“I was 18 when I recorded it, so we didn’t know anything about writing, about recording, about singing”: Nightwish’s Floor Jansen on her worst album – and the prog metal deep cut which makes her cry

Floor Jansen in 2026.

Since joining Nightwish full-time in 2013, Floor Jansen has become the face of symphonic metal. She’s not just led the Finnish theatrics for three albums, but launched a solo career in her own right (starting with 2023 album Paragon and continuing with this summer’s single, Run) and collaborated with Ayreon and her ex-bandmate, Marko Hietala. In 2023, Hammer’s sister mag Classic Rock sat the singer down to discover the music which shaped her, from the first album she ever heard to her guilty pleasure and her cult hero.