| Angels Fall First | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Nightwish |
| Cover: | Nightwish Angels Fall First.jpg |
| Alt: | A nighttime image with a tree far in the distance and the moon above in the skyline. The sky is a dark black and the image colors fade to a bright red near the tree. |
| Recorded: | April–September 1997 |
| Studio: | Huvikeskus (Kitee) |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 51:29 |
| Label: | Spinefarm |
| Producer: |
|
| Chronology: | Nightwish studio album |
| Next Title: | Oceanborn |
| Next Year: | 1998 |
Angels Fall First is the debut studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, originally released by Spinefarm Records on 30 September 1997 as a 500-copy limited edition.[1] This edition is highly sought after by collectors and in 2012 a copy was sold for $1137.23 on eBay.[2] It was subsequently released to the general public on 1 November, with four additional songs. The album was released in the US by Century Media in March 2001.[3]
Angels Fall First is a power metal album with gothic, folk and classical elements.
Tuomas Holopainen wrote the music for the album during his time in the Finnish Army.[4] In a 2008 interview with the British magazine Kerrang!, Tuomas Holopainen remembered: The original pressing featured Holopainen's home contact address, an accident from reprinting the demo sleeve for the album.
As of December 2009, Angels Fall First has sold more than 36,000 copies in Finland alone.[5]
The band, and especially band leader and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen has since frowned upon the album, considering it essentially an extended demo. In a 2011 interview, when asked what album other than Imaginaerum Holopainen wanted to make into a movie, he replied that it would be Angels Fall First, and that it would be "a black-and-white comedy".[6]
The male vocals heard on "Beauty and the Beast", "The Carpenter", "Astral Romance" and "Once Upon a Troubadour" are sung by keyboardist–band leader Tuomas Holopainen, as well as the whispers in the beginning of the demo version of "Etiäinen".[7] Following this release, Holopainen never sang credited on an album again, because he thought that he was not good enough.[7]
See main article: List of Angels Fall First editions.
All information from the album booklet.[8]
Nightwish
Additional musician
Production