Sacrament of Wilderness

"Sacrament of Wilderness" is the second single by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released as the first single from their album Oceanborn, and a split-single with Eternal Tears of Sorrow and Darkwoods My Betrothed.

The single's cover art features the owl with the same scroll as in the cover of Oceanborn and Wishmaster.

It reached the number-one spot in the Finnish charts during several weeks, as well as the subsequent, "Walking in the Air". Both were certified with Gold Disc in Finland with more than 5,000 sold copies.

The cover of the single features the same owl as in "Passion and the Opera", and is a zoomed in photo of the painting displayed as the European Oceanborn cover.

Live performances
The song disappeared from Nightwish' live setlist after their World Tour of the Century, in 2003, but returned again in late 2007, sung by their new vocalist Anette Olzon but otherwise the same musically.

The song was also performed after a long absence from the setlist during the Decades: World Tour, with a released live version from the show in Buenos Aires.

It is one of the few songs from their first two albums that has survived live and still is performed.

Former Nightwish bassist, Marko Hietala, doesn't like this song as much as he likes some others; when asked why, he said:

I don't really have anything against it. I can say that there's certain mathematic predictability in the vocal melodies, and I find other songs more exciting because they don't have it. It's still a good addition to the liveset.

Video
The music video is a live performance of the song at Kitee, the band's hometown, on 13 November 1998. The band members, except Sami, sported short hair in the video, released as bonus material on Nightwish's first DVD, From Wishes to Eternity, in 2001.

Personnel

 * Tarja Turunen – lead vocals
 * Tuomas Holopainen – keyboards
 * Emppu Vuorinen – lead guitar
 * Jukka Nevalainen – drums
 * Sami Vänskä – bass