First of all,
Oceanborn is a huge step when thinking about
Nightwish's debut album
Angels Fall First. All the elements of folk music and ambience are forgotten, and instead
Nightwish have concentrated to using
Tarja Turunen's wide voice and playing pure heavy metal. Or, well, another describing term could be opera metal. Drama and a variety of melodies are used effects, but overruling all the expectations,
Nightwish have used them very well. Songs are catchy, but they have a long lifetime. Also, the whole band does great work: even though they seem like another
Dream Theater-wannabe band,
Holopainen and
Vuorinen use their instruments with patience and don't slope into unneeded tricking. So everything seem to be alright, but the album as a whole lacks a little bit of diversity, and sometimes falls into repeating itself. The songs are, however, very strong, and the album as a whole works great.
Oceanborn is, so far, the most successful album of
Nightwish. [Fontana Universal's 2008 edition included four bonus tracks.] ~ Antti J. Ravelin