The Islander (song)

The Islander (song)

"The Islander" is the tenth track on symphonic metal band Nightwish’s Dark Passion Play album. It was confirmed to be the album's fifth single on the website Nightwish-World on 23 February 2008, only a week after the fourth single, "Bye Bye Beautiful", was released. It was released on 21 May 2008, and the video itself premiered on 14 April 2008.

As some of Nightwish' other songs (including for example "Creek Mary's Blood" from Once), the song is highly influenced by folk music rather than the symphonic power metal they usually play, and uses only acoustic guitars, rather than electric. It is fully acoustic, except the use of some keyboard effects and drums, though folk-inspired. Marco Hietala sings the whole song with backing vocals from Anette Olzon and Tuomas Holopainen. He also wrote most of the music for the song, unlike most others, which were written by Tuomas Holopainen. The song used guest musician Troy Donockley who is featured on several instruments.

The single features an instrumental version of "Escapist" as well as an orchestral version of "Meadows of Heaven". It also features the videos to "The Islander" and "Bye Bye Beautiful".