Blind Guardian's Reviews
A Night at the Opera (Average Rating: 8.46 out of 10)
Is this real? (Rated this album with 10 out of 10)
Reviewed by
Brian Cassidy
from Canton, OH
I'll tell you what; I have heard Blind Guardian's work in the past, and to be honest, it never really held my attention. As I was looking through the music here, I noticed that this album had more five star reviews than just about any other album I have seen, so obviously I had to check it out. This is one of the most original, powerful, and energetic albums I have ever heard, and WOW is it complex. As a matter of fact, the first couple of times that I heard it, I could tell that it was good, but it was way too much for my ears to absorb. I have never heard this many instrumental and vocal layers in any rock work ever. After a while, I began to sift through them and the results are breathtaking. So style. I would describe this as being Blind Guardian on speed. The guitar riffs are not as heavy as past works, and are replaced by layer after layer of guitar leads, orchestrial arrangements, and vocals. The songs tend to be extremely energetic and powerful. I think that ONE of these songs has more variety in it than most bands put on an entire album. They flow together extremely nice, even though they are constantly shifting to different parts. The vocals are almost entirely choir vocals, so it does have that "cheese" factor of other power-metal. Generally I don't care for this, but it works extremely well for this style. Most of the songs are in the 6-7 minute range, with one opus that is 14 minutes, and I have never heard a song this long that sounds this cohesive. The whole album is right about at the 70 minute mark, and every moment of it is amazing and unique. This is definate headphone music. If you listen to it on a sub-par stereo, I am warning you that it is just going to sound like a glob of sound. On a good stereo, it is still going to sound like a glob of sound the first time that you listen to it. It is THAT complex. I would strongly urge anyone who likes music a little different from what you are used to, to check it out. This is an album that is well worth adjusting to the unique sound that it has. A final note or warning though, the title of this is A Night at the Opera for a reason, so make sure you fully realize what you are about to listen too. Give it a chance, you probably will be very happy that you did.
Buy this album on Amazon at $14.99
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