Nightwish.  Yeah, that's definitely not a Japanese band.  Finnish, actually.

And I can sense the head editor staring at me right now wondering why this post is here.  It's anime-related, I swear.  I'll get to it.

I will say, anime is what helped me discover Nightwish. Many, many years ago, there was an anime called "Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team." Maybe you've heard of it.

Back in 2002 a man called "Rubyeye" made a music video with footage from that anime, and to the Nightwish song Tenth Man Down.

In fact, it's this video. This upload came much later (YouTube having only come onto the scene sometime circa 2006) but this was shared with me way back when.  Back when you had to download them off websites in some tiny real video file or be sent it on AOL instant messenger, or on IRC.  

     

From there onward, I was hooked on this genre. Power metal, orchestral metal, symphonic metal, whatever you want to call it. Tarja Turunen's operatic vocals stood out in that sea of metal. Tuomas Holopainen's usage of piano and strings in the arrangement was something I had not heard before. I had found "my music." It holds true to today. The sound may have changed from not being as deep in the gothic genre as it first started but I'm okay with that, and if anything I think I like their current sound more.

Tarja eventually gave way to Annette Olzon, and Annette to the current vocalist, Floor Jansen, who happens to be a mix of Tarja and Annette, but even better, in my opinion, than both. At this point, she's been in Nightwish for almost a decade.

There has been a couple of changes between now and the last time I saw Nightwish live. With the departure of longtime bassist Marko Hietala early last year, Troy Donockley has taken over his vocal parts during performances. Jukka Koskinen of Wintersun is now the session bassist. Undoubtedly he was recommended by current drummer (and fellow Wintersun member) Kai Hahto. He has just as imposing a stage presence as Marko did, minus the vocal duties.  And the venue?  The storied Warfield in downtown San Francisco.  The area might be a little grimier than it used to be but it's still one of the best venues in the Bay Area for a concert.  

The setlist goes through a total of seven different albums, and the newest album, "Human Nature," has the most songs featured. That is one problem when a band has so many good songs; you can't play them all in a show. That song I mentioned, Tenth Man Down? I've only seen it once live, and that was during their previous tour, Decades. The setlist for tonight had quite a number of good ones, though. The first three songs included Noise and Tribal, two songs that I had expected from the new album. They were followed by Storytime, Dark Chest of Wonders, 7 Days to the Wolves, Ever Dream, Ghost Love Score, Last Ride of the Day, and a few others. The band capped the night off with The Greatest Show on Earth from the album "Endless Forms Most Beautiful."  The setlist honestly hasn't changed much over the years and these songs show up on most nights.  Some people might be disappointed at that but I love it.  These are some of my favorites.  What always makes a live show better is how a band might change up an arrangement for a song, like they did with 7 Days to the Wolves.

Towards the end of The Greatest Show on Earth, Floor sings, "We were here!" and the crowd answers back, "WE WERE HERE!" It's a bit of initiation that every fan should go through once in their lives, kind of like Yousei Teikoku's Patriot Anthem.

Just our little stamp on the universe.

Brian, that's not anime-related, music video or not.  Hang on.  Almost there.  

I'm going to propose a break and put Ghost Love Score here, because that's the song everyone uses to show off Nightwish.  This particular video was recorded at Wacken Open Air, which is one of the biggest metal festivals in Europe.

The real impetus of this article is actually the opening band, Beast in Black. Hot off of their own headlining tour (which I saw just a month ago in Santa Cruz), Beast in Black is a band you should add to your power metal library.

Beast in Black's founder is a man named Anton Kabanen. He was previously in a band called Battle Beast and wrote their music for a good ten years. Anime and manga fans will recognize a lot of songs based on the manga/anime Berserk. Thematic elements, and songs straight up about Berserk, encompass much of the band's library. Kingdom, The Eclipse, Victory, Iron Hand, amongst many others. Those songs and their ties to Berserk are what introduced me to Battle Beast.

Anton split from Battle Beast in 2015, and then promptly formed Beast in Black. His work was not done yet. Kentaro Miura, Berserk's creator, may have left us, but there's always a place to write music based on something, like any good legend.

