More infos !

The Carpenter history:
As Nightwish released the demo of their first album - Angels Fall First - in a 500 copies limited edition, success arrived very quickly and allowed them to record the real version of the album. Once the recordings were done, the album was released and a single was chosen to promote it. The Carpenter was then chosen and a video was shot for the occasion. Nightwish’s story began at last.

Review of The Carpenter by Guillaume:
When Nightwish came to life in summer 1996, Tuomas, Tarja and Emppu were far from realizing what this ordinary project would become. After several rehearsals, the band – joined by Jukka – recorded 11 tracks between April and August 1997. Spinefarm’s help was a real springboard for Nightwish which was pushed forward by the Finnish record company.
So, even before their first album got released, the single The Carpenter was in every CD player in the country and directly hit number 8 in the singles charts in Finland. As a result, Spinefarm gave it all and Nightwish got going. The cover for this single is quite unpleasant: the visual is an over-exposed red and white picture of two swans on a lake and a few reeds.
For Nightwish fans, The Carpenter really is a song that arouses nostalgia: it has been played live only rarely in 1998 and has been left out from the setlist for 4 years.
However, The Carpenter is not a disappointing song. It is true that the acoustic guitar and Tuomas’ trite voice contrast in a peculiar way with the beginnings of Tarja’s future vocal feat and the more metallic sound of the electric guitar in the chorus. The keyboards and the flute even mix in a strange way. Even if she is still hesitant, Tarja shows to be enchanting, and all the clumsiness on that track gives The Carpenter and an irresistible charm. Two bonus tracks come along with this album version of The Carpenter. First, Red Light In My Eyes Part II by Children Of Bodom that will later be found on the album Something Wild. Alexis Laiho composed a powerful and aggressive heavy metal track which shows that he can handle the trinomial keyboards – guitar – vocals with masterly skills. The second bonus track is Only Dust Moves by Thy Serpent (Forests Of Witchery), a Finnish band in which Alexis Laiho also played as a guitarist in 1997. Here, the tempo is slower, the keyboard lines are simpler and the vocals that are half black (close to Tristania), half gothic (close to 69 Eyes) give the whole track a disappointing monotony.
The Carpenter also got a video which is exceptional for a first single (even if the video unfortunately does not appear on the CD)! As Tuomas said, and as the Christian crosses on the CD let us guess, The Carpenter refers to Jesus Christ whose father was a carpenter.
This single is one of the rarest items for a Nightwish fan: you can only find it on auction websites on rare occasions or in small Finnish shops.
Eventually, The Carpenter was an efficient way for Spinefarm Records to promote three of its growing stars of the time.