''Night Castle'' is the fifth

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

by the

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is an American rock band founded in 1996 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli (both members of Savatage) and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to ...

. It was released on October 28, 2009 as a double CD with a 60-page booklet illustrated by

Greg Hildebrandt Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, known as the Brothers Hildebrandt (born January 23, 1939), are American twin brothers who worked collaboratively as fantasy and science fiction artists for many years. They produced illustrations for comic books, movie p ...

, and debuted at No. 5 on the

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

and No. 1 on the rock music charts. It was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

in eight weeks and is currently a

platinum album Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

Overview

The story revolves around a young child on a beach late at night, where she encounters a mysterious but non-threatening stranger. While they build a sandcastle together by the light of a bonfire, he tells her a tale that takes her all around the world and throughout history. The characters of this story include an American

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

soldier named William Cozier, the Renaissance era philosopher

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

who is keeper of the eponymous castle of lost knowledge, and a Communist general based on the dissident Tran Do. In 2011,

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

released the album on vinyl in an eight side (four disc) set in a special slip box designed to avoid the cracked corners that plague many vinyl box sets. The album includes a version of

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

Nut Rocker "Nut Rocker" is an instrumental rock single recorded by American instrumental ensemble B. Bumble and the Stingers that reached number 23 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in March 1962 and went to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1962. It is a ...

as a tribute to

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percus ...

, who in turn had performed the song as a tribute to

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

. Greg Lake from

honored the band by playing bass on the album. Bonus tracks include the songs "Child of the Night" and "Believe" which, according to the band, are a glimpse into future projects. An additional bonus track, "The Flight of Cassandra", was available exclusively online on Amazon.com, the first time that TSO had done something like this.

Savatage connections

Some of the songs on ''Night Castle'' trace their origins to music written by

Savatage Savatage () was an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album ''Sirens'' (1983), they changed thei ...

, the heavy metal band from which the Trans-Siberian Orchestra evolved. * "The Mountain" was originally recorded as "Prelude to Madness" on Savatage's '' Hall of the Mountain King'' album. The song itself is based on

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

's ''

In the Hall of the Mountain King "In the Hall of the Mountain King" ( no, I Dovregubbens hall, , In the Dovre man's hall, link=no, italic=no) is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg in 1875 as incidental music for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen's 1867 ...

'' with new music added in the style of

Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

. * Parts of the song "The Lion's Roar" are taken from the song "Temptation Revelation" off of the ''

Gutter Ballet ''Gutter Ballet'' is the fifth full-length album produced by the American progressive metal band Savatage. This was the second album created under the direction of producer Paul O'Neill and was initially released in December 1, 1989. Overview ...

'' album. Parts are also from the traditional Irish song "The Minstrel Boy". * "Mozart and Memories", a reworking of Mozart's Symphony No. 25, was originally recorded as "Mozart and Madness" on ''

Dead Winter Dead ''Dead Winter Dead'' is the ninth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1995. It is a concept album, that tells a story from the perspectives of a Serb boy, a Bosniak girl and an old man. The story of the album is ...

''. * "Believe" was originally featured on '' Streets: A Rock Opera''; portions of it also appear in "Alone You Breathe" on ''

Handful of Rain ''Handful of Rain'' is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1994. This is the first album since the death of the band's founding member and lead guitarist Criss Oliva who in turn had contributed to writing o ...

'' and "When The Crowds Are Gone" on ''Gutter Ballet''. The version on Nightcastle includes a mix of vocalist Tim Hockenberry's vocals that were recorded in his garage and later in the studio and the only extended guitar studio contribution to TSO by Alex Skolnick.

Reception

The album was rated 2.5 stars out of 5 by

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, while the site's users gave it an average rating of 3.5 stars, based on 38 reviews. As of April, 2013,

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

customers rated it an average of 4.5 on a scale of 1 to 5.Itunes.apple.com

Track listing

Disc one

Disc two

Personnel

* Paul O'Neill – producer *

Robert Kinkel Robert Kinkel is an American professional session keyboardist and music engineer most known for his role as a co-creator/co-producer/co-composer and touring keyboardist with Trans-Siberian Orchestra along with extensive studio work with the progr ...

– producer * Dave Wittman – recording and mixing engineer

Performers

Vocals

Solo: * Jay Pierce – "Childhood Dreams", "The Safest Way into Tomorrow" * Tim Hockenberry – "Sparks", "Believe" *

Jeff Scott Soto Jeff Scott Soto (born November 4, 1965) is an American rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for being the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and (briefly) the lead vocalist for Journey in 2006–2007. Soto also sa ...

