A Night at the Opera (Blind Guardian album)

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A Night at the Opera
Studio album by Blind Guardian
Released	March 19, 2002
Recorded	October 2000-December 2001 at Twilight Hall Studios, Grefrath and Hammer Music Studios, Hamburg, Germany
Genre	Speed Metal/Power Metal
Length	65:29
Label	Virgin/Century Media
Producer(s)	Charlie Bauerfeind
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles (9.5/10) link Bright Eyes Germany (13/13) link Hard Radio (9/10) link Lords of Metal (100/100) link Metal District (10/10) link MetalReviews.com (100/100) link Metal-Rules (4.0/5 & 4.9/5) link link Tartarean Desire (9.5/10 & 7/10) link link Ultimate Metal Reviews (8/10) link
Blind Guardian chronology
Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998)	A Night at the Opera (2002)	A Twist in the Myth (2006)

Not to be confused with A Night at the Opera (Queen album).

A Night at the Opera is a 2002 album by the German power metal band Blind Guardian. The record is the subject of glowing reviews by several magazines and fansites devoted to the genre.

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

[edit] Track listing

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 (Argentinean 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 Christian Bible, as is the song "Sadly Sings Destiny".
• "The Soulforged" is based on the Dragonlance saga's tales of the mage Raistlin Majere.
• "Punishment Divine" is about Nietzsche's decline into insanity.
• "And Then There Was Silence" is inspired by the Iliad.
• "Under The Ice" may also have connections to the Iliad.
• "Age of False Innocence" is about Galileo Galilei.
• "The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight" is based on Tristan und Isolde.
• "Harvest of Sorrow" is based on Tolkien's tragic story of Túrin Turambar, which appears in the Silmarillion.

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

[edit] Chart Positions

Billboard Top Independent Albums: #37

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Band

• Hansi Kürsch - Vocals
• André Olbrich - Guitar
• Marcus Siepen - Guitar
• Thomas "Thomen" Stauch - Drums

[edit] Guest Musicians

• Bass guitar: Oliver Holzwarth
• Keyboards: Matthias Wiesner
• Piano: Michael Schüren (Age of False Innocence)
• Keyboards and sound effects: Pad Bender, Boris Schmidt, Sascha Pierro
• Choir: 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
• Dennis "Sir" Kostroman - booklet design
• Axel Jusseit - photos

[edit] External links

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

Blind Guardian
Hansi Kürsch | André Olbrich | Marcus Siepen | Frederik Ehmke
Thomas "Thomen" Stauch | Markus Dörk | Christoph Theissen | Hans-Peter Frey
Discography
Demo albums as Lucifer's Heritage: Symphonies of Doom | Battalions of Fear
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
Live albums: Tokyo Tales | Live
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
Videos and DVDs: Imaginations Through the Looking Glass
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