After touring Europe extensively in 1999, the band releases a third album in May 2000: Wishmaster rises to number one on the Finnish charts and stays there for three weeks, ultimately earning them a Platinum Record. Upon its international release, it is named Album of the Month in several magazines, particularly in Germany.
Boosted by this success, Nightwish set out on their first world tour and they cap off the year with a concert in Pakkahuone, which is recorded and shot for DVD. Titled From Wishes to Eternity - Live, it is released in April 2001 and is followed in June by the Over the Hills and Far Away EP.
After this intense year, Nightwish are on the verge of imploding but they decide to continue with Marco Hietala replacing Sami Vänskä. The addition of this new bass player gives the band a new dimension. Since he’s also a singer, his distinctive raucous voice becomes an integral part of their style and several songs are written as duets from now on.
Nightwish’s fourth album, Century Child, is released in 2002 and sees them teaming up with a live orchestra for the first time on several tracks. This “classical music feel” marks a stylistic shift that will be developed further on the band’s subsequent releases.
Their fifth album, Once is released in 2004. Selling more than 1.2 million copies, it topped the charts in Europe and lead to Nightwish video clips being shown on MTV in the United States.
The album included “Nemo” -their biggest single to date- as well as “Wish I Had an Angel” a song that made it onto three US film soundtracks as a means to promote their North American concerts.
The subsequent 2004-2005 tour is their biggest yet, sending them to new territories and larger venues. They end up playing over 130 concerts, with the final gig in Helsinki recorded and later released as the live DVD End of an Era.
And it is the “end of an era” indeed, as Tarja Turunen is dismissed for personal reasons immediately after the concert. As the media frenzy caused by her departure slowly fizzles out, the band starts rehearsing and arranging tracks for their forthcoming album, while auditioning singers. In May 2007, former Alyson Avenue frontwoman, Anette Olzon, is announced as her replacement and in the autumn, they release a new album Dark Passion Play, which sells more than 2 million copies and is their most successful album to date.
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