Blind Guardian A Night At The Opera Shirt

lak89Thu, 07/07/2011 - 08:45

An excellent and underrated album from Blind Guardian

TShirt or Longsleeve

Not for sale or trade

Year: 2002

Original TShirt Fabric Color:

Black

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Blind Guardian

FarFarNorth on Fri, 08/07/2011 - 10:39

Awesome find! Is this masterpiece really underrated?
The only underrated explanation I can accept is that it may be eclipsed by some other BG albums with which it shares the epic awesomeness. But still, this is their closest to complete musical ecstasy to date, with At the Edge of Time stepping on its toes... In a way each of their albums has individual character and mood making it hard to rank/compare them on single scale (though Twist is still the weakest imo...) A majority of BG albums are among top three BG albums if you know what I mean

lak89 on Fri, 08/07/2011 - 13:44

Well from some of the polls and discussions I've seen regarding BG albums, not many people mention A Night At The Opera as a standout album, it seems to be eclipsed by Nightfall, this is probably one of the least mentioned albums of their "modern" era (either that or I don't look up enough BG haha), BG stated themselves they aren't entirely happy with the way the album turned out either, but that doesn't mean we can't like it! I thought Twist was quite a good album actually, doesn't measure up to this one or At The Edge of Time but there are a couple of strong tracks on that one.

FarFarNorth on Sun, 10/07/2011 - 08:21

Night at the Opera is such a grower... only with multiple listens did its depth and layers unfold for me, the first time I heard it it was like being in an orchestral vortex of cacophonous madness! But having so many layerings may sometimes indeed result in entity somewhat unwieldy and less pliable. I've probably listened to "Twist" songs the least times of all, gonna give it some more patience when the mood comes. (But "Skalds and Shadows" was superb, though the acoustic version on their "Fly" single may be even more superior imo - speaking of this single, have you heard their cover of "Inna Gadda Da Vida" that is also on it? Crazy good too!)
I love Nightfall, yet I have to wonder sometimes: would it still be regarded by many as THE seminal BG album if it was not a concept album based on Tolkien? But that's the magic of concept albums, they leave a deeper impression... I found At The Edge of Time to be a perfect blend of Nightfall's organic dynamic melodies and Opera's breathtaking scope, with the result that feels unbelievably alive and vibrant without coming off as oppressively/aggressively bombastic (and the only aggression here is a throwback to Imaginations from the Other Side, which is a good thing too!) - such a fine balance, yet they did it.
Rumor has it that their unnamed orchestral LOTR project is in the process of being composed!

lak89 on Tue, 12/07/2011 - 04:03

Indeed it is a grower! Same as you, first couple of times I listened to it, it was just overwhelming, everything was coming at me all at once, although there were instant classics (Precious Jerusalem, Battlefield, Age of False Innocence), everything just unfolds eventually! Twist had some good songs, namely This Will Never End, Turn The Page (love the celtic influence in that song, it's so optimistic!), Skalds And Shadows like you said, Dead Sounds of Misery was quite strong too, Fly's evil twin haha. I haven't heard that cover but I'll get round to it :)

Nightfall's a great album, but it hasn't grown on me the same way this one or At The Edge of Time has, guess I gotta give it more time. Yea gotta agree with you there, Dream Theater's Scenes From A Memory is a concept album and it's widely regarded as one of their best albums.

Yea they have writing on and off for some time for that LOTR project! Apparently it failed to get onto the official LOTR soundtrack which is a shame, can't wait for that.

FarFarNorth on Tue, 12/07/2011 - 08:37

About "Nightfall" album, I used to think it was nice before I actually read "The Silmarillion", but after reading that book (compared to which LOTR is a drop in the ocean, for real), all those songs and little snippets in between started to really come together and now I enjoy hearing it all the way through without skipping a single track. But it's true, once the listener knows what the songs are about, the personal investment into them is that much greater. If you like Tolkien but haven't read Silmarillion, I intensely recommend it!

It's cool to see BG picking up Moorcock's Tanelorn concept again - I'm no fan of Moorcock as writer/storyteller but gotta admit his world-building/world-altering multiverse, where Tanelorn is the only thing that never changes, is really intense and original stuff.
BG may also be the only band so far to write something about G.R.R.Martin's War of the Thrones... and now I may actually have to read at least one of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series just to see what inspired such jaw-dropping music epicness, haha

Thanks for the "Twist" song list, these hardly even ring a bell which means I certainly gotta listen to them some more!

Didn't know BG was in the game for LOTR movie soundtrack, but I heard that Summoning was also being considered for that role. Another amazing and literary band that channels incredible fantasy soundscapes...