Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth (1998)

I've long been quite a fantasy fan (I still have my collection of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks), but I've never really got into "The Lord Of The Rings". I saw the first film, and thought it was good but overly serious and overly long, and I'm currently trying to get the hang of the recent card game that has come out.
But fantasy is fantasy, and when it's combined with great music, how can I resist?  Blind Guardian has been the pinnacle of power metal for me up until now, and this album is their crowning glory. Focusing on Tolkein's novel "The Silmarillion" (which is not always easy to follow, since I struggle reading ye olde English writing that permeates the album's track titles and lyrics), it's a mixture of songs and interludes, the latter varying between sound affects and narration and suchlike. This all takes Nightfall In Middle-Earth to the sixty-five minute mark, but it never seems to outstay its welcome.
Not as consistently fast as efforts which have gone before, this, nonetheleess, comes across wonderfully well, highlights including "Into The Storm", "Nightfall", "Mirror Mirror" and "Thorn", with such songs showing the band's deft touch for melody and arrangements. Hansi (who forgoes the bass for the first time) does his usual variety of voices, full of overdubs, creating a choir effect that is uplifting and rousing. Not that this is anything new in regards to what this German band have brought out before, but it's just so consistently successful here.
I don't know if I ever will become a big "Rings" fan. I probably will see the other two films eventually, as well as give the first one another look. But I know I won't ever see Blind Guardian performing in some village full of elves and dwarves, and that's their sad loss.

*****