Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Night Castle

Genre rock Publisher Lava Records External Links

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is becoming the AC/DC of the orchestral rock world. When you go to see a show or buy a CD, you know EXACTLY what you are going to get. You will get some of the most colorful music you have ever heard. Hard rocking riffs combined with soaring melodies of some of the best “back up” musicians of all time, fantastic arrangements, and operatic singing on par with Carmen and Die Walküre are all on display once again in the two disc rock opera Night Castle.

The core of the story is about a Special Forces lieutenant in the United States military in the 1970’s and his exploits to fight the Khmer Rouge in the Killing Fields of Cambodia. It really is amazing how a person like Paul O’Neil can take such an ugly subject, like the mass murder of millions of people, and turn it into something that is so beautiful.

Most of the songs contained on the album are about this story, but there are a few that, as Paul O’Neil have said, “had a profound influence on us.” The stand outs are “In The Hall Of The Mountain King” (which has a kick ass ending tacked on), and Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”.

There is something for every musical palette in this album. Even you horn lovers, yes you bugle players, the beginning of the monster rock instrumental “The Lion’s Roar” has a very “Taps-esque” quality to it. The drums don’t come in, however, until after the brass has said its peace, very articulately I might add. If you liked Beethoven’s masterful piano sonatas, then you will absolutely love “Moonlight and Madness” as they capture, I think, the spirit of Ludwig and his work very well.

But what really gets me with this album is the great use of instrumental heavy metal and rock as that is the music I respond most to. Back to “The Lion’s Roar”, after the amazing brass intro, we get a march beat on the drums that is shortly accompanied by the guitar and bass. This is all very reminiscent of the King Diamond classic “Am I Evil”. King Diamond, of course, was part of the N.W.O.B.H.M. (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) which had a profound influence on TSO music director Al Patrelli when he was in his former band Savatage.

The albums best track, sadly, is its first song “Night Enchanted”. The huge Greek chorus of singers comes in so strong they shake your speakers even if you have the volume on 1. And forget the always epic performance of the orchestra and singers, the arrangement of this song is beyond anything else on the album (save the songs by the masters like J.S. Bach).  The song has everything you could possibly want, highs, lows, middles, and builds to each high that are bigger than those that came before. And what’s great is that the music and the vocals have that in and of themselves. If you just heard the chorus without music, you’d be blown away. If you heard just the music without the chorus of amazing voices, you’d be just as blown away. But put them together and you have musical magic that hasn’t been seen before, maybe ever. And the irony is, at least on my part, the rest of the album, while good, can’t live up to this song.

That’s not to say the rest of the album isn’t good. Quite to the contrary, the album is amazing. But that song is just amazing. Don’t, however, let that discourage you from getting this album. If you are a fan of this kind of music, or just music in general, this is a must have to add to your musical collection. Granted, you may have to be in the right mood to listen to this from start to finish, but when you do, you will be transported out of your own thoughts and into a whole other world, which you don’t get a lot from most music now a days.