A night at the opera

[박상규]

Park's review :

맨 아랫부분의 별한개 짜리 리뷰에 거의 동의한다.
멜로디도 구성도 없이 일관된 샤우팅에 몰아치는 연주로만 일관한다.

재킷은 그게 또 무언가?
(여기서 또 별 한개 까먹었다.)
완전히 자살행위다.

Amazon.com

Average Customer Review: Based on 121 reviews.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

They're back!, April 2, 2002

Reviewer:		The Wickerman (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

Well, I was curious to see how they could ever make a follow-up to the amazing "Nightfall in Middle Earth", but it would appear that the hard work payed off. Blind Guardian spent a LOT of time on this album, and that is audible in every note.

Destined to make the biggest, most intricate songs ever made, Hansi and the boys make a strong comeback. They didn't quite reach the heights of "Nightfall", but then I really didn't expect them to anyway. That's an album to be reckoned with.

The overall sound is very similar to that of "Nightfall", with the mostly slower pace and the multiple vocal arrangements. It doesn't really have the same feel as "Nightfall", but it has that same grandiose air about it. "Precious Jerusalem" gets everything going with its big choruses, and lightning fast solos. There are some great ballads here, such as "The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight", and "The Age of False Innocence".

"Punishment Divine" is a throwback to the old days, hitting fast and hard. "And Then There Was Silence" is probably the highlight, a 14-minute ode to the Iliad, with multiple layers, and some dynamite vocals. "Mies del Dolor" is probably the biggest surprise of the album. Originally called "Harvest of Sorrow", this is basically just a Spanish version of that song. Yeah, that's right, Hansi speaking Spanish. You have to hear it to believe it. Great song though, with very nice acoustic guitars. I would liked to have heard some Spanish style licks in there, but you can't have it all, can you?

One thing I noticed about this album is the lyrics. They seem to be writing more meaningful stuff now, rather than just fantasy type stuff. "Nightfall" was their first step toward more emotional lyrics, but it seems they really spoke from the heart here. Often, the fantasy elements are symbolic of a more profound idea, which I think is a very good thing. But don't worry, there's still plenty of fantasy elements here as well.

There's just no denying how well-made this album is. It's a very big production, and nearly perfect. I'm not real familiar with the Queen album of the same name, but I don't even have to hear it to know it can't compare to this. Nothing against Queen, they are an excellent band, but BG is in a league they could never hope to touch. I don't really recommend this to newcomers of the band, check out the older stuff first, but once you're a fan, get this. It is bound to be one of the strongest releases of the year.

앨범에 대한 상찬... 완벽에 가깝다라..?
"블가를 첨 들어 보는 이에겐 이전 앨범들을 더 권하고 싶다.
하지만 당신이 팬이라면 이 거 사시오."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

This is Blind Guardian? What a surprise, March 4, 2003

Reviewer:

NecroVMX (Milford, PA) - See all my reviews

My first introduction to this album was before it's release, when a freind gave me a link to the mp3 download of "Battlefield" off of century media's website. My first reaction was poor, thinking it disapointing for a Blind Guradian song. It seemed to noisy, incessantly busy.

After spending some time rotating on my play list, I began to like this song, even love it. What before seemed busy noise became incredibally progressive power metal in my mind, with a level of complexity never before reached by Blind Guardian.

The album, after I purchased it, proved to be much the same. The title (not just one of many sly references to other musicians, in this case queen) it apropos. A night at the opera indeed! If you close your eyes while listening you could almost see Hansi and company acting out the stories they sing, ranging from bible stories to the Trojan War.

Opening with the clashy (but not thrashy) Precious Jerusalem and ending with the incrediblaly epic And Then There Was Silence, the album does not let up for a minute. Gone are the sorrowfull dirges and anthems of Nightfall in Middle Earth, the growly gutteral Power Metal of Tales from the Twilight World and the bands earlier Power/Thrash hybrid. It seems that while sticking to Power Metal the band has switched secondary genres many times, from Trash to borderline Death to their more popular midevil sound to something so prog that it's almost hard to still label them as Power Metal. But hearing the soaring operettics and clashy choruses you realize that Blind Guardian, while realizing the potentialities of overlapping lyrics, backgorund choirs and incredibaly fast insturmentation, is still a Power Metal band at heart, heard in the intro to The Maiden and the Minstrel Night, to the many verses of And Then There Was Silence and the bands thematic aproach.

