NIGHTFALL IN MIDDLE-EARTH

I owned this album long time ago - it's probably three years ago - through my metal head friend, Hengky, who was a big fan of the band. Hearing the band's name, I was not interested at all because I thought that this must be a true metal band full of distortions and heavy riffs. But when I saw this album in the form of cassette displayed at one of local CD stores, I purchased it anyway - to give a try and proved what Hengky advised me. In typical gathering, it's usual that we - all friends who love metal, classic rock, prog rock - influence one to another for certain band's music. Usually I was only interested with those related to classic rock or prog rock. So when I knew that Blind Guradian was pigeon-holed as power metal band, I was not too keen to explore further.

But from the cassette of "Nightfall in Middle Earth" I can grab the nuance and style of the music even though the sonic quality of the cassette was not that good. So, after I had the cassette for a couple of months, finally I purchased the CD as well. BOOM! With CD format I could get the subtleties (not just the nuance!) of the music this album produces. It's so wonderful and I did enjoy it very much. By then I kept repeating to spin the CD over and over in its entirety. That's the beauty of this album: it should be enjoyed in its entirety because the music tells a continuous story - without having to know what the story is all about.

As human being, there is a tendency to review or evaluate something by making a reference to something else. So, when I listen to this album I made a reference to other music and since this is a concept album based on JRR Tolkien's Silmarillion, I don't know why, out of the blue the "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" by Genesis come into my mind. You might be wondeting WHY The Lamb? Isn't totally different kind of music? How can you compare such legendary album by the seniors of prog music with the kids in Blind Guardian? Hold your thoughts for a second!

I have grown myself with such old school legendary prog bands like Genesis, Yes and the like. I adore them and as far as Genesis concern, The Lamb Lies Down is the band's best album throughout their entire music career. I know, the album was created when the band was in shaky situation when Peter Gabriel tendered his resignation to pursue a solo career. But the music created was so wonderful. Even though the story was quite absurd and there were many different kind of interpretations to the lyrics, but the music sounds like telling a coherent story. I still love the album until now!

So,

Is Nightfall as BIG as The Lamb?

Well, it depends .

If you are a die hard fan of old school prog music, you might say that the music that was created after the glory days of 70s is a repetition of what it was made in the 70s. And, it's nothing wrong with that. I understand your situation and I respect it. There were strong elements of old prog music that are repeated in nowadays prog music. You might feel there is no new invention, musically, that the modern music delivers. I have a lot of friends who have this opinion firmly and they dare to say outloud that they hate what Marillion had done in 80s because it's a rip off Genesis. Some of my friends even say that metal music is nonsense because there is no harmony, it's just making LOUD music - that's it. Even some of them say that Dream Theater and progressive metal music are not good at all - so boring. Well, are you in this box? If so, you should not own this album by Blind Guardian.

But, It's not the case with me. Yes, I'm an adorer of old school prog - I even sometimes had tears in my eyes enjoying "Fly on A Windshiled" from Genesis The Lamb album. But in mid 90s started to know Dream Theater and later I liked the music delivered by Helloween, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarious, Royal Hunt, etc. and later I knew Kamelot. So, I have two sides of a coin: the prog site of old school prog and the metal side of modern music. Thanks God .. I enjoy both of them. In fact, I have tears in my eyes listening to Kamelot "Ghost Opera" as well as Blind Guardian's "Nightfall in Middle Earth".

So, right there deep in my heart I can compare this album by Blind Guardian at par excellent with old school The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis. It's quite weird statement, isn't it? But, believe me, I'm NOT a weirdo!

So why ..?

Story oriented music. Yes, I said above that this album is very anchored to the story line. You can hear the nuance where the lead vocalist Hansi Kursch sings - in a way like telling something in well designed story line. Look at how he emotionally deliver all lyrical passages with its strong accentuations, nuances of the story as well as the combination of ups and downs in register notes. The lyrical passages sound quite uplifting like during The Storm: "We are following the will of the one / Through the dark age and into the storm / And we are following the will of the one / Through the dark age and into the storm / Lord I'm mean" followed by wonderful music. It's really uplifting.

Powerful storyline. Both The Lamb and Nightfall are pretty strong in storyline. In the case of Nightfall, it's rooted in and inspired by JRR Tolkien's Silmarillion. I have not read the book yet but from the lyrical point of view I can see that the beginning part of the story reminds me to the story of Lord of the Rings. Remember when Smeagle tok the ring from his friend by killing him at the opening of the movie? Basically, the music and the story blends nicely in this Nightfall album.

Tight composition. This album has a pretty tight composition with relatively high density of combined notes in relatively short period. Style wise, this is a prog album because it has many style changes and tempo changes. The choices of melody are also excellent because there are variations from one song to another with thematic bridges between songs.

Under the banner of Genesis The Lamb, I can have the title track, Fly on a Windshield, In The Cage The Lamia, Anyway, Carpet Crawlers as strong compositions. In nightfall, I have powerful tracks as well like Into The Storm, Nightfall, The Curse of Feanor, Blood Tears, Noldor, etc.

Conclusion

You might think I am exaggerating the matter. Honestly, NO. I just want to put thing into perspective that good creation does not necessarily mean something really new that has never been invented before. More importantly, I want to break the barriers or thoughts that generally say: "There is nothing special after the glory days of 70s" because Nightfall proves to be a wonderful album. In other word, good music can even be created under modern days. The old adage says: The great discovery does not lie on inventing new land but looking at existing land with different angle..

Keep on proggin' .! And you MUST BUY this album man .!!