BEETHOVEN'S LAST NIGHT

Very dramatic rock opera about the life of Beethoven, it features nice piano melodies, lots of symphonic prog and an overall neoclassical metal feeling with lots of electric guitars + variations on some Beethoven pieces... A definitive highlight of the album are the dramatic vocals...

The story is very well constructed and there is a nice balance between the music and the vocals with a few instrumentals that merge into the story without disrupting it. The piano interludes are very beautiful and help to induce the feeling of Beethoven's work by quoting some of his melodies as a part of the composition + the string section gives a more organic atmosphere to the metalish sound....

Highlights:

The Dark and A Last Illusion (The Flight of the Bumble Bee) feature great electric guitar solos worth listening....

The amazing vocals (both male and female).

The piano performances throughout the album.

The storyline.

This is a very fluent record but I would have preferred something more symphonic with less metal + the metal adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth is not a very original idea (ELO, Yngwie Malmsteen).

The overall sound of the album is really good, the musicians are very skilled and the concept is very well presented but there is a lack of experimentation and risk taking (things that I love) to make this album a masterpiece.

TOTAL Rating: 3.58

Now I have to round.....I think that this is a good album and almost excellent so I'll rate it with a three (almost 4).