There are as many compilations claiming to be the best of gothic rock entitled Into Temptation as there are compilations claiming to be the best of gothic rock. Confusing really as this isn’t really what I’d call Gothic Rock, it’s what I’d call Scandinavian symphonic rock fronted by tight-fitting low cleavaged black catsuit wearing busty sirens in a wind tunnel aimed at appealing to frustrated teenage males with big hair and middle-aged balding forty-somethings trying to recapture their lost youth.
When the much talked about Great Internet MP3 Download Free-for-All of the mid to late noughties hit, I was trying to develop my musical tastes in the dark elven forests of gothdom. As long-term readers may remember, one of the many tactics I use to discover music is to download compilations to figure out which bands I like the sound of.
One of the first compilations I downloaded was called Into Temptation. It had some really good songs on it from bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation and Ayreon. Sadly, I lost the first version due to file and disk corruption and, despite repeated attempts, was unable to locate the version I had. But with acts like Nightwish, Within Temptation, Ayreon, Sirenia, The Gathering, Lacuna Coil AND Tristania….it will do.
Complete tracklisting for this compilation:
1 –Within Temptation – Ice Queen
2 – After Forever – My Pledge Of Allegiance #1 (The Sealed Fate
3 –Nightwish – Ever Dream
4 – The Gathering – In Motion #1
5 – Tristania – Wormwood
6 – Ayreon – My House On Mars
7 –Within Temptation – Our Farewell
8 – Ambeon – Cold Metal
9 –Lacuna Coil – Senzafine
10 –After Forever – Emphasis
11–Trail Of Tears – Driven Through The Ruins
12 – Sirenia – Meridian
13 – Beseech – Between The Lines
14 – Therion – O Fortuna
And if that list doesn’t get you running for the Kleenex you’re obviously listening to the wrong genre.
Scandinavian rock valkyries again, this time with a live set featuring Nightwish’s pre-breakup line-up and Tarja Turunen.
The album is a live recording of a concert performed in Tempere in 2000 and was originally released as a limited CD run and released in DVD format with footage of the actual gig. It features a number of my favourite tracks from across the Nightwish catalogue.
I was never at the gig. Nor am I likely to want to go to a Nightwish gig these days. But, like with all live albums, I can play it really loud while standing in the garden in the dark and pretend I’m at the gig whenever I like.
The only remaining bootleg I have of Nightwish although bootleg is a bit of a misnomer as it is actually a recording from a live radio broadcast with a few interviews chucked in at the end.
The recording appears to be of the band in Buenos Aires in 2004 and includes a number of my favourite Nightwish tunes.
By the time this album was released my affair with Scandinavian rocksmiths, Nightwish, was coming to an end. Tarja Tururen had been ejected from the band, the style had shifted and really I was getting too old to keep up to date with band member shiftings. I mean, it’s bad enough when Prog bands shuffle their members without Scandinavian metal bands doing the same.
So with reluctance, after having this album in my collection for nearly seven years unplayed, I popped it on. I managed two tracks. It was like going into a once favourite restaurant only to find it under new management. Sad really. But the way of most things in the modern times.
More big boobed long haired gothic operatics from Finland’s second greatest export. Century Child is Nightwish’s fourth studio album. It shows.
At this stage, the music sounds unnatural compared to the previous three albums. Synthetic. Forced. Like rhubarb. Bless the Child and the cover of Phantom Of the Opera (but only for pure amusement) are the only two tracks on this album that are akin to previous works. The rest sounds strained. Awkward. Unnecessary. The sound is tired, the singing like a cheated jigsaw.
The follow up album to this, Once, mirrors this strain and really is a last hurrah. Century Child is probably one just for hard core fans. Unlike me.
The Best of Gothic Rock- Various Artists
Only it’s not.
It’s not what I’d class as “Gothic” anyway. At least with my modern more refined ears. Instead I would call these two compilations “The Best of Big Boobed Operatic Singers Accompanying Euro Goth Metal Bands” .
Both albums contain a nice introduction to bands such as Nightwish, Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil. Ideal music for a middle aged wanna be goth to indulge in, reinvent themselves and annoy the wife with.