Beast in Black's debut album, "Berserker," and following album, "From Hell With Love," did the trick. Some songs are a little more obvious than others like Zodd the Immortal, and others more hidden in the lyrics like Beast in Black (the "beast in black" itself is inside Guts and is a manifestation of his will for revenge). If you aren't familiar with the source material you might think it's just a song. Knowing Berserk will definitely give you a better appreciation for the music. As far as the sound goes, Beast in Black is a band with an 80s kind of sound and synths galore. I've even heard it described as "dance metal," and I can see where that comes in. Some of the songs you just want to groove to.  Some metal fans out there might think that heretical but if you go back to the days of KISS and Judas Priest, metal hasn't always been about being the hardest, heaviest, sludgiest, angriest, or any other -est word you want to use.  

                         

Beast in Black's latest album, "Dark Connection," was released about six months ago. It is dedicated to Kentaro Miura and his landmark creation. Berserk ran for a good thirty years and the landscape of the anime and manga world has changed quite a bit in that time. Anton directly calls out 80s/90s anime like Bubblegum Crisis, AD Police, Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm) and other cyberpunk/sci-fi anime as inspirations for the album. Between the music and the videos that go along with them, the themes were quite noticeable. Moonlight Rendezvous, Hardcore, Highway to Mars, and of course the opening track, Blade Runner, all harken back to cyberpunk. Of course, there's still plenty of Berserk to go around, in the form of Til the Last Drop of Blood, Dark World, and Broken Survivors. I'd be open to hearing more music with a cyberpunk slant based on other legendary works like Ghost in the Shell or Akira. Maybe even Macross and Neon Genesis Evangelion, but that might be a little too far to be called cyberpunk per se.

The set was a mix of songs from all of the band's existing three albums. Tonight's setlist had two Berserk songs, Beast in Black and Die by the Blade of the One You Hate.  While I would have loved to have included songs like The Fifth Angel, Crazy, Mad, Insane, or the abovementioned Til the Last Drop of Blood, I know we don't have all the time in the world. Putting up nine songs in the time allotted is admirable. From Hell With Love, Born Again, Moonlight Rendezvous, Blind and Frozen, and End of the World are all songs worthy of being on the setlist.  The nine songs flew by in a frenzy, and End of the World was a fitting way to end the session.

If you're curious, here are a few videos.  Already in the thumbnails, you can see that Berserk connection.  They're definitely not trying to hide anything.

This is not the first time I've seen these two bands in person. I've seen God knows how many Nightwish shows, and this is the second time I've seen Beast in Black. It was great to see both bands again, and with any luck, we'll be seeing more of Beast in Black in America. Battle Beast sadly did not make its way to America until fairly recently and well past its peak days with Anton, so I've never been able to see any of their Berserk songs live.

So, dear readers. If power metal is your thing, check these bands out. Come for the Berserk, stay for the metal. If you've listened to Japanese bands like Galneryus, Unlucky Morpheus, Mary's Blood, Aldious, Versailles, Lovebites, or Jupiter, I think you'll like these too (and if you haven't listened to any of those bands, I recommend them wholeheartedly).  I really like it when my interests collide.  Much like when Epica created songs based on Attack on Titan a few years ago, I was really thrilled to have Beast in Black come to the United States.  Hopefully, this allows you to give them a shot and become a fan too.  

Here's to decades more.

Beast in Black Setlist:

1. Blade Runner
2. From Hell With Love
3. Beast in Black
4. Born Again
5. Die by the Blade
6. Moonlight Rendezvous
7. One Night in Tokyo
8. Blind and Frozen
9. End of the World

Nightwish Setlist:

1. Noise
2. Planet Hell
3. Tribal
4. Élan
5. Storytime
6. She Is My Sin
7. Harvest
8. 7 Days to the Wolves
9. Dark Chest of Wonders
10. I Want My Tears Back
11. Ever Dream
12. Nemo
13. How's the Heart? (Acoustic with Troy and Floor)
14. Shoemaker
15. Last Ride of the Day
16. Ghost Love Score
17. The Greatest Show on Earth