A Night at the Opera

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 Exclaim! (favorable)[1]
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.^[2]

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.

Lyrical references

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2009)

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.

Chart positions

Album - Billboard (North America)

Personnel

Band

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

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

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

External links

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

References