CD review: Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Night Castle”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Rock
Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Night Castle” (Atlantic Records)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra makes its theatrical return to new music with the double-album “Night Castle,” a rock opera about hope and hate, love and war, redemption and forgiveness.
Since the symphonic-rock holiday harbingers have continued to tour often, especially around Christmastime, it may seem that TSO never left. But “Night Castle” is the orchestra’s first new album since its 2004 best-seller “The Lost Christmas Eve” and its first non-holiday offering since 2000’s “Beethoven’s Last Night.”
For diehard fans, the long-awaited “Night Castle” seems sure to thrill, since it practically pulses with all the drama, scope and sheer musicianship of the 60-piece orchestra, full rock band and stable of big-voiced singers. By the same token, the two-disc effort seems unlikely to win over detractors, since the 26-track album is given to bombastic excess, including several songs that run nearly five minutes or longer.
“Night Castle” offers a charming and sometimes gritty fantasy about love at first sight, mysterious castles, noble drug dealers and innocent children. Set in the 1970s, the engaging narrative follows Lt. William Crozier (voiced too harshly by former Journey singer Jeff Scott Soto) as he goes off to fight the Khmer Rouge in Killing Fields of Cambodia.
The album has its musical highlights, including Dina Fanai’s angelic vocals on “Night Enchanted,” the touching “Remnants of a Lullaby” and the low-key instrumental “Embers.” Other songs, such as the powerful but nearly 11-minute “Epiphany,” have potential but lack restraint.
The record features five bonus tracks, including a souped-up cover of Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s holiday contribution “Nutrocker,” with Greg Lake on bass. Fans are sure to hear it live when TSO performs Dec. 20 at the Ford Center.
— BAM
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