A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

Maybe the earliest impression I had the first time I listened this album was a bit wrong... The production was incredible, the sound perfect, but the songs lacked something. I missed a bit the spontaniety and power of "Imaginations from the Other Side", and the great balance between melody and energy of their previous release. "A Night at the Opera" was maybe a bit too excesive, too full of details... And maybe even too progressive!

But after a few listenings, I realized what a great album "A Night at the Opera" is... The digestion of the songs is slow, but once you've managed to get into them, you'll enjoy inmensily the listening of this heavy carrousel of compositive genious, virtuousity and tons of epic feeling. This is maybe the most intense Blind Guardian album, their most melodic, and complex one.

The albums flows in a mangnificient way, offering great songs, and although one track at the beginning (Under the Ice) and some tracks at the end (The Soulforged and Age of False Innocence) are a bit under the quality of the rest of the album, the final impression is really good. This crazy waste of details, production values and impressive guitar melodies is rare in metal today... Maybe a bit excessive, like I said, but impressive anyway!

Instrumentally, Andre Olbrich and Marcus Siepen are just spectacular here... The trademark Blind Guardian guitar sound is here again, and even better than before. Just hear the instrumental interludes... Wow! The last recording of Thomen Stauch with the band was also impressive, showing what a great drummer he was... And Hansi Kürsch's voice is the most renowed element of the bunch. He sounds a bit different in comparision with previous albums, primarily because he sings in higher notes, reaching levels that were unknown from him, but keeping the same rage and feeling. He sings higher and a bit less dirty tan before (making a very well mix with the stylish music...), but not with the ugly, almost totally clean and girlie vocie he used later in "A Twist in the Myth".

Bes tracks: How Far Jerusalem (a "in your face" track, spectacular beginning...), Battlefield (one of the most epic moments of the band... The chorus is just incredibly powerful!), Wait for an Answer (happy metal at its best!), Punishment Divine (a curious mix between the classic speed metal style of the band and their progressive modern orientation...) and And Then there Was Silence (the longest Blind Guardian song, and maybe their most progressive composition...)

Conclusion: despite its wrong tittle, and its horrendous cover artwork, "A Night at the Opera" is an excellent album. In my opinion, it's not so good like the previous "Nightfall in Middle Earth" for a pair of weak tracks, but it's the most spectacular, well produced, complex, detailed, epic... And progressive Blind Guardian album! Very recommended to every progressive metal fan!

My rating: ****

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