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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JuJube (talk | contribs) at 23:45, 6 December 2009 (this is awkward and out of place for the lead, and the last paragraph should probably go in a "Reception" section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Century Child is the fourth studio album of Finnish symphonic power metal band Nightwish, released in 2002 by Spinefarm Records. It is the first album with current bassist and male vocalist Marco Hietala.

The album is a notable departure from previous Nightwish releases, musically and lyrics-wise. It contains orchestral backing, an ethereal production, a much more streamlined vocal work from Tarja Turunen and vocals by Marco in songs like "Ever Dream", "Slaying The Dreamer", "Dead To The World", "Feel For You" and "The Phantom Of The Opera"; furthermore, the lyrics depict the strongest concept album undercurrents yet. This could also be considered one of Nightwish's darkest albums. The album received strong positive reviews.

Spinefarm Records released a 2-CD special edition version of the album in 2002. It includes the CD, liner art with the band members' signatures, and a Video CD containing the music video for their Gary Moore cover of "Over the Hills and Far Away". In addition, the booklet contains an ID code that allows the owner to download the entire album and three extra tracks from the Internet for a limited time. The bonus tracks are "Nightwish", "The Forever Moments" and "Etiäinen", all from the band's first demo (1996).

The album was certified 2x platinum in Finland with more than 60,000 sold copies, the second most sold Finnish album in Finland in year 2002, Today, Century Child has sold more than 90,000 copies in Finland alone. Worldwide, it sold more than 350,000 copies between 2002 and 2003.

Track listing

Charts

Chart	Peak Position
Finland	1
Austria	15
Norway	19
France	32
Sweden	39
Netherlands	41
Switzerland	50

Credits

The band

• Tarja Turunen – Lead vocals
• Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen – Guitars
• Marco Hietala – Bass guitar, Vocals (3,5,8,9), Backing vocals (4,10)
• Tuomas Holopainen – Keyboards
• Jukka Nevalainen – Drums

Guests

• Mongo Aaltonen - orchestral percussion
• Sam Hardwick - Spoken parts (on tracks 1 and 10)
• Kristiina Ilmonen - Tin Whistle
• Joensuu City Orchestra, Juha Ikonen, Leader
• A chorus mostly consisting of the St. Thomas chorus of Helsinki - chorus, Hilkka Kangasniemi as choirmaster

References

External links

• Nightwish's Official Website

• Pages with empty short description
• Nightwish albums
• 2002 albums
• Concept albums