, and nu metal."With their unique fusion of funk with hard rock and their shirtless macho posturing, the Chili Peppers laid the groundwork for today's nu-metal and rap metal." 08/2002 — ''Guitar World'' With over 120 million records sold worldwide, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the List of best-selling music artists, top-selling bands of all time. They hold the records for most number-one singles on the American Alternative Songs charts (15), most cumulative weeks at number one (91) and most top-ten songs (28) on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart, ''Billboard'' Alternativ ...
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Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine, who formed Megadeth after being fired from Metallica, and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are former members of the band. Metallica first found commercial success with the release of its third album, '' Master of Puppets'' (1986), which is cited as one of the heaviest metal albums and the band's best work. The band's next album, '' ...And Justice for All'' (1988), gave Metallica its first ...
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Oceanborn
''Oceanborn'' is the second studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released in Finland by Spinefarm Records on 7 December 1998 and in the spring of 1999 worldwide. It was released by Drakkar Entertainment in the rest of Europe, and by Toy's Factory in Japan. It is their first album with bassist Sami Vänskä. ''Oceanborn'' has sold more than 68,000 copies in Finland. The single " Sleeping Sun" was released in August 1999, and the song has been included in every reissue of the album since then. The album was released in the US by Century Media in March 2001. In 2017, ''Loudwire'' ranked it as the 10th best power metal album of all time. Background Speaking to ''Kerrang!'' in 2008, band founder Tuomas Holopainen reminisced that the band got really ambitious after the debut album "that was never meant to be released as a proper record. It happened almost by accident, so we decided to put everything into making ''Oceanborn'' great." He added: According to ...
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Tapio Wilska
Tapio Wilska (born 19 September 1969) is the main vocalist of the heavy metal band Sethian. He is also the ex-lead vocalist for the band Finntroll and is the current vocalist of Canadian band Obscene Eulogy. He gets his inspiration from bands like Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Dead Kennedys, Venom, Thin Lizzy and The Pixies. Biography His musical career started when he was in bands like Lyijykomppania, Stray Toasters and Nattvindens Gråt with Sami Vänskä and Tuomas Holopainen (both from the then yet to be founded Nightwish) in the middle of the 1990s. He even helped Nightwish to get a record deal with Spinefarm. When Nightwish became an established name, Wilska moved on to stage technical work during their tours. His job included working on microphones, the bass and drums, and some security. When Nightwish released their 1998 album ''Oceanborn'', Wilska was asked to do the male vocals on the tracks "Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean" and "The Pharaoh Sails to Orion". After his ...
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Wishmaster (album)
''Wishmaster'' is the third studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released on 8 May 2000 through Spinefarm Records in Finland. The album was released in the rest of Europe by Drakkar Entertainment on 29 May, and in Japan by Toy's Factory on 19 July. In the US, it was released by Century Media on 6 February 2001. ''Wishmaster'' peaked at No. 1 in the official Finnish charts; the album also debuted in the European charts at No. 21 in Germany and No. 66 in France. ''Wishmaster'' has sold more than 79,447 copies in Finland alone, and as of January 2023, more than 150,000 copies have been sold in Germany alone, certifying the album Gold. In 2019, ''Metal Hammer'' ranked it as the 18th best power metal album of all time. Most reissues of the album contain the song "Sleepwalker", which was released in July 2000 to compete in the Finnish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. Background and release The writing and recording of ''Wishmaster'' was ...
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Over The Hills And Far Away (EP)
''Over the Hills and Far Away'' is the first EP by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released on 25 June 2001 through Spinefarm Records in Finland, and Drakkar Records in the rest of Europe. It was also released by Toy's Factory in Japan and Century Media Records in the US. Bassist Sami Vänskä left the band after its recording, due to musical differences between him and Tuomas Holopainen. He was replaced by the bassist and male vocalist, Marko Hietala. The editions by Drakkar and Century Media contain different live tracks taken from the live DVD '' From Wishes to Eternity'', recorded in Tampere, Finland, on 29 December 2000. The EP debuted at number one on the Finnish Singles Chart and spent twelve weeks in the top three, topping it for another four weeks and spending six weeks at number two. It charted for a total of 49 weeks, including two weeks in early 2004. The EP has been awarded double-platinum certification in Finland and has sold over 36,000 copies ...
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From Wishes To Eternity
''From Wishes to Eternity – Live'' is a live DVD/VHS/CD by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was recorded in Tampere, Finland on 29 December 2000. The CD was released as a limited edition of 10.000 copies, available only in Finland. In late 2005, Spinefarm managed to release it in Europe. In addition to a show of Nightwish material, the band also performed a medley, "Crimson Tide, Deep Blue Sea", which borrowed melodies from Hans Zimmer's music in the 1995 film '' Crimson Tide'' and Trevor Rabin's music in the 1999 film '' Deep Blue Sea''. On 1 March 2004 Drakkar released ''From Wishes to Eternity'' as SACD, a hybrid disc which can be played on normal CD players while SACD players give higher fidelity. The instrumental song "Crimson Tide, Deep Blue Sea" and "FantasMic" had to be removed from the track list to fit the concert on the disc. Later in 2004, the SACD version won the Gold Disc in Finland with more than 20,000 copies sold. Content Track listing # "The K ...
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Once Upon A Nightwish
''Once Upon a Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996 – 2006'' is a 2006 biography originally written in Finnish by Mape Ollila, telling the story of the first ten years of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. The book was translated into English in 2007. An enhanced, more polished English edition was published by Bazillion Points Books at the very end of 2008. Ollila tells the story of Nightwish from the first ideas of a band in 1996 until the bombastic concert in Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, after which the lead singer Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish Heavy metal music, heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. Turunen studied lyrical ... was fired in an open letter by the band. The book is based on Ollila's own experiences with the band as well as exclusive interviews with the members, their families and their friends. The book i ...
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