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{{About|a music album|the video game|Angels Fall First (video game)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Angels Fall First
| type = studio
| artist = [[Nightwish]]
| cover = Nightwish Angels Fall First.jpg
| alt = A nighttime image with a tree far in the distance and the moon above in the skyline. The sky is a dark black and the image colors fade to a bright red near the tree.
| released = {{start date|1997|11|01|df=yes}}{{efn|Standard edition release date. Limited edition released on 30 September 1997.<ref name="release">{{cite web | title=Angels Fall First| url=https://www.nightwish.com/releases/angels-fall-first|accessdate=2023-12-02}}</ref>}}
| recorded = April–September 1997
| studio = Huvikeskus ([[Kitee]])
| genre =
* [[Symphonic metal]]
* [[power metal]]
* [[folk metal]]
| length = 51:29
| language = {{hlist|English|[[Finnish language|Finnish]]}}
| label = [[Spinefarm Records|Spinefarm]]
| producer =
* [[Tuomas Holopainen]]
* Nightwish
| chronology = [[Nightwish]] studio album
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title = [[Oceanborn]]
| next_year = 1998
| misc = {{Singles
| name = Angels Fall First
| type = studio
| single1 = [[The Carpenter (Nightwish song)|The Carpenter]]
| single1date = 29 September 1997
}}
}}
{{Album ratings
| rev1 =[[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="AM">{{cite web | url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/angels-fall-first-mw0000000595 | title = Nightwish – Angels Fall First review | access-date = 25 August 2014 | last = Rivadavia | first = Eduardo | work = [[AllMusic]] | publisher = [[All Media Network]]}}</ref>
| rev2 =''[[Martin Popoff|Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal]]''
| rev2Score = 7/10<ref name="martin" >{{cite book | last = Popoff | first = Martin | author-link1 = Martin Popoff | title = The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties | publisher = [[Collector's Guide Publishing]] | date = August 1, 2007 | location = Burlington, Ontario, Canada | page=313|isbn = 978-1-894959-62-9}}</ref>
| rev3 =''[[Metal Hammer]]'' (GER)
| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|7}}<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.metal-hammer.de/suche/?searchString=nightwish+angels+fall+first&from=01.01.1900&to=01.01.2100&pub=mth&src=all&src=wbs&src=pct&sortBy=publishdate&filter= |title=Nightwish - Angels fall First |language=de |magazine=[[Metal Hammer]] |date=April 1998 |access-date=25 August 2014 }}</ref>
| noprose=yes
}}

'''''Angels Fall First''''' is the debut studio album by the Finnish [[symphonic metal]] band [[Nightwish]], originally released by [[Spinefarm Records]] on 30 September 1997 as a 500-copy limited edition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nightwish.com/en/news/archive?month=11&year=1997 |title=First album out |publisher=Nightwish's Official Website |date=1 November 1997 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091006112921/http://www.nightwish.com/en/news/archive?month=11&year=1997 |archive-date=6 October 2009 |access-date=25 August 2014 }}</ref> This edition is highly sought after by collectors and in 2012 a copy was sold for $1137.23 on [[eBay]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://heavymetalcd.com/cd_prices/auction/140726092235 |title=Nightwish - Angels Fall First limited 500 copies, Metallica, Exodus, Overkill |publisher=Heavy Metal CD.com |access-date=13 April 2014 }}</ref> It was subsequently released to the general public on 1 November, with four additional songs. The album was released in the US by [[Century Media Records|Century Media]] in March 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nightwish.com/en/news/archive?month=02&year=2001 |title=Nightwish releases to hit the USA |publisher=Nightwish's Official Website |date=22 February 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102072220/http://nightwish.com/en/news/archive?month=02&year=2001 |archive-date=2 January 2010 |access-date=25 August 2014 }}</ref>

''Angels Fall First'' is a [[power metal]] album with [[Gothic music|gothic]], [[Folk music|folk]] and [[Classical music|classical]] elements.<ref name="AM"/>

==Background==
[[Tuomas Holopainen]] wrote the music for the album during his time in the [[Finnish Army]].<ref name="MHammer">{{cite web|last1=Everley|first1=Dave|title=How Nightwish became a modern metal phenomenon|url=http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-08/how-nightwish-became-a-modern-metal-phenomenon|website=[[Metal Hammer]]|publisher=Team Rock|access-date=2 January 2016|date=8 December 2015}}</ref> In a 2008 interview with the British magazine ''[[Kerrang!]]'', Tuomas Holopainen remembered: {{quote|It came about in August 1996, around a campfire. We were at my summer cabin, a bunch of friends camping out, [[barbecuing]], singing songs, and then it just hit me that I wanted to start a band. But we were too far ambitious at that time for it to remain simply acoustic and making music with just acoustic guitar, keyboards and female voice, was just a bit boring, and we naturally started heading in a heavier direction. The funny thing about ''Angels Fall First'' is that it was only supposed to be a demo to send out to record labels. But then [[Spinefarm Records|Spinefarm]] heard it and thought it was perfect, so they put it out as it was with no remixing or anything. I used to be a bit embarrassed but now I can feel proud and nostalgic about those songs.<ref name="kerrang_2008">{{cite book |last=Ruskell |first1=Nick |title=[[Kerrang!]] |chapter=Treasure Chest. An Ultimate Portrait of a Life in Rock. Tuomas Holopainen. |volume=1223 |location=London, UK |publisher=[[Bauer Media Group]] |date=16 August 2008 |page=54 }}</ref>}}
The original pressing featured Holopainen's home contact address, an accident from reprinting the demo sleeve for the album.<ref name="kerrang_2008"/>

