I really don't know how to begin this review. It's not very easy to make a review for the new album of one of your favourite bands. For sure before I listened to the CD for the first time, I was very curious of what to expect and if the band will rise up to my very high standards I have set for them. It's Blind Guardian after all, one of the best heavy metal bands of the 90s and we do expect a lot from them. Well, after 2 days of non-stop listening to the CD I can now say that "A Night at the Opera is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
We are not talking about a simple metal release here. "A Night at the Opera is a magnificent, brilliant album that will satisfy even the most demanding fans. But I warn you. It's not easy music. The first time you will listen to it, you will feel that it's indeed majestic but you won't be able to say why. After a few hearings you will begin to be able to focus on those aspects that make this CD, one of the best releases in many years.
It's very clear that Blind Guardian decided yet one more time not to stay in their good old formulas of song writing, but to take their music one step further. They are once more innovative, original and full of new ideas. Just listen to the "Sadly Sings Destiny or the first track of the CD "Precious Jerusalem and you will understand what I mean. The sound is Blind Guardian but yet it's something new. And what more would a fan want from a band than to be able to listen to something fresh with every release?
The band members are in the highest peek of their career. Hansi's singing is amazing (and very well enhanced by wonderful melodic choirs), surpassing the standards he set for himself in "Nightfall in Middle Earth. Andre and Marcus are so tight together that they sound like one mind playing two instruments. Their guitars have the power to sound like an elfish lament, melodic, sweet and sorrowful but also like a solid, epic dwarfish war chant. Oliver is a bass magician, weaving in every song a new spell to hold all the music together. And Thomen's drumming... oh my gods Thomen's drumming is simply amazing! Powerful, fast, ever changing, emotional, he is indeed one of the best drummers in metal.
No need to say that Guardian have again used the magic spell that creates the best choruses in metal. I can't wait to see them live and sing together with them:
 "I turn to you oh my precious Jerusalem
deny your prophets their passion and treat them like fools
I turn to you oh my poor old Jerusalem
deny my love but you can't change fate
There is no way for me right now to choose one track as the best. Every song has something special that makes me love it. But if I had to pick up one and only one then that would be "Sadly Sings Destiny. This song engulfs everything Blind Guardian are. It speaks to your heart, it lifts your spirit, it's pure heavenly music.
I don't feel there is any point to continue this review. There is nothing more I can tell, other than it is a true jewel in heavy metal music.
Before I finish this review I would like to sincerely thank Hansi, for letting us review the album even though the promos are still on their way, and Pedro their webmaster for being the link between us and the band.