As we will see, these albums had a profound influence on my own musical tastes and we will be seeing a few of the bands featured, multiple times over the course of this project.
Track listing as follows:
Volume 2 =
1. Within Temptation – Mother Earth
2. Nightwish – Bless The Child
3. Beseech – Illusionate
4. Trail of Tears – Liquid View
5. Lacuna Coil – Swamped
6. Therion – Ljusalfheim
7. Myriads – The Sanctum Of My Soul
8. Flowing Tears – Serpentine
9. Within Temptation – Deceiver of Fools
10. Moonspell – Nocturna
11. Sentenced – Guilt and Regret
12. Divercia – Everlasting
13. After Forever – Monolith of Doubt
14. Tristinia – Tender Trip on Earth
15. Sirenia – Sister Nightfall
Volume 3 =
1 The Rasmus – In the Shadows 4:16
2 Within Temptation – Running Up That Hill 3:57
3 Epica – The Phantom Agony 9:00
4 Nightwish – End of All Hope 3:54
5 After Forever – Intrinsick 6:52
6 Tristania – A Sequel of Decay 6:31
7 Apocalyptica feat Nina Hagen – Seemann 4:00
8 Tarot – Pyre of Gods 4:34
9 Sonata Arctica – Victoria’s Secret 4:43
10 Sirenia – At Sixes and Sevens 6:44
11 Therion – Enter Vril-Ya 6:37
12 Penumbra – The Last Bewitchment 5:10
13 My Dying Bride – My Hope, My Destroyer 6:47
14 Autumn – Along Ethereal Levels 4:05
Long ago, deep deep in the forests of the snow bound lands of the bearded Vikings men gathered and sang of the faerie folk and mystical things too mystical for our closed modern minds to comprehend.
Spin forward several centuries and they’re at it again, complete with huge chested Valkyries, heavy metal guitars and lots of chugga-chugga riffs.
This album was my first experience of Nightwish. With it came a desire to visit Finland and see the forests and voluptuous valkyries while drinking salmiakki and growing a beard. The music had the added bonus of “This is shit get it off” chants from the wife. Of course, I didn’t, I just lapped it up in Lapland, sought out other similar artists and probably damaged my credibility as a music lover along the way.
But I don’t care. I was into Nightwish before metal hipsters. That makes me cool.
Scandinavian rock valkyries again, this time with a live set featuring Nightwish’s pre-breakup line-up and Tarja Turunen.
Century Child – Nightwish
Stegzy's Music Project 
Into Temptation: The Best of Gothic Rock — Various Artists [#637]
by stegzyWhen the much talked about Great Internet MP3 Download Free-for-All of the mid to late noughties hit, I was trying to develop my musical tastes in the dark elven forests of gothdom. As long-term readers may remember, one of the many tactics I use to discover music is to download compilations to figure out which bands I like the sound of.
One of the first compilations I downloaded was called Into Temptation. It had some really good songs on it from bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation and Ayreon. Sadly, I lost the first version due to file and disk corruption and, despite repeated attempts, was unable to locate the version I had. But with acts like Nightwish, Within Temptation, Ayreon, Sirenia, The Gathering, Lacuna Coil AND Tristania….it will do.
Complete tracklisting for this compilation:
1 –Within Temptation – Ice Queen
2 – After Forever – My Pledge Of Allegiance #1 (The Sealed Fate
3 –Nightwish – Ever Dream
4 – The Gathering – In Motion #1
5 – Tristania – Wormwood
6 – Ayreon – My House On Mars
7 –Within Temptation – Our Farewell
8 – Ambeon – Cold Metal
9 –Lacuna Coil – Senzafine
10 –After Forever – Emphasis
11–Trail Of Tears – Driven Through The Ruins
12 – Sirenia – Meridian
13 – Beseech – Between The Lines
14 – Therion – O Fortuna
And if that list doesn’t get you running for the Kleenex you’re obviously listening to the wrong genre.
Share this:
Like this:
After Forever Ambeon Ayreon best of compilations Gathering (The) gothic Lacuna Coil metal Progressive Metal Sirenia Symphonic Rock Therion Trail of Tears Tristania within temptation