As Nightwish celebrate three decades of symphonic metal, we travel to the small Finnish town of Kitee, where it all began. Known for moonshine and, now, riffs, Tuomas Holopainen and Floor Jansen reflect on a journey that’s involved everything from controversial singer swaps to opulent royal banquets.
The spotlight didn’t come easy to Tuomas. He remembers feeling nervous before Nightwish’s first-ever show, at a local recording studio on New Year’s Eve 1997. The band’s debut album, Angels Fall First, had been released a couple of months earlier and reached No. 5 in the Finnish charts.
“I was so scared I thought I was going to die,” Tuomas admits. “I think I vomited before the show. I’d played shows before, but I was just the keyboardist in those bands, I wasn’t responsible for those songs. Nightwish was my baby, I was like, ‘I can’t fucking do this!’”
Items from the band’s career are showcased in the world’s only dedicated Nightwish museum, in Kitee – Tuomas gives us a personal tour.
Also in this issue, we recall the demons, gremlins and erections involved in making and releasing Slayer’s infamous Reign In Blood.
In This Moment frontwoman Maria Brink gets the Hammer Interview treatment, explaining what it was like to be a teen mum, how she moved to Los Angeles at 25 to pursue her musical dreams – and why she’s always felt like a witch.
Atreyu are our guides at Amsterdam’s massive MagiCon, the Magic: The Gathering convention bringing together fans of wizards, spells, and… metalcore?
Satyricon reveal how they ended up playing a fashion show, Orbit Culture frontman Niklas Karlsson explains how he went from working in a slaughterhouse to playing on a stage, and Swedish metalcore innovators Imminence tell us how they invented a new genre: violincore.
Elsewhere, Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo opens up about living as his authentic self after coming out to his fans via social media, and Tony Iommi takes us inside his first solo album in 20 years.
Legendary director/composer John Carpenter confesses that he’d love to direct a video for Metallica, and Bimbocore inventor Scene Queen talks boobs, Botox and Britney.
All this, along with Cancer Bats, Saint Agnes, Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Tom Morello, Chelsea Wolfe, Powerwolf, our big Bloodstock review and much, much more.
Only in the new issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
