Nightwish

Let me introduce you to my favorite band, Nightwish.

They are a Finnish symphonic metal band. If that sounds appealing to you, you'd probably like them.


My brother introduced me to them a couple years ago. Right away I loved the music (the second picture is the album art from their latest album, Dark Passion Play), but one of the things that really drew me to them is that their songwriter, Tuomas Holopainen, loves fairy tales and Disney movies, especially Beauty and the Beast. They have a song called "Beauty and the Beast," one called "Beauty of the Beast," quote the phrase "Beauty of the Beast" in several other songs, quote from the Disney movie as well as many others in "Fantasmic," which is a tribute to Disney, and have made their own version of the theme song from "Phantom of the Opera."

When asked in an interview why he loved the Beauty and the Beast theme so much, Tuomas said he loved the idea of duality (hence the phrase beauty of the beast, not just beauty and the beast, a distinction I really love).

Here is a version of "Fantasmic" where the lyrics are illustrated by the Disney movies-