Dark Passion Play

Dark Passion Play
An image of a large pendulum with a bright white light glaring from behind it. The pendulum is hanging over a large body of water. Floating around the pendulum are a few sheets of paper with music written on it.
Studio album by
Nightwish
Released26 September 2007 (2007-09-26)
RecordedSeptember 2006 – March 2007
Studio
GenreSymphonic metal
Length75:36
Label
ProducerTuomas Holopainen
Nightwish studio album chronology
Once
(2004) 		Dark Passion Play
(2007) 		Imaginaerum
(2011)
Singles from Dark Passion Play
  1. "Amaranth"
    Released: 22 August 2007
  2. "Erämaan Viimeinen (Last of the Wilds)"
    Released: 5 December 2007 (Finland only)
  3. "Bye Bye Beautiful"
    Released: 15 February 2008
  4. "The Islander"
    Released: 21 May 2008

Dark Passion Play is the sixth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released on 26 September 2007 by Spinefarm Records in Finland, 28 September by Nuclear Blast in Europe and 2 October 2007 by Roadrunner Records in the US. It is the first album without original vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was dismissed in 2005, as well as the first album involving future member Troy Donockley on uilleann pipes and tin whistle. It is the first of only two albums with vocalist Anette Olzon, who was eventually dismissed in 2012 after the release of the band's subsequent album, Imaginaerum.[1] Tuomas Holopainen has referred to this album as the "album that saved his life".[2]

The song "Eva" was leaked on the Internet six days before its official release, prompting the band to release it earlier as a promotional single[3] to boost downloads. Several other versions of the song were posted on YouTube and torrent sites a month later; the entire album with record label voice-overs had been leaked on the Internet by 2 August. The full album (without voiceovers) was leaked on 21 September, as a result of several stores in Mexico selling the retail album much prior to the worldwide release date.

Pre-orders for Dark Passion Play had it certified gold in Finland before it had even been released.[4] The album debuted at number one in 6 European countries, selling over 100,000 copies in Finland (triple platinum). In February 2008, the album was certified quadruple-platinum in Finland, after having sold over 120,000 copies, which makes it one of the 40 best-selling albums of all time in the country.[5][6] Worldwide, Dark Passion Play has sold almost 2 million copies since its release.

  1. ^ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/anette-olzon-i-didnt-leave-nightwish-i-was-fired/ Lead songwriter
  2. ^ "TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN – "Dark Passion Play Is The Album That Saved My Life" – Tuomas Holopainen Discussions – Last.fm". Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  3. ^ "Nightwish - Eva". Discogs. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference kerrang_2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference FIN best dom was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference FIN best for was invoked but never defined (see the help page).