A Night at the Opera (Blind Guardian album)

Album content

Track listing

Lyrical references

• "Precious Jerusalem" is based on the final days of Jesus of Nazareth and his temptation in the desert.
• "Battlefield" is based on Song of Hildebrandt, an old German tale of a father and son who find themselves in a duel to the death.
• "Under the Ice" has connections to the Iliad, focuses on Cassandra and what happened to her after the Trojan War, particularly from The Oresteia.
• "Sadly Sings Destiny" is based on the religious aspect of the Messiah in the Old Testament, and tells of the crucifixion of Jesus from the point of view of a character who reluctantly helps fulfil the prophecy, by doing such things as building the cross and weaving the Crown of Thorns.
• "The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight" is based on an episode from the story of Tristan und Isolde.
• "The Soulforged" is based on the Dragonlance saga's tales of the mage Raistlin Majere.
• "Age of False Innocence" is about Galileo Galilei.
• "Punishment Divine" is about Nietzsche's decline into insanity where he imagines himself being judged by a court of saints.
• "And Then There Was Silence" is about Cassandra's visions of the coming Trojan War. It was inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid.
• "Harvest of Sorrow" is based on Tolkien's tragic story of Túrin Turambar, which appears in the Silmarillion.

  Chart positions

Personnel

• Hansi Kürsch – lead and backing vocals
• André Olbrich – lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars
• Marcus Siepen – rhythm guitar
• Thomen Stauch – drums & percussion

• Oliver Holzwarth – bass guitar
• Mathias Wiesner – keyboards & orchestral arrangements
• Michael Schüren – piano on "Age of False Innocence"
• Pad Bender, Boris Schmidt & Sascha Pierro – keyboards and sound effects
• Rolf Köhler, Thomas Hackmann, Olaf Senkbeil & Billy King – The Choir Company

• Charlie Bauerfeind – production, mixing, recording
• Nordin Hammadi Amrani – assistant engineer, additional recordings
• Clemens von Witte – recordings
• Detlef – recordings
• Paul Raymond Gregory – cover painting
• André Olbrich – front cover concept
• Dennis "Sir" Kostroman – booklet design
• Axel Jusseit – photos