Angels Fall First (1997)
1.
Elvenpath - There's such a lot to like about Nightwish right from the first song on the first album. That rising opening with Tarja's spoken word intro holds a lot of charm and is a great way to lead into Tuomas's synth riff backed in power by Emppu's guitar. The song's lyrics are quite pedestrian (never resurrect "Home Gnome", please and thank you), but Tarja's delivery (pronouncing "path" as "bath" and "swords" as "swerds") is incredibly endearing, giving it a more fantastical vibe. I also like the spoken word piece, which helps sell the topic a bit more. It does peter out towards the end, but never overstays its welcome. There's a lot that I like about this song, and it is the best on the album, but with every subsequent release it's become overshadowed by better music, better lyrics, and better performances. Still, I dig it.
7/10
2.
Beauty And The Beast - A swelling of synths to kick off the album's second-longest track before the rest of the band kicks in. There's some interesting stuff going on musically in the intro that I like. At one point, the band seems to be at odds with each other before ironing it out - quite intentional as it gives off a pretty cool vibe. The song switches up into the verse, as Tuomas takes a turn at the mic. It's not actually bad, personally my favorite of his singing pieces on the album. The issue really lies in how weak he sounds, especially when singing with Tarja, who sings the second half of the two verse sections and really takes the song to another level. Then as it starts to get interesting, it stops and we're met with a sinister spoken piece before the bridge, which, sadly, isn't as interesting as the verse was. Luckily the outro is quite nice, with Tarja vocalizing over the music. Most of this album is hard to rate, and this is no exception. After giving it much thought, I think I like it enough to put it at about the same level as "Elvenpath". Definitely pales in comparison to the later "Beauty
Of The Beast", but it's got a lot to enjoy all the same.
7/10
3.
The Carpenter - Slowly we wade into the third track on the album, which also served as the single from it. The verses here are quite nice. Tuomas uses his limited singing ability to bring at least some emotion into it. The chorus though - definitely one of the weirdest moments in the entire Nightwish discography. The way Tuomas's and Tarja's voices link up together in their duet is just unnatural. I definitely don't love it. I don't necessarily hate it either, though. In fact, I quite like the chorus, but damn, it would be so much better if it was re-recorded with a better male singer, say, Marco or Troy. As for the rest of the song, the bridge is fine but the instrumental and outro are a bit boring, and that's what tips the scale for me here in assigning the score. It's not a bad song, but it's only slightly above the average mark.
6/10
4.
Astral Romance - Interesting guitar melody to open with before synths kick in. Things take a leap forward with the verse, as Tarja leads on the listener on one of the outstanding verses on the whole album. There's a lot of atmosphere on display there. The switch up with her vocalizing is less successful, however, particularly since Tuomas starts singing over top of it. His last note on that piece is kinda cool but otherwise it's definitely his worst moment on the album. He sounds quite off on most of it and I'm glad that it's his last singing piece on the album. There's some good music in the instrumental / outro section, particularly from the guitar department, but ultimately aside from the verse I don't find this to be a very memorable song. Still enough to like that gives it an above average rating.
6/10
5.
Angels Fall First - The closest song to the band's roots as an acoustic project, the title track utilizes quietness to back the lyrics... which, by the way, are fantastic. The chorus in particularly is beautiful. "Bury my dreams, dig up my sorrows, oh Lord why the angels fall first..." Such a gorgeously sad line from the same writer who four songs ago was penning tales about broomsticks and rings. Unfortunately for this one, the lyrics seem to have gotten more attention than the music, which does a good job at backing the lyrics and not much else. In addition, I'm not a terrible fan of how the song ends, which leads to another above average rating from me.
6/10
6.
Tutankhamen - Swirling synths lead us into Egypt as we enter the sacred pyramids of Tutankhamen. And this song is actually quite catchy. That said, the lyrics! "We'll breed to fill all earth," "milk you cascaded"... wow, is this cheesily sexual or what? I do like the line about Carter opening the tomb, but otherwise it's quite a funny little song. The music is quite good, however, which actually helps make it a better song than the previous three, in my opinion. In the end I can overlook the cheesiness here enough to actually quite enjoy hearing it and bopping along as we pass through the Stargate. A fun song for sure, just not particularly deep.
7/10
7.
Nymphomaniac Fantasia - Acoustics return to open up this song, the second in a duo of sexually-driven numbers. It's not the most exciting of intros, but the synth riff that it leads to is actually one of my favorites on the whole album. Incredibly catchy stuff. The verse is solid, not the best lyrics ("lick my deepest") but Tarja does another fantastic job, particularly on the line "hear the starry choir". It sort of quiets down for a bit before Tarja gets another spoken word piece. And Jesus, she sounds absolutely venomous in her delivery of "deeper shall be the wound between your legs!" Holy shit. I don't think this is one of the album's most popular songs, but I find it to be its hidden gem of sorts. Definitely a fave from it.
7/10
8.
Know Why The Nightingale Sings - Ooh, nice drum opening to this one! And then the riff we enter, this time driven by the guitars... I dig it. One of the best on the album. The verse is very fantastical in both lyrics and in composition. After a bridge piece of sorts we're even treated to a guitar solo and more Tarja vocalizings, before given a fake-out ending as the keyboard gets center stage till the outro. This is the shortest song on the album, and there's not a whole lot to it, but what is on display here though is pretty sweet.
7/10
9.
Lappi (Lapland):
I.
Erämaajärvi - And now we enter the wintry Finnish region known as Lapland, lead in by acoustic guitars once more. I always love when Nightwish write in Finnish, which is an incredibly beautiful-sounding language, I find. Tarja's vocals on this first stab at that make it a pretty mesmerizing piece. Definitely the best part of the overall song.
II.
Witchdrums - We next head into the atmospheric second part of the song. There's some nice drumwork here but otherwise little else of note.
III.
This Moment Is Eternity - The rise into this piece feels like an awakening in a frozen forest. I don't find it terribly interesting, however, outside of Jukka's drumming. The piano-lead Disney-esque part that follows feels incredibly tame as well. Meh.
IV.
Etiäinen - And then the two and a half minute outro section featuring more acoustic guitar and some Tarja vocals over top. Honestly, a boring way to end a mostly boring song.
This nine minute epic mostly succeeds in bringing to life the images it attempts to present, but as a song it's pretty average. I never yearn to return to it and it's honestly the low point of the album. Which kinda sucks since it's the album's closer, too, but oh well. Tuomas's epics would get much better on albums to come. An interesting first attempt, but a very average one, unfortunately.
5/10
So that's where it all began.
Angels Fall First is a bit of a hard first listen, but there's some good music to be found within if you're patient in giving it the spins it honestly deserves. It's a nice little record to play now and again, just completely overshadowed by the rest of the band's discography. That's not to say it's even their worst album, because there's at least one other that could vie for that position. In the end, though, it's definitely their simplest and tamest. Already with the next record - recorded just a year later - things get bigger, better, and more interesting. Overall, I like to throw this one on, but not for the thrills that most Nightwish albums hold within them. This one's really just easy listening.
Average:
64%
). Anyway, Century Child is a great record with a strong selection of tracks you could throw into any Nightwish live set. 
