page_title: Nightwish
section_title: Endless Forms Most Beautiful and arrival of Floor Jansen and Troy Donockley (2013–2018)
hierarchical_section_title: Nightwish / History / Endless Forms Most Beautiful and arrival of Floor Jansen and Troy Donockley (2013–2018)
caption_attribution_description: Nightwish (metal symphonique, Finlande) en concert à l'Arena de Genève, 11 novembre 2018. Photo: Stéphane Gallay, sous licence Creative Commons (CC-BY)
context_page_description: Nightwish is a symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Nevalainen, and then bassist Sami Vänskä after the release of their debut album, Angels Fall First. In 2001, Vänskä was replaced by Marco Hietala, who also took over the male vocalist role previously filled by Holopainen or guest singers.
  Although Nightwish have been prominent in their home country since Angels Fall First, they did not achieve wider success until the release of the albums Oceanborn, Wishmaster and Century Child. Their 2004 album, Once, has sold more than one million copies and was the band's breakthrough in the United States. Their biggest US hit single, "Wish I Had an Angel", received MTV airplay and was included on three US film soundtracks to promote their North American tour. The band produced three more singles and two music videos for Once, as well as a re-recording of "Sleeping Sun" for the compilation album, Highest Hopes: The Best of Nightwish, before Turunen's dismissal in October 2005.
context_section_description: In an interview with Metal Hammer in November 2012, Tuomas Holopainen stated that they already had a rehearsal place booked from July 2014 to September 2014, but before they began rehearsing the band members would be taking a break from Nightwish for several months.
  On October 9, 2013, Nightwish announced Floor Jansen as the permanent replacement for Olzon. Troy Donockley was also announced as a full-time member, making the band a sextet for the first time. In a later interview, Tuomas said that Donockley's previous work with Nightwish had already made him "much a band member", so the band just "made it official". According to the band's webpage, the band would enter the studio in 2014 to record its eighth full-length album for a 2015 release. At that time, the band had already announced that it would contain Nightwish's longest song to date.
  At the end of November, the band released the live album Showtime, Storytime. Despite the recording happening when they were only tour members, it is the first Nightwish release to feature Jansen and to have her and Donockley credited as band members. The album also carries a documentary containing the behind-the-scenes of Jansen's first days in the band and the process of replacing Olzon.
  In May 2014, Tuomas updated his official website, stating that he and producer Tero "TeeCee" Kinnunen had been recording 12 demos (and possibly three bonus tracks) for the new album in Hattula, Finland. The band expected to start rehearsing in July in Eno, Finland, to complete recording by January 2015, and to release the album in spring of that year, "If everything goes as scheduled". Commenting on the music, Tuomas said:
  It's still too early to analyze the material more closely, but the album will once again explore all the ends of the spectrum, bringing the very best out of the newcomers' Floor and Troy. And stealthily the album ended up having a theme running through it.
  On August 6, the band announced that founding member and drummer Jukka Nevalainen would not be part of the upcoming album due to his debilitating insomnia. Kai Hahto (Wintersun) would be taking his place on the album and the upcoming tour.
  Evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins was announced as a guest star on the album, with Holopainen stating that he had "been so enthusiastic about this kind of literature for the past few months, and will be for the upcoming months, that it's going to come out somehow."
  In November, the band filmed a music video for "Élan", one of the tracks of the album. On December 8, the band announced that it would be the first single from the album, which would be released on February 13, 2015.
  The new album's cover art and its title, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, were revealed on December 22, and the album was released on March 27, 2015, produced by Tero "TeeCee" Kinnunen. The title for Endless Forms Most Beautiful was taken from the writings of English naturalist Charles Darwin. The album features the participation of London's The Metro Voices choir group, London's Young Musicians Children's Choir, and the Orchestre De Grandeur, led by the esteemed orchestral arranger Pip Williams, who teaches music and music technology at the London College of Music. Professor Richard Dawkins not only narrates the introduction to the album's opener, "Shudder Before the Beautiful", but also the album's closer, "The Greatest Show on Earth", which takes its name from his 2009 book on evolution. In its first week, the album sold 18,342 copies in the US and debuted at 34 on the Billboard 200, making it Nightwish's third album (after Dark Passion Play and Imaginaerum) to chart in this category. In the Czech Republic, the album debuted atop the charts and received gold-status after just two days. The album charted in the top 10 in other countries as well, including Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Austria, and Mexico. To promote the album's release, the band embarked on an Endless Forms Most Beautiful World Tour, which started on April 9, 2015 in New York City and ended on October 9, 2016 in Saitama, Japan.
  In July 
caption: Nightwish live at the SEG Geneva Arena in 2018
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