Complete with anthemic choruses, spoken word story lines, and plenty of bombastic power metal punctuating every dramatic turn, Nightfall in Middle-Earth is perhaps Blind Guardian's most triumphant effort. After spending ten years and numerous releases building a large following in Europe and Japan, Blind Guardian took on the task of creating this progressive concept record based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Silmarillion. The story recounts events from the first age of Middle-Earth, Tolkien's parallel world that serves as the mythological backdrop for his classic Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Blind Guardian interpretation features bassist/vocalist Hansi Kürsch's first-person character portrayals and narrations of the medieval quest for truth and glory…
Before Sun Ra began navigating the cosmic flux and piloting passengers across the universe, the bandleader Herman "Sunny" (or "Sonny") Blount (b. Birmingham, Alabama, 1914) was developing his musical craft in Chicago. In the early and mid-1950s that meant collaborating with artists in the fields of doo-wop, rhythm & blues, late-period big band jazz, and urban soul. History reveals that before Sun Ra was an orchestra leader, he was a session leader.