A Night at the Opera (Blind Guardian album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Night at the Opera
Studio album by Blind Guardian
Released	March 4, 2002
Recorded	October 2000-December 2001 at Twilight Hall Studios, Grefrath and Hammer Music Studios, Hamburg, Germany
Genre	Power metal, progressive metal
Length	65:29
Label	Virgin/Century Media
Producer	Charlie Bauerfeind
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Blind Guardian chronology
Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998) A Night at the Opera (2002) A Twist in the Myth (2006)

A Night at the Opera is a 2002 album by the German power metal band Blind Guardian.

Metal-Rules.com named this the best metal album of 2002.^[1]

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Lyrical references 3 Chart positions 4 Personnel 4.1 Band 4.2 Guest musicians 4.3 Technical staff 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Track listing

All music written by Olbrich/Kürsch except track 2 and 7 written by Olbrich/Kürsch/Stauch and bonus track 1-5 written by Siepen/Kürsch/Stauch. All lyrics written by Kürsch.

1. "Precious Jerusalem" – 6:21
2. "Battlefield" – 5:37
3. "Under the Ice" – 5:44
4. "Sadly Sings Destiny" – 6:04
5. "The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight" – 5:30
6. "Wait for an Answer" – 6:30
7. "The Soulforged" – 5:18
8. "Age of False Innocence" – 6:05
9. "Punishment Divine" – 5:45
10. "And Then There Was Silence" – 14:05

• Bonus Songs

1. "Harvest of Sorrow" (Acoustic Version) – 3:39 (Japanese Bonus)
2. "Mies del Dolor" – 3:39 (Spain/North American Bonus)
3. "La Cosecha del Dolor" – 3:39 (Argentine Bonus)
4. "Frutto del Buio" – 3:39 (Italian Bonus)
5. "Moisson de peine" – 3:39 (French Bonus)

• "Harvest of Sorrow" has seven different versions in addition to two live versions: two in English, two in Spanish ("Mies Del Dolor, La Cosecha Del Dolor"), one in Italian ("Frutto Del Buio") , one in French ("Moisson de Peine"), and one in a mix of all of the versions except the English acoustic and Italian.

[edit] Lyrical references

The album features the concepts and themes familiar to Blind Guardian fans, such as historical battles and religious references.

• "Precious Jerusalem" is based on the final days of Jesus of Nazareth.
• "Battlefield" is based on Song of Hildebrandt, an old German tale of a father and son who find themselves in a duel to the death.
• "Under The Ice" has connections to the Iliad, focuses on Cassandra and what happened to her after the Trojan War, particularly from The Oresteia.
• "Sadly Sings Destiny" based on the religious aspect of the Messiah in the Old Testament, and tells of the crucifixion of Jesus from the point of view of a character who reluctantly helps fulfill the prophecy, by doing such things as building the cross and weaving the Crown of Thorns.
• "The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight" is based on an episode from the story of Tristan und Isolde.
• "Wait for an Answer" is a story Hansi wrote about a friendship between a hare and a fox, a very unusual friendship. They both have to avoid the genocide created by the tribe of crows who are the kind of racist nation in the story about hope and war.
• "The Soulforged" is based on the Dragonlance saga's tales of the mage Raistlin Majere.
• "Age of False Innocence" is about Galileo Galilei.[1]
• "Punishment Divine" is about Nietzsche's decline into insanity.
• "And Then There Was Silence" is about the Trojan War, largely from the point of view of the Trojans. It was inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid.
• "Harvest of Sorrow" is based on Tolkien's tragic story of Túrin Turambar, which appears in the Silmarillion.

The album's title is a reference to the Marx Brothers' 1935 film A Night at the Opera, and Queen's 1975 album A Night at the Opera.

[edit] Chart positions

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
2002	Top Independent Albums	#37

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Band

• Hansi Kürsch - lead and backing vocals
• André Olbrich - lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars
• Marcus Siepen - rhythm guitar
• Thomas "Thomen" Stauch - drums & percussion

[edit] Guest musicians

• Bass guitars: Oliver Holzwarth
• Keyboards & orchestral arrangements: Matthias Wiesner
• Piano: Michael Schüren (Age of False Innocence)
• Keyboards and sound effects: Pad Bender, Boris Schmidt, Sascha Pierro
• The Choir Company: Rolf Köhler, Thomas Hackmann, Olaf Senkbeil, Billy King

[edit] Technical staff

• Charlie Bauerfeind - production, mixing, recording
• Nordin Hammadi Amrani - assistant engineer, additional recordings
• Clemens von Witte - recordings
• Detlef - recordings
• Paul Raymond Gregory - cover painting
• André Olbrich - front cover concept
• Dennis "Sir" Kostroman - booklet design
• Axel Jusseit - photos

[edit] External links

• "Harvest of Sorrow" (9 versions available for download)

[edit] References

v • d • e Blind Guardian Hansi Kürsch · André Olbrich  · Marcus Siepen · Frederik Ehmke Thomen Stauch · Oliver Holzwarth · Markus Dörk · Christof Theißen · Hans-Peter Frey Studio albums Battalions of Fear · Follow the Blind · Tales from the Twilight World · Somewhere Far Beyond · Imaginations from the Other Side · Nightfall in Middle-Earth · A Night at the Opera · A Twist in the Myth Compilations The Forgotten Tales Singles "A Past and Future Secret" · "Bright Eyes" · "Mr. Sandman" · "Mirror Mirror" · "And Then There Was Silence" · "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)" · "Fly" · "Another Stranger Me" DVDs Imaginations Through the Looking Glass Other Discography · Demons & Wizards