These events also inspired him in the writing of “ Dark Passion Play”, Nightwish’s latest album, which may be considered their darkest album yet.Īfter heavy metal singer Timo Rautiainen’s break up of Trio Niskalaukaus, he published his first solo album titled “ Sarvivuori” with a crew gathered from different bands, including Holopainen on keyboards. In 2006, Holopainen went through a dark period with anxiety and depression, made worse by rumours about himself and Nightwish in the tabloids, every day. Timo Rautiainen and Dark Passion Play (2006–present) In the end 2007, the vocalist, Tarja Turunen, was dismissed from the band, due to musical differences. The group filmed the last show in Hartwall Areena, Finland, which was featured on the “ End of an Era” DVD in 2006. Nightwish started their most extensive tour to date, the Once World Tour, visiting several countries, like Japan, for the first time. Singles “ Nemo” and “ Wish I Had an Angel” were played on MTV. Nightwish’s fifth studio album, “ Once” was released in 2004, and became their US break-through. released “ Killing Romance”, a Finnish single with three previously unreleased tracks “Killing Romance”, “Joutsenlaulu” and “Too Sad to Live”. The album was received well, but the band has since lost fans due to a lack of new albums – for the same reason that “ Fallen” was delayed by four years. released its debut album, entitled “ Fallen”. The use of orchestral elements has been present in the studio album releases from Nightwish as of December 31, 2007. In Nightwish’s album “ Century Child”, released in 2002, Holopainen began collaborating with symphonic orchestras from Finland and the United Kingdom, which was a change in the band’s music and Holopainen’s style of composition, and also allowed for more freedom with additional instruments. was brought up, and the members started planning a debut. The third release sold even better than the previous album. Nightwish’s third studio album, “ Wishmaster”, was released in 2000. However, as all the members was busy with their own bands, the project was postponed for the future. In 1999, Holopainen and members of other Finnish metal acts like Embraze, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Charon and Reflexion started the gothic metal supergroup For My Pain. Nightwish’s first non-demo release, Angels Fall First, came in 1997, followed by Oceanborn in 1998. After hearing Turunen’s strong voice, and because of the metal influences of Vuorinen and drummer Jukka Nevalainen, Tuomas decided to turn Nightwish into a metal act. He asked Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen (guitar) and classmate Tarja Turunen (vocals) to join what was then an acoustic project. This was the birth of Nightwish, around a camp fire. In July, 1996, Holopainen began thinking of starting a band of his own, for which he would write the music and play keyboards. He played in several bands, including recording keyboards for three albums with black metal band Darkwoods My Betrothed and playing with Dismal Silence, Nattvindens Gråt and Sethian.īirth of Nightwish and For My Pain. Holopainen joined his first bands in 1993. His mother signed him up for piano class in school when he was seven years old, and he later studied clarinet, tenor sax, piano and music theory for twelve years at a music college. His musicality and way of expressing himself through written text showed early in school. Tuomas Holopainen was born Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen in Kitee, Finland on December 25, 1976.