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Nightwish billboardFinland-based symphonic metal masters NIGHTWISH sold 18,342 copies of Endless Forms Most Beautiful in its first week of sales in the United States. The record hit #34 on Billboard U.S. Top 200, making it the third time that NIGHTWISH made the coveted chart. Their last full-length release in 2011 Imaginaerum, sold just under 12,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release.

 

Endless Forms Most Beautiful first-week chart positions in the US:

#34 Billboard Top 200 Albums

#23 Top Current Albums

#2 Independent Albums

#4 Top Hard Music Albums

#8 Top Current Rock Albums

Buy your copy of the new NIGHTWISH album in the format of your preference from the Endless Forms Most Beautiful Landing Page at http://bit.ly/nightwish-efmb-retailers.

Produced by Tero “TeeCee” Kinnunen, the title for Endless Forms Most Beautiful was taken from the writings of English naturalist Charles Darwin. The album features the participation of London’s The Metro Voices choir group, London’s Young Musicians Children‘s Choir, and the Orchestre De Grandeur led by the esteemed orchestral arranger Pip Williams, who teaches Music and Music Technology at the London College of Music. Professor Richard Dawkins not only narrates the introduction to the album’s opener, “Shudder Before The Beautiful,” but also the album’s closer, “The Greatest Show On Earth,” which takes its name from his 2009 book on evolution.

NIGHTWISH’s 27-date headlining tour of North America for 2015 launches in New York City on April 9, 2015 and travels to three Canadian cities plus Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles before closing out in Silver Springs, Maryland on May 14th.  Direct support will come from Swedish heavy metallers SABATON; opening will be Dutch symphonic metallers DELAIN.

Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com; VIP Meet & Greet tickets (which includes early entry + an official tour program) are on sale at EnterTheVault.com.

Dates for the 2015 NIGHTWISH tour with SABATON and Delain are:

04/09/15  Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY

04/10/15  Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA

04/11/15  Palladium – Worcester, MA

04/13/15  Capitole Theatre – Quebec City, QC – CANADA ***SOLD OUT***

04/14/15  Phoenix Concert Theater – Toronto, ON – CANADA ***SOLD OUT***

04/16/15  Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY

04/17/15  Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH

04/18/15  Concorde Music Hall – Chicago, IL ***SOLD OUT***

04/19/15  7 Flags Events Center – Clive, IA

04/21/15  Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO

04/22/15  In The Venue – Salt Lake City, UT

04/24/15  Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA

04/25/15  Orpheum Theatre – Vancouver, B.C. – CANADA

04/26/15  Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR

04/28/15  Warfield Theatre – San Francisco, CA

04/30/15  House Of Blues – Las Vegas, NV

05/01/15  Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA

05/02/15  Marquee Theatre – Phoenix, AZ

05/03/15  Tricky Falls – El Paso, TX

05/05/15  Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX

05/06/15  Warehouse Live – Houston, TX

05/08/15  House of Blues – Orlando, FL

05/09/15  Revolution – Fort Lauderdale, FL

05/11/15  Marathon Music Work – Nashville, TN

05/12/15  Expo Five – Louisville, KY

05/13/15  Filmore – Charlotte, NC

05/14/15  Filmore – Silver Springs, MD

 

ABOUT NIGHTWISH

Hugely influential, unique, and categorically unrivaled in the heavy metal pantheon, Finland-based symphonic master storytellers NIGHTWISH continue to expand the breadth and scope of their artistic vision with each successive release. Having received over sixty Gold and Platinum awards and selling more than seven million albums worldwide, theirs is an esteemed place among Finland’s most successfully exported rock bands.

An avid reader whose childhood aspiration was to become a biologist, NIGHTWISH band leader, song composer, founding member, and keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen cites the works of American humanist, poet, and essayist Walt Whitman, English author & journalist Christopher Hitchens, and English evolutionary biologist & writer, Professor Richard Dawkins as inspirations to the themes explored in the new material that became the band’s forthcoming epic 78-minute album for 2015, Endless Forms Most Beautiful.

The goals for this collection of songs were threefold: 1) To reflect the bliss of existence and its temporary character; 2) To capture the poetic nature of science; and 3) To musically illustrate the capacity of science to be profoundly spiritual. To that end, NIGHTWISH befittingly took up residence in the wilderness of Hattula, Finland with producer Tero “TeeCee” Kinnunen to record their eighth studio release.  The album title itself is an excerpt from the writings of English naturalist Charles Darwin, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory via his 1859 book On the Origin of Species.

A milestone in their 20-year career, Endless Forms Most Beautiful is resplendent in a sophisticated beauty and proudly features the participation of London’s The Metro Voices choir group, London’s Young Musicians Children‘s Choir, and the Orchestre De Grandeur led by the esteemed orchestral arranger Pip Williams, who teaches Music and Music Technology at the London College of Music.

In the album’s opening track, “Shudder Before The Beautiful,” we hear the regal voice of narrator Richard Dawkins, who also recites the Charles Darwin passage that gave the album its name in the album’s grandiose 24-minute closing track, “The Greatest Show On Earth,” which takes its name from the title of Professor Dawkins’ 2009 book on evolution. An endeavour demanding that attention be paid to the rich detail in its spoken words, lyrics, and background noises, Endless Forms Most Beautiful includes the sounds of animal life on Earth as did the Voyager Golden Records on the two space probes launched into interstellar space in 1977. The digital single for “Elán” appropriately includes a bonus track entitled “Sagan,” a musical tribute to American cosmologist, astronomer, and astrophysicist Carl Sagan who hosted the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.  This program – whose impact continues to radiate around the world – was re-launched as Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey in 2014 with new host American cosmologist and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

The compositions on Endless Forms Most Beautiful are on-par with an emotionally engaging film score and brilliantly showcase the talented voice of NIGHTWISH’s electrifying Dutch frontwoman Floor Jansen, who was announced as an official member of the band – along with British multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley – in October of 2014.

Ripe for touring the North American territory after playing 104 shows in 34 countries to a total audience of over 1.5 million fans around the globe in 2013, the soaring melodies, momentous choruses, and grand orchestrations in the music of NIGHTWISH are essential components of their endearing and enduring magic. Endless Forms Most Beautiful urges us to remember that our time on Earth is fleeting, to embrace the opportunities to gaze at the Milky Way on a cold winter’s night, to ponder the unfathomable vastness of space… and most importantly, to share such moments with the people we love in this limited time we’re granted on this “pale blue dot” we call home.

“At the back of our brains, there is a forgotten blaze

or burst of astonishment at our own existence.

The object of the artistic and the spiritual life

is to dig for this submerged sunrise of wonder.”

–         G.K. Chesterton

NIGHTWISH members include:

Floor Jansen – Vocals

Tuomas Holopainen – Keyboards

Marco Hietala – Bass & Vocals

Emppu Vuorinen – Guitar

Troy Donockley – Pipes, Flutes, Whistles

Kai Hahto – Drums

 

Visit NIGHTWISH online at www.NIGHTWISH.com.

Like: www.facebook.com/NIGHTWISH

Follow: Twitter.com/NIGHTWISHBAND

Watch: www.youtube.com/NIGHTWISHOFFICIAL

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