Blind Guardian – A Night At The Opera

Since "Tales From The Twilight World" it was clear that Blind Guardian were moving towards a more layered and symphonic sound.

Eventually this evolution, that in my opinion had reached a perfect equilibrium in "Nightfall In Middle Earth", leaded to "A Night At The Opera".

In general, "ANATO" was received with flying colours: there was a lot of expectation following "NIME", and the band was at a popularity peak.

In my case, and after being absolutely blown away by "NIME", I wholeheartedly embraced the new album.
The two released singles ("Battlefield" and "And Then There Was Silence") seemed absolutely brilliant to me, and settled the scene for a triumphant return.

So, I was at the record store on the release day and spent a couple of months spinning the album non-stop.
But then, ever so slightly, my enthusiasm started to decline.

Sure, there were killer songs here, some of them still among my favourite BG songs ever, like the above mentioned "Battlefield" and the magnificent, over-the-top symphonic orgasm of "And Then There Was Silence", where the band went all out with their more dramatic, theatrical and excessive approach to songwriting, together with "Age Of False Innocence", "The Maiden And The Minstrel Knight" and "Punishment Divine".

And yet, I soon found myself not pushing the repeat button as much as I was drawn to do with previous albums.
It is true that at the time I was starting to feel more attracted by the progressive branch of metal, so I was slowly spacing my power metal intake but it's also true that, even nowadays, "A Night At The Opera" is not the album I go to when I fancy some power metal... or a Blind Guardian session.

It is also true that the new songs felt more convincing in the rawer live setting, as we could see during the next tour.

All in all, and after all these years, I still think that "ANATO" is a thoroughly enjoyable album with plenty of highlights, but also fairly under-par when compared with the band's earlier output.