Track Listing

1. Precious Jerusalem
2. Battlefield
3. Under the Ice
4. Sadly Sings Destiny
5. Maiden and the Minstrel Knight
6. Wait for an Answer
7. Soulforged
8. Age of False Innocence
9. Punishment Divine
10. And Then There Was Silence
11. Mies del Dolor [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63472 in Music
• Released on: 2002-03-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Customer Reviews

Worth the wait? I think so!
Well, it's been four years since Nightfall in Middle Earth was released, or to be more precise, three & a half. Those of you who loved Nightfall.. and were expecting an album of similar taste, be prepared for a change. A Night at the Opera, unlike some of Blind Guardian's previous albums, is heavy, fast, thumping, and... orchestral. It's a completely different side of Blind Guardian, and tracks such as The Soulforged show the contrast between this & some of their previous songs. Coincidentally, The Soulforged was a song that came about due to the fans, who voted for the lyrics of one song on the album to be about the Dragonlance series.
Hansi's voice is as powerful as ever, with his beautiful highs & lows, the guitar playing is still epic, the drumming close to perfection, and they remain, in my opinion, the best metal band since the late 80's. But it isn't all as heavy songs. The very last track, And Then There Was Silence, is better described as an epic journey rather than a piece of music. At just over 14 minutes long, it ranges many different sounds & types of music, and everything seems to have been arranged almost gracefully. Overall, this album is definetely worth a listen for any Blind Guardian fans. But then, if you're a Blind Guardian fan I didn't need to tell you that. For anyone reading this review, I urge you to download a few songs before buying the album. Listen to the sound clips provided by Amazon. I've always admired Blind Guardian to be a band that change the style of their music depending on what fits the lyrics. But regardless of the style of their music, if you like one Blind Guardian song, you will like them all. This type of music isn't world wide known. It's never been mainstream, and it's never been publicised to great extents. And yet it remains one of the most genuinely fantastic genres I've ever listened to. This is epic metal.

One of the Best Ever Metal Albums
I was not sure what to expect when I first listened to this album. It was the first BG album I had ever heard. It does take some time to get into because of the detail given to each and every song. However after a few spins the quality of the album becomes apparent. It so overshadows any of the so called mainstream metal music or music in general. I now have the BG back catalogue and I agree it is different to their earlier albums which are all of an extremely high quality. I have to say though along with Imaginations... this is their best album. The album is so good there is no need to pick out individual songs. I would definately put this down as my album of 2002 already. It is such a shame, that in Britain it will be criminally ignored.

Blind Guardian
This is the first Blind Guardian album I heard, and was the one that made me go and buy all of their other albums.
The first thing I must say is that Hansi's voice is spectacular on this album. The multi tracked layers of his voice work really well and add an epic feel to this album.
In terms of songs, all of them are great, apart from tracks 4 and 6 which don't quite contend with the other tracks on this album.
Some people may feel that this album has been overproduced, but I think Blind Guardian are one of the only bands that this type of production actually works with. Each time you listen to this album you notice something new. The production really creates an epic feel, which after all is what power metal is all about.
This album shows what tremendous progress this band has made within the last 15 years or so. The intelligence of the songwriting and production has really developed and is the strongest in their whole career in my opinion.
Overall, if you're a newcomer to Blind Guardian, buy 'Imaginations from the other side' or 'Nightfall in Middle Earth' first, but buy this album second.