The album does not have any real slow parts, the band only taking momentary breaks from their musical barrage in the intro to The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight and some appropriately low key, but still rousing parts in And Then There Was Silence. Their old tricks still hold true when Hansi sings prancinly in Battlefield and Silence, his wails barraging you over complex layers of vocals.

And let us not forget the bonus track, or tracks as I should say, as depending on what country your disc comes from, you'll get a different track. They are all the same song, just sung in many different languages, the one I have, Mies Del Dolor is in spanish. After the exhausting run of this album, this mix of celtic and latin sounding guitar work over Hansi's passionate singing is just the perfect thing to unwind you and still rouse you at the end of this fine collection of songs.

My reccomendation to you is to buy this album, and listen to it many times, even if it rubs you the wrong way at first. As complexities become unwound in your mind, the beauty of Blind Guardian's A Night At The Opera is unveiled.

"첨 Battlefield라는 곡을 들었을 땐 noisy, incessantly busy한
느낌이었다." (본인의 느낌을 그대로 표현해주는..^^;;)
허나 그 후 점점 좋아졌다는 얘기... 첨에 영 아니더라도 자꾸
반복해서 들어보면 블가의 아름다움이 드러날 것이다... 라는...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Great Power Metal, September 26, 2002

Reviewer:

Robert Swerer (Moore, Ok USA) - See all my reviews

"A Night at the Opera" is Blind Guardian's newest release. This Compact Disc has eleven tracks which provide over seventy minutes of thunderous, powerful heavy metal music. They are similar in style to both Iron Maiden and Iced Earth.

Blind Guardian is from Germany and are veterans of the heavy metal music scene. This is their ninth album. Their first album "Batallions of Fear" was released in 1989.

The opening song sets the mood for the entire CD. Thomas Stauch's drums flow with exceptional power. The guitar riffs and leads compliment both the drums as well as Hansi Kursch's powerful and energetic vocals. The lyrics are both well written and thought provoking. Definately a step above most modern day heavy metal bands.

It is in my opinion that this is a well thought out and well produced Compact Disc. I strongly suggest this CD to anyone who enjoys the musical stylings of Iced Earth, Rhapsody, Yngwie Malmsteen, or even old Iron Maiden. This is one CD that will stay in my collection for a very long time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

They Just Don't Make Metal Like This In America!, June 25, 2002

Reviewer:

John W (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

Excellent release from a German "symphonic metal" band (which, for the unfamiliar, is metal that plays like a symphony, meaning that it's more like one long, continuous piece of music than the repetitive verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure of typical rock- & blues-based metal).

독일출신의 심포닉 메틀밴드 블가의 멋진 수작
(익숙하지 않은 사람들을 위해 말하자면, 심포닉 메틀은 심포니처럼
연주하는 메틀로서 verse-chorus-verse-chorus로 반복되는 전통적인
락과 블루스에 기반한 메틀보다는 길고 연속적인 음악의 연결처럼
구성되어 있다.)

PLUSSES:
1) Incredible talent; flawless execution of riffs & such.

2) Excellent singing; deep, meaningful lyrics.

3) Savage rhythms that make you want to jump around like an animal!

장점
1) 믿을 수 없을 정도의 재능 : 완벽한 리프의 플레이
2) 멋진 노래 : 깊고 의미있는 가사들
3) 당신을 동물처럼 팔짝팔짝 뛰고 싶게 만들 정도의 거친 리듬

MINUSES:
1) It's symphonic metal, so no repetition of the really good riffs & verses (e.g. the first verses of "Precious Jerusalem" and "Sadly Sings Destiny").

2) It's symphonic metal, so the vocalist rarely ever shuts up, using his voice as an instrument in parts where there aren't any real lyrics -- take a breather every now and then, pal, and let us listen to the music!

단점
1) 심포닉 메틀인 까닭에 정말 좋은 리프와 음절의 반복은 없다.
   (예를 들어 Precious Jerusalem, Sadly sings destiny 의 첫
    소절 같은 것.)
2) 심포닉 메틀에서는 가사가 없는 부분에서도 보컬들이 자신의
   목소리를 악기처럼 사용하기 때문에 입을 다물고 있는 적이
   거의 없다.

