Finland's legendary Gothic/symphonic metal icons Nightwish are no strangers to drama, with a long history of ego clashes and seriously bad blood (as opposed to good blood, which we enjoy) between band members – the most newsworthy of which being the 2005 departure of famous operatic lead vocalist Tarja Turunen in a perfect storm of bitterness. So when word gets out that their official biography is hitting US bookstores next week, you can be sure their many stateside fans will gobble up the tome in search of all the gory details.

Entitled Once Upon A Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996-2006, the 352-page English language edition is slated for North American release on Monday through publisher Bazillion Points. Finnish author Mape Ollila goes into exhaustive detail documenting the band's early days as a student project in the tiny Finnish village of Kitee  to international fame.

Ollila interviews members of Nightwish past and present, their friends and families, their critics, fans and many more, charting the ups and downs of a career forever challenged by “religious protesters, fortune-tellers, naked crew members, health problems, shady promoters, out-of-control fans, and the growing pains of an ever-steeper rock star learning curve.” Hell, that sounds like any given week down here in the FEARnet Music Catacombs, but whatever.

Don't expect a happy ending – well, the band's still going strong, so I guess that's happy enough – but we're betting it's quite a page-turner regardless. Find out how you can order a copy at Bazillion Points website.