Nightwish is a Finnish musical band formed in 1996 in the town of Kitee. Nightwish composes songs that are often classified as either symphonic metal or power metal; their musical style has also been described as a symphonic metal variant, called opera metal . Nevertheless, Nightwish is considered one of the main developers of the symphonic metal genre, which encompasses similar bands such as Epica, After Forever and Visions of Atlantis.
Although the band achieved prominence in their home country since the release of their first single, they did not achieve worldwide fame until the release of the albums Century Child (2002) and Once (2004), both which had video clips shown on the MTV channel of countries from the American continent, for example.
As of 2006, the band is searching for a replacement to vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was fired at the end of 2005. A replacement for the soprano singer has not yet been found, but the four other musicians of the band plan to find one in the course of 2006, so that a new album can be recorded at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007, and released later that year.
The idea to put together Nightwish was the brainchild of Tuomas Holopainen, conceived after spending a night around a campfire with friends. The band formed shortly after, in July 1996. Holopainen invited vocalist Turunen to the project due to the notoriety she was gaining around the school they attended, since her vocal abilities were considered above average. Guitarist Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen was the final musician added to the band's initial line-up.
Their style at the time was based on the experimentations of Holopainen with using keyboards, acoustic guitars and the operatic vocals of Tarja Turunen. The three musicians then recorded an acoustic demo-album from October to December of 1996. There were three songs on this demo—"Nightwish", "The Forever Moments" and "Etiäinen"—of which one the band derived its name.