As of December 2009, ''Angels Fall First'' has sold more than 36,000 copies in [[Finland]] alone.<ref name="finifpi">{{cite web |url=http://www.ifpi.fi/tilastot/artistit/nightwish |title=Tilastot - Nightwish |language=fi |publisher=[[Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland]] |access-date=25 August 2014 }}</ref>

The band, and especially band leader and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen has since frowned upon the album, considering it essentially an extended demo. In a 2011 interview, when asked what album other than ''[[Imaginaerum]]'' Holopainen wanted to make into a movie, he replied that it would be ''Angels Fall First'', and that it would be "a black-and-white comedy".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tuomas-holopainen.com/index.php/en/interviews/85-chat-transcript-friday-17th-june |title=Chat Transcript: Friday 17th June |date=17 June 2011 |access-date=21 November 2011 |work=Tuomas-Holopainen.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018202517/http://www.tuomas-holopainen.com/index.php/en/interviews/85-chat-transcript-friday-17th-june |archive-date=18 October 2011 }}</ref>

The male vocals heard on "Beauty and the Beast", "The Carpenter", "Astral Romance" and "Once Upon a Troubadour" are sung by keyboardist–band leader Tuomas Holopainen, as well as the whispers in the beginning of the demo version of "Etiäinen".<ref name="interview">{{cite web |url=http://www.metal-rules.com/interviews/NightwishCenturyChild.htm |title=Nightwish - Interview With Tuomas Holopainen |last=Lahtinen |first=Luxi |publisher=Metal-Rules.com |date=November 2002 |access-date=13 April 2014 }}</ref> Following this release, Holopainen never sang credited on an album again, because he thought that he was not good enough.<ref name="interview"/>

==Track listing==
{{main|List of Angels Fall First editions}}

{{Track listing
| headline = ''Angels Fall First'' track listing
| all_lyrics = [[Tuomas Holopainen]]
| all_music = [[Nightwish]]
| title1 = Elvenpath
| length1 = 4:38
| title2 = Beauty and the Beast
| length2 = 6:22
| title3 = [[The Carpenter (Nightwish song)|The Carpenter]]
| length3 = 5:56
| title4 = Astral Romance
| length4 = 5:11
| title5 = Angels Fall First
| length5 = 5:34
| title6 = Tutankhamen
| length6 = 5:30
| title7 = Nymphomaniac Fantasia
| length7 = 4:45
| title8 = Know Why the Nightingale Sings
| length8 = 4:13
| title9 = Lappi ([[Lapland (Finland)|Lapland]]): I. Erämaajärvi
| length9 = 2:15
| title10 = Lappi (Lapland): II. Witchdrums
| length10 = 1:19
| title11 = Lappi (Lapland): III. This Moment Is Eternity
| length11 = 3:12
| title12 = Lappi (Lapland): IV. Etiäinen
| length12 = 2:34
| total_length = 51:29
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = 2007 reissue bonus tracks
| title13 = A Return to the Sea
| length13 = 5:46
| title14 = Nightwish
| note14 = demo
| length14 = 5:49
| title15 = The Forever Moments
| note15 = demo
| length15 = 5:36
| title16 = Etiäinen
| note16 = demo
| length16 = 2:59
| total_length = 71:39
}}

==Personnel==
All information from the album booklet.<ref>(1997). "''Angels Fall First'' liner notes". In ''Angels Fall First'' [CD booklet]. Spinefarm.</ref>

'''Nightwish'''
*[[Tarja Turunen]] – [[Singing|vocals]]
*[[Tuomas Holopainen]] – keyboards, male vocals (on track 2, 3, 4 & "Once Upon a Troubadour"), arrangements
*[[Emppu Vuorinen]] – guitars, bass
*[[Jukka Nevalainen]] – drums, percussion

'''Additional musician'''
*Esa Lehtinen – flute

'''Production'''
*Tero Kinnunen – engineering, mixing, recording
*Mika Jussila – mastering
*Garry Black – cover photo
*Toni Härkönen – photography

==Charts==
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col"| Chart (1998)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
{{album chart|Finland|31|artist=Nightwish|album=Angels Fall First|rowheader=true|accessdate=June 20, 2024}}
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col"| Chart (2022)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
{{album chart|Finland|5|artist=Nightwish|album=Angels Fall First|rowheader=true|accessdate=June 20, 2024}}
|}

== Certifications ==
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Finland|artist=Nightwish|title=Angels Fall First|type=album|award=Gold|domestic=true|salesamount=36,526}}
{{end}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*{{cite book
|title=[[Once Upon a Nightwish]]
|last=Ollila
|first=Mape
|publisher=Deggael Communications
|year=2007
|isbn=978-952-99749-2-4}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101231042248/http://www.nightwish.com/en/ Nightwish's Official Website]

{{Nightwish}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nightwish albums]]
[[Category:1997 debut albums]]
[[Category:Spinefarm Records albums]]
[[Category:Finnish-language albums]]

Angels Fall First - Revision history

imported>HorrorLover555 at 13:31, 3 August 2025