Phreak: Er, no. Dream Theater = self-indulgent fret-wankery (heh, you can tell I'm not a fan

), Nightwish = Finnish weirdness. Lead vocalist is a classically trained woman, combined with Metallica/Iced Earth style riffing. Also think Maiden-ish, except Bruce is a girl and there's a full-time keyboard player. It's really strange, but you should give it a go. You'll either love it or hate it. Also synths and orchestra (on the new album at least). I recommend sampling the following tracks:
Ocean Soul
Bless the Child
Ghost Love Score
Nymphomaniac Fantasia
Nemo (single off the newest album)
Romanticide
Planet Hell
Slaying the Dreamer
Forever Yours
That should give you an idea of the kind of stuff they do.
**** it, listen to anything you can download, then decide if you wanna get the albums or not.

I like it personally - I'm a big classical music fan, and the metal/orchestra combination rocks as far as I'm concerned (see Metallica's S&M and Kiss Alive IV) - but it's one of those things that you won't know till you try it. They're on Nuclear Blast records now - I think there's a sampler you cvan dl off their site:
www.nuclearblast.deGortef: Heheh - go Nuclear Blast! I'm liking it more every time I listen to it, I do prefer it to the last two albums, but they are bloody good in themselves. It's just different I suppose. And Marco's voice is one I'm liking more and more all the time - he can do the melodic stuff (Siren), and he can do the shouty bits really well too.