Advantages: Fantastic comeback Disadvantages: It wasn't marketed well enough...
...During the late 1980s and very early 1990s The Mission were one of the top rock acts, often derided by critics but with a style and panache of their own. Then, somehow, they lost the plot completely (it didn't help that lead singer and main man Wayne Hussey kept losing band members) and brought out turgid pub-rock toss in the form of the Neverland (1995) and Blue (1996) albums.
So they did what many bands do when they've lost the plot, which is disappear completely for a while- regroup and have a ponder about the direction in which they are heading.
Consequently, except for a greatest hits compilation and some other re-releases, very little was heard from the Mission camp until 2001, when, in combination with an ultimately triumphant tour, The Mission returned with this album- Aura. They had been gigging and touring extensively...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
...Nightfall in Middle Earth is a very ambitious album that is based on JR Tolkien's The Simarillion.Many reviewers have compared this album to Queen but I think this lies in the song structures and vocals.
This is also one of the best metal power/speed metal CDs ever to be released.It is fast and Heavy but it has a unique atmosphere that has been double tracked in the production department.
Blind Guardian have produced some of the best choruses ever with these songs such as into the Storm, Blood Tears ,Noldor, The Curse of Feanor and Mirror Mirror.
I would definitely recommend this album to anyone remotely interested in powermetal. I can easily say that if I were stuck on a desert island with one cd, this would probably be it. It is one of the only cd's I can listen to straight through till the end....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful