A heavy metal symphony

Marco Hietala's band has been compared to Evanescence, Lacuna Coil and just about every other hard rock band with a female vocalist.

But Nightwish's bass player wants everyone to remember one thing: "We were there first."

Formed in 1996 in Finland by composer and pianist Tuomas Holopainen, Nightwish won a legion of European fans with its symphonic brand of heavy metal and is hoping to capture that same magic in America, where it sold out a Saturday night show at the House of Blues.

The band's new album, "Dark Passion Play" (Roadrunner Records), comes two years after Hietala and his bandmates fired their operatic lead singer, Tarja Turunen, through a letter given to her shortly after the last show of their 2005 tour. Turunen's "attitude and actions had turned out to be against almost all Nightwish represents," according to the band's official bio.

Replacing Turunen is Swedish singer Anette Olzon, who makes up with bright, pop sensibilities what she lacks in metal experience. The drastic shift in singing styles inevitably divided the fan base and led to plenty of negative postings on message boards.

"With the Internet thing, it actually is a place where you get a lot of people whining about stuff because it's so easy," Hietala said in a phone interview. "I don't really take it seriously."

But the band is dead serious about its split from Turunen, who is the subject of many of the new album's songs. The third single, "Bye Bye Beautiful," has Hietala screaming a chorus directly at her: "Did we get this far just to feel your hate? / Did we play to become only pawns in the game?"

Another song, "Master Passion Greed," is so vengeful that Hietala suggested Olzon not sing on the track at all. "I actually went to Tuomas and said, 'Maybe we don't want to give that kind of mental heaviness to her,'" Hietala said.

Holopainen's songs have a flair for the dramatic, not only in lyrical content but also in instrumentation. "Dark Passion Play" is Nightwish's second album to feature a full orchestra, a byproduct of Holopainen's love for film music.

"Tuomas has been reading about (film composing) but doesn't really have time," Hietala said, but the pair did write and perform a song for a Finnish film, "Lieksa!," earlier this year.

The affinity for film is evident in Nightwish's live shows, which are often bookended by music from "Gladiator" composer Hans Zimmer. Holopainen also is a fan of all things Disney, as represented by the 2000 song "FantasMic."

So you can imagine the band's consternation when their shows on Disney property in Orlando and Anaheim were moved to different venues. Disney has unofficially banned all metal acts from venues on its property, ostensibly to keep undesirables away from vacationing families.

"It's hypocritical crap to make movies where you idolize pirates and murderers, then you just ban a heavy metal band from playing," Hietala said. "But," he added, laughing, "I still love the movies."

Nightwish with Paradise Lost

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn, Chicago

Cost: $25 general admission, $60 VIP admission (includes priority entrance and Nightwish poster); sold out

Web site: www.nightwish.com