Reading recent articles written on Arch Enemy has led me to ponder what allows a band to switch vocalists successfully. Of course, Arch Enemy has recently recruited Alissa White-Gluz for vocal duties after former frontwoman, Angela Gossow, stepped down. This change seems to have been met with a reasonable amount of success. For whatever reason, I immediately began to draw a contrast to the tumult that Nightwish has experienced.
Granted, the biggest similarities between Arch Enemy and Nightwish are that they are both female-fronted bands. They play different sub-genres of metal: Arch Enemy falling closest to the melodic death category while Nightwish falls into the area of symphonic metal. Perhaps these sub-genres themselves attract different personalities in band members, just as they tend to attract different fans.
Angela Gossow, former Arch Enemy vocalist, graciously stepped down of her own accord, stating that she wanted to take a different role in the band (management). From all reports, she played a significant role in selecting her replacement. Gossow has always been quite respected in the metal world, breaking into a genre and vocal style that hadn’t typically seen too many women previously. Neither Gossow nor White-Gluz seem very eager to pull off some of the diva-esque stunts that other female vocalists have. Both women seem to have the same attitude, eschewing drama and intent on putting on a solid stage show. Arch Enemy took a humble, collected approach. The band did not really give any hints on a change until after ‘War Eternal’ had been recorded. This was an intelligent choice.
Angela Gossow has been a force to be reckoned with live, her stage persona being much larger than her tiny stature. Alissa White-Gluz seems to be much the same. It will be interesting to compare the Arch Enemy shows I have attended in the past with the one I will be attending in the fall. ‘War Eternal’ is a solid album. Although I need to give it a few more listens, I like White-Gluz on vocals. In fact, I may like her vocals more than Gossow’s. While I have never listened to White-Gluz’s previous band, as metalcore is not something I’m interested in, she seems to be more versatile and perhaps even capable of brining something slightly different to Arch Enemy. Either way, she seems like a good fit so far.
This is in sharp contrast to what occurred in the Nightwish camp years ago. While I realize that Floor Jansen is the current vocalist of the Finnish symphonic group, the comparison will be drawn to the switch between vocalists Tarja Turunen and Anette Olzon. Nightwish has always been a band of big personalities and talented musicians. There is no denying that Turunen’s powerful vocals lent a distinctive sound to Tuomas Holopainen’s vision. Without even mentioning the previous albums, ‘Once’ was certainly a very successful, well-orchestrated effort. In late 2005, following the immensely successful release of ‘Once’, Turunen was fired from Nightwish. The entire incident became an uncontrolled explosion of fireworks, feeding tabloid fodder for a substantial amount of time. Turunen was fired through an open letter, and responded with an open letter of her own. Not a very good way to handle a situation where emotion evidently ran wild.
Swedish vocalist, Anette Olzon, was hired for Nightwish’s ‘Dark Passion Play’ album. While the album isn’t bad in itself, it never really had the feel of a Nightwish album. Marco Hietala took a more significant vocals role. The backlash from fans continued, having began with the dismissal of Turunen. Many had no interest in Nightwish without Turunen, not willing to give Olzon a chance. I felt Nightwish lost their spark with Olzon. They went from having a metal diva fronting the band to a pop princess who never quite managed to fit in. While it wasn’t entirely Olzon’s fault, I lost much of my interest in Nightwish long before Olzon was dismissed. Even live, Olzon didn’t quite have that edge that would have benefited her position in the band. Having seen Nightwish with Olzon, I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t impressed either. The excuse used to fire Olzon seemed to be much the same as the one used to fire Turunen. The relationships in Nightwish are obviously dysfunctional, and filled with drama. Whether this has changed with the addition of Floor Jansen, only time will tell.
While countless other bands have changed vocalists, with varying amounts of success, these two cases proved interesting when contrasted with each other. I’m sure you could write an entire multi-page paper contrasting the two. At least, you could write a paper (and probably even a book) on the drama that surrounds Nightwish. There is a difference between handling a situation graciously and handling a situation like a bunch of junior-high children. Undoubtedly, how it’s handled will change fans opinions of the bands and personalities involved. Unless one is closely involved, the details are probably skewed, and some level of critical thinking should be employed, but this often does not happen. (As exemplified by Nightwish and most of their fan base). From a business perspective, and a personal perspective, it just makes sense to follow the lead of Arch Enemy.