CONCLUSION: All true metal fans need to check this out, as its +'s outweigh its -'s. If you're new to epic, symphonic metal, the non-repetitiveness of it may take a few listens to get used to, but  once you do, it'll've been worth it!

결론
모든 진짜 메틀 팬이라면 이 앨범을 들어 볼 필요가 있다. 장점이
단점을 능가하기 때문이다. 당신이 에픽, 심포닉 메틀이 처음이라면
반복 악절이 없는 이 앨범이 익숙해지기 위해서는 몇 번의 반복
감상이 필요할 것이다. 하지만 일단 익숙해 지기만 하면 그럴 가치가
있었다는 걸 알게 될 것이다.

(미국인이 보는 심포닉 메틀에 대한 느낌. 재밌다...

미국인들은 이런 메틀을 할 수 없다! 라는 제목도... ^^)

2 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

BORING, MESSY AND OVERPRODUCED, August 5, 2002

Reviewer:

Mr. I. Alnasrawi "ihsan-a" (England) - See all my reviews

Firstly, it must be said that Blind Guardian's last album, "Nightfall on Middle Earth," was one of the best I have ever heard. It saw them rise above the crowd of mediocre European bands with such quality of production, and interesting, memorable song-writing. That album was a 4 or maybe 5 star album, but their latest effort "Night at the Opera" is anything but that.

우선 본인이 들어 본 최고의 앨범이었던 블가의 전작 Nightfall에
대해서 말해야 겠다. 높은 수준의 프로덕션과 흥미롭고 훌륭한
곡들로 그들은 평범한 유럽 밴드군들의 머리 위로 뛰어 오른 것
처럼 보였다. 그 앨범은 별점 4개나 5개를 받을만한 앨범이었다.
하지만 이번 신작은 전혀 아니올시다 이다.

Blind Guardian are not Stratovarius, Nightwish, or Iron Maiden. Each one of those bands is so completely different that they can't be compared. There are two main problems with Blind Guardian on this album: the first is the vocals, and secondly the song-writing.

블가는 스트라토도, 나이트 위시도, 아이언 메이든도 아니다.
각 밴드들은 서로간에 비교될 수 없을 정도로 완벽하게 다르다.
이번 앨범에는 두가지 중요한 문제가 있다.
하나는 보컬이고, 둘째는 작곡이다.

What first strikes you is the sheer number of the backing vocal layers - far too many and overpowering - which is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but one of the main problems with this album is Hansi Kurch's extremely bad singing. He has only 2 modes on this CD - shouting and talking - he doesn't actually SING. Well, he does sing on the "bonus track" which somehow comes as a relief after the heavy vocal pounding you have to endure beforehand. But because of the lack of melodic singing, the layered vocal choruses throughout the CD sound more like a drunken, disordered, rowdy crowd (like that on the cover), rather than anything resembling ideal "Queen-like" layered vocals. All you get to hear is shouting vocals, vocals, and more vocals, and the entire album seems to have been an exercise in studio production for Hansi to cram as many vocal layers as he can into every sentence.

당신을 첨으로 강타하는 곡은 순전히 겹겹의 백보컬 - 너무 많고,
힘이 너무 들어 갔다. - 로만 이루어져 있다. 물론 그 자체로는
그렇게까지 나쁘지 않지만, 하지만 이 앨범의 제일 중요한 문제 중
하나는 한지의 보컬이다. 그는 이 앨범에서 단 두개의 모드로만
나간다. - 소리 지르거나 말하거나.. - 가는 사실상 "노래"를 하지
않는다. 사실, 그는 보너스 트랙에서 노래를 하기는 한다. 허나 이
구원이 오기 전에 당신은 사정없이 내리치는 헤비 보컬을 참아내야
할 것이다. 하지만 멜로디컬한 노래의 부재 탓에 앨범에서의 중첩된
코러스들은 퀸과 같은 이상적인 화음이 아니라 취해서 무질서하게
떠들어 대는 군중들의 소리 같다. (앨범 커버와 같이 말이다.)
이 앨범에서 들을 수 있는 건 오직 소리 지르는 보컬, 보컬, 그리고
보컬 뿐이다. 그리고 앨범 전체는 마치 스튜디오에서 한지가 각 소절
마다 얼마나 많은 보컬을 겹쳐서 채워 넣을 수 있는 지를 연습한
결과물 같다.

