trans-siberian orchestra night castle

Released: 21 February 2011 Label: BMG

Way back in 1993, members of metal band Savatage teamed up with 70's rock promoter / guitarist / producer Paul O'Neill, and created the prog-pomp juggernaut of theatrically-inclined entertainment that is Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They somehow found huge success with themed symphonic rock releases such as Christmas Eve and Other Stories, The Christmas Attic, and The Lost Christmas Eve. After selling over seven million albums and having a number of phenomenally successful tours with enormous stage shows, the European release of their latet opus Night Castle is upon us; an impassioned rock opera that clocks in at around two hours of music, including a smattering of live bonus tracks from their previous tour.

The tale of Night Castle itself concerns a seven year old girl, who slips out of her bedroom one night and gets chatting to a longhaired storyteller building a sandcastle on the beach outside her house. Throughout the sixty eight page libretto / novella, he narrates a tale of a soldier who marries a girl he meets after just one day, on the random approval of a 42nd street drug dealer, then manages, while posted overseas fighting the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, to fall asleep drunk in a boat, to wake up drifting against the rocky cliffs of a forgotten island, that just conveniently has a medieval castle on it. So he naturally follows a falcon called Cassandra into the castle as it flies up through the many turrets and spiral stone stairways into a room, wherein he finds a Merlin-a-like chucking pages of freshly written parchment out of the tower window where it floats away, and then the old wizard, in his alchemistic lair turns to the bewildered soldier, lost on this faraway isle, and says...

Well I'm not going to spoil it for you, but that's just the first few songs. Let's just say that the rest of it isn't quite as exciting as say, Rambo 4, despite its similarities, and it's also marginally more sentimental. And of course, on the plus side, it isn't another heavy metal Christmas carol album.

Night Enchanted begins the whole shebang, incorporating Verdi amongst the grandiose riffing and provides an overture to the style of the rest of the album, a classical hide-and-seek, alternating between orchestra and metal, ballads and anthems, and all the while progressing the narrative.

It begins quite sedately, lots of keyboards and anguished musical melodrama, and while it is undoubtedly classy and slick-sounding, it somehow lacks much in the way of thrills. It's all very "musical theatre" in its approach with lyrical repetition from a Greek chorus, and plenty of histrionic refrains.

It's not until the instrumental Mountain that there's much to get excited about. For those who remember Savatage's breakthrough 80s release, it's a guitar-heavy take on Grieg's awesome Hall of the Mountain King, although this version seems more restrained and less edgy.

The title track Night Castle follows, and recounts the soldier's medieval experience. It's a stomping, atmospheric anthem with an insistent bottom-string chug driving the tune.

Power ballads and so-so instrumentals, again with snippets of famous classical tunes from the likes of Mozart and Bach, follow this up, and while it's all very slick, it's not until Dreams We Conceive which has a Jim Steinman-esque Broadway vibe, that things really click again.

Actually I must mention their take on Bach's Toccata, while the novelty value is high and the track is a lot of fun, it is also the clunkiest sounding, least elegantly played version of the famous piece I've ever heard. Even the live version, which appears as a bonus track, isn't that exciting, omitting the famous accelerating repeating triplet motif at the start. They do make up for this musical heresy somewhat, by having a version of the marvellous O Fortuna from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff as a bonus track.

The second disc commences with a quality instrumental, Moonlight and Madness, which boasts some nicely phrased guitar tones soaring over the keyboards that reference Chopin and Beethoven.

There are plenty of opportunities again to raise a lighter in the air with powerful ballads like Father Son and Holy Ghost and Remnants of a Lullaby, featuring vocals from Jennifer Cella.

The song Epiphany though, on which a whole section of the story hinges, stands out here with a memorable lyric. It's almost eleven minutes long, and half way through it uses a very effective traditional rock chord-pattern to build on to an impressive conclusion.

Paul O'Neill's story, lyrics and music are all very slick, but somehow lacking vitality. It's as if everything has been so calculated, honed and perfected in the studio that some of the excitement has been ironed out of the songs.

Overall, Trans-Siberian Orchestra combines interesting phrases of familiar classical music, with actually quite straightforward rock riffs. To be honest there's nothing really that "progressive" about the album, except perhaps its inordinate length! Even the classical parts, though admittedly fun, are actually quite pedestrian-sounding affairs. But, having said that, there are indeed some solid rocking tracks here, and with over thirty contributing musicians, and almost as many singers, there is no questioning the enormous scope and ambition behind the project.

Night Castle is certainly a lavish package and you definitely get a lot of music to listen to for your money. If you are into the theatrical side of metal, and fancy something to really get your teeth into, then this two disc set is certainly a contender for your attention, and with a European tour imminent, it seems the Trans-Siberian Orchestra are for life, not just for Christmas.

by Steven Hargraves