BEETHOVEN'S LAST NIGHT

I almost always like the blend of classic and rock music like what this album is offering. It's an excellent album, I would say. Presented in the opera fashion, you will definitely guess that the singing style is performed in a dialogue or monologue style. This album reminds me to Tobias Sammet's Metal Opera "Avantasia" even though the music is totally different. Avantasia focuses on the metal part with no influence of classical music; while "Beethoven's Last Night" has put more emphasis on classical music. It seems this album has not been popular to prog lovers so far. This might be caused by the "orchestra" name in the band name that may have given a "classic" music perception to the mind of proggers. Probably

It's not just the marriage of rock/metal with classical music that has made this as an excellent album. The melody is very strong, you can find many music segments that have touchy or tasty melodies, usually accompanied by piano work. But it's not always the case as I find many segments with full music has strong melodies as well. You may find at the intro of track 9 "Mozart" where there is definitely a perfect influence of classical music and metal opera. Cool opening. This album also offers uplifting track such as track 16 "A Last Illusion" where you can find a demonstration of various instruments performed in speed with influences of power metal and classical music. The music then flows to a medium tempo with meloow vocal line. Try this track in your music room and play it loudly - you can feel the difference.

The songwriting is excellent. Almost each track has an excellent structure. The structural composition of the overall album is also excellent, in which you may enjoy listening the CD without having to read the sleeve and/ or knowing the story. The CD tells you everything because you experience a feeling of being a member of group that is going through a journey. It has become my attention that there are a lot of tracks in this album that starts with a domination of piano work followed with voice line.

The only "little" trouble that I have with this album is the appearance of "Fifth Beethoven" tagline melody. Nothing wrong with the song. It's just so often that I find musicians (one of them was Dutch's EKSEPTION with their "Dance Macabre" album) play this melody that has made me getting bored with it. Well, I have to understand that this album is about Beethoven . so I have no choice to accept it. It's an excellent album anyhow. I highly recommend you to have it. GW, Indonesia.