The vocals, in general, drown out the music - sometimes it's like a wall of sound, with the guitars and everything merging together and no distinction between instruments. The guitar work, it must be said, is extremely disappointing after the "Nightfall..." CD - there is no creativity or melody, and a tedious, annoying over-reliance on repetitive note-playing to back (or fight with) the vocalist.

보컬은 일반적으로 음악에 녹아 들어가야 한다. - 가끔은 사운드의
벽과 같아야 하며 기타와 함께 모든 것들이 융합되어야 한다.
악기들이 따로 놀아서는 안 된다. 기타 웤에 대해서는 Nightfall
이후로 무척 실망스럽다는 말을 해야겠다. 어떤 창조적인 멜로디도
없으며 보컬리스트를 보조하는 반복된 플레이에만 지겨울 정도로
의존하고 있다.

The next major problem, and this is the most important, is the song-writing - there isn't a single well-written song on this CD, not a single song that is appealing enough to make you want to listen to it again. There's such a massive lack of melody on this CD that you wonder what the band was thinking when they wrote this stuff, with Biblical references dotted about here and there, and it's so incredible that this can happen after "Nightfall..." which was full of great melodies. Where has your melody gone, Blind Guardian? Most of the songs don't have a defining feature about them to distinguish them from the others, they are just not MEMORABLE.

다음의 큰 문제는 - 그리고 가장 중요한 - 작곡이다. 이 앨범에는
단 곡의 잘 쓰여진 곡도 없고, 앨범을 다시 듣게 만들도록 호소하는
단 하나의 싱글도 존재하지 않는다. 그들이 여기저기서 인용한 성경
구절을 가지고 곡을 쓰면서 도대체 무슨 생각을 했는 지 궁금하다.
더더군다나 수려한 멜로디로 가득했던 Nightfall 앨범 이후에 이런
일이 발생했다는 것이 믿어지지 않을 따름이다.
블가들이여, 당신들의 그 멜로디는 어디로 갔는가?
대부분의 곡들은 서로 구분이 될만한 명확한 모습조차 가지고 있지
않다. 곡 모두가 그냥 그런 곡들일 뿐이다.

The cover artwork and inside pages sum up this CD, it's a joke.

It's messy and boring, with no distinction between songs, badly written, poorly performed, and thoroughly deserving of a one-star rating (if not less). "Nightfall on Middle Earth" must have been, as some may have suspected, a one-off, as Blind Guardian seem to have lost the plot and abandoned their one-time winning formula.

커버와 부클릿은 이 앨범을 단적으로 보여 준다. 그냥 장난 같은...

너저분하고 지루하고 안 좋은 작곡에 시원챦게 연주된 데다 곡들간
변별력도 없는 앨범. 전체적으로 별 한개 짜리다. (그 이하거나.)
Nightfall은 몇몇 사람들이 우려했던 대로 단발성이었음에 틀림없다.
블가는 그들의 구성을 잃었고, 그들의 성공적이었던 그 방식을
버린 것 같다.

[참나무방패]

맨 처음분이 너무 극단적인 평가를 내린걸로 생각합니다. 블가만의 색깔에 대해 강조를 하는데에 대해 해주고 싶은 말이 생기는군요.확실히 이번 싱글앨범을 들어서는 이전의 앨범의 느낌이 다시 풍깁니다. 즉 A night at the opera 는 블가의 그 이전에도 없었고 앞으로도 없을 듯한 느낌의 앨범입니다.

[참나무방패]

음악성에 대해서 비판하는 것은 제가 음악을 잘 알지 못하는지라 별로 할 말은 없지만 취향차이에서 기인한 매우 주관적인 평가라는 것은 확실합니다. 너저분하고 지루하고 안좋은 작곡에 시원찮게 연주된 곡이라...전 이 앨범들 노래가 오히려 듣기 좋은 이유는 뭘까요.