|
It took a few years to bring Night Castle to life, but finally there is another Trans-Siberian Orchestra album - and this time it ain't a Christmas album. An spooky image of a castle at night shows that well, but why they changed the logo I have no clue. This more modern logo somehow doesn't fit to what TSO are...
On 2 disks TSO presents 26 tracks, some are adaptions of classical themes, but you'll also find Believe, a Savatage tune at the album. The album is truly a 'rock' opera, but mainly lacks the rock singers, the metallic edge. It seems that his album is just targeted at the American TSO fans and even if stated that it should make a connection between Savatage's latest albums and TSO, it fails to do just that. After some bombastic opening songs Sparks brings back some heavy riffs and the raspy voice reminds me of Dan McCafferty... But Tim Hockenberry's voice is trained and but the expressive vocals can't transport the emotions truely. Savatage fans will recognize The Mountain as a variation of Prelude To Madness of their Hall Of The Mountain King album, but is based on Grieg's In The Hall Of The Mountain King. The following title track Night Castle could have been a real heavy one, but it's just a symphonic rocker. Jeff Scott Soto is singing this one - at least that's the information I got -, but it didn't rock at all... And the first disk is the heavier one! The riffs are partly Savatage-sque, but lack the heaviness, the aggression... A piano-based tune is The Safest Way Into Tomorrow... And it holds reminiscences to some Savatage song without having the intensity. With Mozart And Memories they bring Savatage's Mozart And Madness off Dead Winter Dead back - that one's based on a Mozart symphony. With Another Way You Can Die it gets a bit more Savatage-like - and here Jeff Scott Soto sounds very good. At The Lion's Roar Savatage fans will recognize parts taken from Gutter Ballet's Temptation Revelation.
Disk 2 starts with Moonlight And Madness a piano tune which cites some classic composition first, then guitar joins in - and then they go full force. Sounds somehow familiar... Singer Rob Evan is doing well on Epiphany, but again TSO can't touch me... At Father, Son & Holy Ghost Jennifer Cella is doing the lead vocals, but with almost 7 minutes the song is a bit too long and it becomes tiring. She is also doing the following track Remnants Of A Lullaby. I always loved Savatage's touch ballad Believe, but this version is far from the original. Not musically, but emotionally! Tim Hockenberry just lacks the honest expressiveness and so the song lost its magic. Nutrocker is also well-known and so nothing new. With Carmina Burana they offer something Savatage haven't done, but this one was adapted countless times... The closer is Tracers, another rock tune which cites the Savatage sound... And at the end the new TSO leaves me wanting some Savatage, guess I'll pick up Dead Winter Dead or Wake Of Magellan now.
After all these years of waiting expectations been high - and the double disk can't match them. For Savatage fans too many is borrowed from Savatage albums and the new stuff isn't all that convincing. For a stage presentation on Broadway it might work with all the pomp and circumstance... with a big show. And after seeing such a Broadway piece it's probably nice to have a soundtrack to refresh the memory of such a show. But without the visual presentation it gets a bit lengthy... Sure, the musicianship it top notch and powerful production is presenting them best, but... Well, at least for me it isn't working 100%. Perhaps TSO should stick to the Christmas thing and Oliva should bring back Savatage instead of pursuing Jon Oliva's Pain... But that's just my opinion.... For someone who only knows TSO and never listened to Savatage this is probably a real treat, but at the end I can only recommend to listen to it yourself and make up your mind!
|
|
