ALBUM:A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
ARTIST:BLIND GUARDIAN
YEAR OF RELEASE:2002
RATING:**** 1/2

There are many words that can describe Blind Guardian's A Night at the Opera:Bombastic, epic, pompous, over the top, full, complex, elaborate, busy, majestic, overwrought...as for me, I describe it as "all of the above". This disc is a VERY busy disc, the sound is very full. There is a ton going on in pretty much every song, none of them are "simple" listens. Some people consider this a negative, but IMO, it helps the disc a lot. There's a lot to keep one coming back to the disc, it's never boring by any means. The songs are very elaborate, very complex, very majestic and bombastic, and still very catchy...I find myself humming and/or singing various parts of various songs on a regular basis Some might call it too busy, too pompous, or overproduced, but I think it turned out excellently. Yes, the songs are busy, there IS a lot going on, it's perhaps not a simple listen, but it's still an awesome listening experience. Stylistically, this disc has much in common with the 2 previous Guardian discs. It's very epic, lots of orchestrations and choirs ala Nightfall, but with a lot of the speed and aggression of Imaginations. In essence, it sounds like a cross between the previous 2 discs, and to quote DDP, that's not a bad thing, it's a good thing. Lyrically, they still reference some of the fantasy stuff they're known for drawing from("The Soulforged" is based on the Dragonlance series, a lyrical subject voted on by the fans) although there isn't any Tolkien related tracks, but they also have songs about Galileo, Jesus, Nostradamus, and several others. It's really hard to pick highlights from this disc, as I like every song on it. Even songs that aren't the best of the tracks have parts that I *really* like. The best example is probably Wait for an Answer...the song is probably my least fave on the disc, has a fairly unimpressive chorus(by BG standards, at least...still better than a lot of bands), but there's a section in the middle starting with the line "We're the last descendants..." that is just totally awesome, and finds it's way into my head on a regular basis. There truly is no song on this disc I skip, and it just gets better with each listen. I guess my faves would probably be Battlefield(this would fit perfectly on IFTOS), The Soulforged(this one could easily fit on NiME), Precious Jerusalem, and Sadly Sings Destiny. And while I might not normally consider Wait for an Answer a highlight, the middle section is so damn cool I find myself playing it a lot more than I normally would. Rating:4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

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