Night Castle

Night Castle
Studio album by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Released	October 27, 2009
Genre	Symphonic metal, Progressive metal, Neo-classical Metal
Length	2:01:29
Label	Lava Records
Producer	Paul O'Neill, Robert Kinkel
Trans-Siberian Orchestra chronology
The Lost Christmas Eve (2004) Night Castle (2009)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic -	[1]

Night Castle is the fifth album released by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was released on October 27, 2009. It is a double CD with a sixty page illustrated booklet that the tells the story of a a young child on a beach at late 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 story that takes her all around the world and through out history. Bonus tracks include songs that have influenced the band as well as songs like, Child of the Night and Believe which fore shadow projects in the future. They also recorded a version of Kim Fowley's Nut Rocker, which was ELP's way of paying tribute to Tchaikofsky and TSO way of paying tribute to ELP. guest Greg Lake from Emerson, Lake & Palmer honored the band by recording the bass on the album. 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, while the physical album was sold at the cost of a single CD. The album debut at # 5 in Billboard and was Certified Gold in four weeks.<<RIAA</> In 2011 Atlantic released the album on vinyl.

In February 2011, Night Castle was released in Germany with two live bonus tracks (""Requiem" and "Toccata-Carpimus Noctem") added. Both live tracks were recorded on the 2010 spring tour at the Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, formerly Nokia Theater, in Grand Prairie, TX.

Track listing

Disc one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Night Enchanted"	5:46
2.	"Childhood Dreams"	4:25
3.	"Sparks"	6:01
4.	"The Mountain" (Instrumental)	4:54
5.	"Night Castle"	3:57
6.	"The Safest Way into Tomorrow"	4:57
7.	"Mozart and Memories" (Instrumental)	5:16
8.	"Another Way You Can Die"	3:54
9.	"Toccata-Carpimus Noctem" (Instrumental)	4:02
10.	"The Lion's Roar" (Instrumental)	4:36
11.	"Dreams We Conceive"	5:13
12.	"Mother and Son"	0:41
13.	"There Was a Life"	9:35
Total length:		63:10

Disc two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Moonlight And Madness" (Instrumental)	5:04
2.	"Time Floats On"	3:37
3.	"Epiphany"	10:56
4.	"Bach Lullaby" (Instrumental)	0:49
5.	"Father, Son & Holy Ghost"	6:48
6.	"Remnants of a Lullaby"	3:10
7.	"The Safest Way Into Tomorrow (Reprise)"	1:43
8.	"Embers" (Instrumental)	3:53
9.	"Child of the Night"	3:29
10.	"Believe"	6:12
11.	"Nutrocker" (Instrumental)	4:07
12.	"Carmina Burana"	2:44
13.	"Tracers" (Instrumental)	5:47
14.	"Requiem" (Live 2010 (European Release Only))
15.	"Toccata - Carpimus Noctem" (Live 2010 (European Release Only))
Total length:		58:19

Personnel

• Paul O'Neill - Producer
• Robert Kinkel - Producer
• Dave Wittman - Recording & Mix Engineer

Performers

Vocals

Solo:

• Jay Pierce - "Childhood Dreams", "The Safest Way Into Tomorrow"
• Tim Hockenberry - "Sparks", "Believe"
• Jeff Scott Soto - "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
• 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
• Adrienne Warren
• 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
• Robert Kinkel - Keyboards
• Jon Oliva - Keyboards
• Al Pitrelli - Lead & Rhythm Guitars
• Chris Altenhoff - Bass
• Luci Butler - Keyboards
• Chris Caffery - Guitars
• Shih-Yi Chiang - Keyboards
• Roddy Chong - Violin
• Angus Clark - Guitars
• Jane Mangini - Keyboards
• Johnny Lee Middleton - Bass
• John O. Reilly - Drums
• Anna Phoebe - Violin
• Jeff Plate - Drums
• Alex Skolnick - 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

Savatage connections

Some of the songs on Night Castle trace their origins to music written by Savatage, the heavy metal band from which the Trans-Siberian Orchestra evolved.

• "The Mountain" was originally recorded as "Prelude to Madness" on Hall of the Mountain King. The song itself is recording of the "Mars, the Bringer of War" suite from The Planets by Gustav Holst and Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King.
• Parts of the song "The Lion's Roar" are taken from the song "Temptation Revelation" off of the Gutter Ballet 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.
• "Believe" was originally featured on Streets: A Rock Opera.

References

1. ^ Allmusic - review

External links

• Official Site
• Latin Mentor for Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Dr. Clement Kuehn