NIGHTWISH Announce European Tour; AMORPHIS, ARCH ENEMY To Support

In anticipation of their upcoming new record, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Finland-based symphonic metal masters Nightwish now announce their Endless Forms Most Beautiful – Europe 2015 tour, kicking off mid-November in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Joining Nightwish on the road will be Finnish labelmates Amorphis, as well as Swedish death metal outfit Arch Enemy.

Tour dates:

November
16 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Falconer
18 – Hamburg, Germany – O2 World
19 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Heineken Music Hall
21 – Oberhausen, Germany – König-Pilsener-Arena
23 – Lyon, France – Hall Tony Garnier
25 – Paris, France – POPB-Bercy
26 – Toulouse, France – Le Zénith
28 – Basel, Switzerland – St. Jakobshalle
29 – Bologna, Italy – Unipol Arena

December
1 – Munich, Germany – Zenith
3 – Stuttgart, Germany – Schleyerhalle
4 – Frankfurt, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
5 – Nürnberg, Germany – Arena
7 – Prague, Czech Republic – Tip Sport Arena Prague
10 – Bucharest, Romania – Romexpo
14 – Leipzig, Germany – Arena
15. – Berlin Max, Germany – Schmeling-Halle
16 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg – Rockhal
17 – Antwerp, Belgium – Lotto Arena

Additionally, Nightwish will play a one-off show at the world famous Wembley SSE Arena in London on December 19th, making them the ever Finnish band to headline this famous venue.

Nightwish recently released the first single “Élan” from their forthcoming studio album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, which will be out on March 27th (Europe), 30th (UK) and 31st (North America). Today sees the release of the 12th episode from the “making of” series in which the band explain the themes and inspirations for Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Check it out below.

Keyboard player and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen comments: “There’s a kind of scientific approach to a lot of things on the album. Songs like “Shudder Before The Beautiful”, “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”, “The Greatest Show On Earth” or “Alpenglow” all somehow reflect the bliss of existence. It’s temporary character. Evolution…Maybe you could even talk about the poetic nature of science. Natural science and its paradigm – seem to represent something cold and boring to a lot of people. Hopefully we can illustrate with this album – that science can even be something profoundly spiritual.”

Stand-in drummer Kai Hahto adds: “It’s a perfect theme to an album. Like, how did we come to be? And when our time here is done, what kind of mark do we leave? It’s a pretty amazing theme.”

Nightwish have posted a photo gallery from the video shoot for the single  on their official Facebook page. Check out the 27 shots by Ville Juurikkala here.

The “Élan” video, directed by Ville Lipiäinen, can be seen below along with a Making Of clip.

Tuomas Holopainen commented: “The long awaited Nightwish music video ‘Élan’ is finally here. Inspired by the untold stories of abandoned places around Finland, the video was nearly a year in the making and features some of the most loved Finnish actors and actresses. And also the legendary Nightwish symbol, a snowy owl (Bubo Scandiaca in Latin) called Urho (Braveheart).“

Endless Forms Most Beautiful will be released in several different formats. Go to this location for details.

The album will be the first Nightwish studio album to feature Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen. Longtime drummer Jukka Nevalainen will sit out on the recording sessions due to health issues; Kai Hahto (Wintersun a.o.) will replace him.

Nightwish also revealed the famed evolutionary biologist and writer, Professor Richard Dawkins as a guest on this eighth studio album.

The detailed cover-artwork was created by longtime collaborator Toxic Angel.

Germany’s long running goth culture magazine Sonic Seducer will release a strictly limited edition hardcover Nightwish book at the end of April. The volume, entitled Nightwish Chronik and printed in German, features over 200 pages containing exclusive interviews from throughout the band’s history, compiled CD and live reviews, information on the band’s new album Endless Forms Most Beautiful, and rare photos. It is available to order directly from Sonic Seducer at this location.