– "Night Castle", "Another Way You Can Die", "Dreams We Conceive", "Time Floats On", "The Safest Way into Tomorrow (Reprise)" * Rob Evan – "There Was a Life", "Epiphany" * Jennifer Cella – "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost", "Remnants of a Lullaby" * Alexa Goddard – "Child of the Night" * Valentina Porter – "Child of the Night" Backup: * Steve Broderick * Luci Butler * Jennifer Cella * Britney Christian * Rob Evan * Dina Fanai * Tommy Farese * Allison Flom * Tony Gaynor * Christie George * Alexa Goddard * Kristin Lewis Gorman * Erin Henry * Steena Hernandez *

Kelly Keeling Kelly Keeling was born on June 25, 1966, and is an American musician and songwriter. Keeling started playing at the age of 14 and began his career as the lead singer of the American heavy metal band Baton Rouge. Throughout his career Keeling ...

* Robert Kinkel * Danielle Landherr * James Lewis * Tany Ling * Sanya Mateyas * Ireland Wilde O'Neill * Valentina Porter * Andrew Ross * Bart Shatto * Evan Shyer * Abby Skoff *

Zachary Stevens Zachary Trussell (born March 5, 1966), known professionally as Zachary "Zak" Stevens, is an American singer, best known as the second lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage. He currently performs with the heavy metal band Circle II Circ ...

Adrienne Warren Adrienne Warren (born May 6, 1987) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She made her Broadway debut in the 2012 musical ''Bring It On'', and in 2016 received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical nomination for her performance ...

* Scout Xavier Guide: * Bryan Hicks – "Epiphany" * Dina Fanai – "Night Enchanted" * Robert Kinkel – "Night Enchanted" Gospel Choir: * Keith Jacobs * Lucille Jacobs * Nathaniel Jacobs * Shelia Upshaw Child Choir: * The American Boychoir, directed by Fernando Malvar-Ruiz Vietnamese Dialogue: * Truc Xuan Le * Khanh Ong * Nhattien Nguyen * Nga Nguyen

Instruments

Band: * Paul O'Neill – Guitars *

– Keyboards *

Jon Oliva John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva (born July 22, 1959) is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the co-founder, keyboardist and lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage, which he co-founded with his younger brother Criss Oliva. Sinc ...

– Keyboards * Al Pitrelli – Lead & Rhythm Guitars * Chris Altenhoff – Bass * Luci Butler – Keyboards *

Chris Caffery Christopher Caffery (born September 9, 1967) is an American musician, best known for his work as a member of Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Recently, Chris has been pursuing a solo career, releasing four albums since 2004. Biography ...

– Guitars * Shih-Yi Chiang – Keyboards * Roddy Chong – Violin * Angus Clark – Guitars * Jane Mangini – Keyboards *

Johnny Lee Middleton Johnny Lee Middleton (born May 7, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the bass guitar player for Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Musical beginnings Middleton was born in St. Petersburg, Florida. His first experie ...

– Bass * John O. Reilly – Drums *

Anna Phoebe Anna Phoebe McElligott (born 18 February 1981) is a London-based violinist, composer, and broadcaster who performs in musical genres including contemporary classical music, contemporary classical, rock music, rock, folk music, folk, jazz music, ...

– Strings *

Jeff Plate Jeff Plate (born March 26, 1962) is an American professional hard rock/heavy metal drummer. He plays with the group Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He is best known as drummer for American heavy metal band Savatage on their albums since ''Japan Live '9 ...

– Drums *

Alex Skolnick Alex Skolnick (born September 29, 1968) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist and one of the songwriters of the thrash metal band Testament and has played with several other bands, including The Alex Skolnick Trio, Tra ...

– Guitars * Derek Wieland – Keyboards * Dave Wittman – Drum, Guitar, & Bass Inserts Strings: * Roddy Chong * Caitlin Moe * Anna Phoebe * Allison Zlotow * Lowell Adams * Karen Dumke * Lei Liu * Chizuko Matsusaka * Sarah Shellman Additional Instruments: * Jeff Allegue – Bass * Jay Coble – Trumpet * Alicia Crawford – Bass * Jason Gianni – Drums * Peter Evans – Trumpet * Max Johnson – Bass * Greg Lake – Bass on "Nutrocker" * Trey Tosh – Guitars *

Criss Oliva Christopher Michael Oliva (April 3, 1963 – October 17, 1993) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Savatage. During his lifetime, he released seven studio albums and one EP with the band. ...

– Guitars on the original version of "The Mountain".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Official Site

{{Authority control 2009 albums Trans-Siberian Orchestra albums Rock operas Lava Records albums Albums produced by Paul O'Neill (rock producer)