01	Written In The Stars						04:49
	02	The Times They Are A Changing						03:33
	03	I Still Remember						05:42
	04	Home Again						05:27
	05	Crowning Of The King						04:31
	06	Fayre Thee Well						02:08
	07	Fires At Midnight						07:36
	08	Hanging Tree						03:46
	09	The Storm						06:11
	10	Midwinter's Night						04:30
	11	All Because Of You						03:36
	12	Waiting Just For You						03:16
	13	Praetorius (Courante)						01:57
	14	Benzai - Ten						03:51
	15	Village On The Sand						05:04
	16	Again Someday						01:39

For promotion only

Blackmore's Night - Fires At Midnight
Country of Origin: U.K.
Format: CD
Record Label: SPV/Steamhammer
Catalogue #: SPV085-72432 CD
Year of Release: 2001

Blackmore's Night likes to perform in castles and churches, with their audience dressed in renaissance and medieval clothes. If you listen to their albums, it is easy to understand why: this band is strongly inspired by the music from the Middle Ages...

Blackmore's Night is a project by Richie Blackmore (formerly of Deep Purple and Rainbow). After years of playing hard rock, he radically changed direction. Together with singer Candice Night he formed this new band. Their music is an interesting mixture of folk, rock and renaissance music. Don't expect no Dubliners party folk here: this is all very moody, mysterious and darkly romantic.
The band's concept worked very well on their two earlier albums, Shadow of The Moon (1997) and Under A Violet Moon (1999). The new album, Fires At Midnight, is the band's third release.

The first song, Written In The Stars starts like a sweet Clannad or Anya-like ballad, but then some doomy heavy guitars and trumpets are introduced and the song becomes more progressive (a bit similar in style to Jethro Tull's Broadsword album). The Times They Are A Changin', is a more quite and folky cover of the well known Bob Dylan's (also released on single). I Still Remember is a haunting renaissance ballad, with great electric and acoustic guitars and interesting progressive "against-the-beat" drums. Home Again is a more tradional acoustic folk tune, with flutes and an audience joining the sing along chorus.
Crowning Of The King has a majestic celebrational feel, with medieval trumpets and flutes. Fayre Thee Well is a quiet acoustic guitar piece. The title track, Fires At Midnight, may first seem a mysterious ballad, but it soons turns into a wild and exciting song, with electric bagpipes sounds, and Blackmore rediscovering his old electric six string. Hanging Tree is another good acoustic piece, with beautiful singing by Candice Night.

Storm starts quietly with acoustic guitar, but quickly turns into an exciting and fast song, with oriental influences. The arrangement - with thunderous strings, wild violin and drums - gives it a progressive feeling. One of my favourites on the album!
Mid Winter_s Night, sounds like a Gaelic folk piece. All Because Of You, is an uptime modern sounding poppy folk song, not unlike The Corrs. Waiting Just For You starts like a folky ballad, but halfway the trumpets come in and the pace goes up. Praetorius Courante is an instrumental guitar piece. Benzai-Ten is a slow ballad with some Japanese influences, but not the best piece on the album. Village On The Sand, again is a more progressive track with some Tull influences and some heavy electric guitar. The album concludes with Again Someday, a short folk ballad.

I really enjoyed the first two albums of Blackmore's Night. The songwriting, musicianship and singing: it's all very good. The same goes for this new album, which has a minor change of direction. It's a bit heavier and more electric, has more variations in styles, and even a more "progressive" approach.
Although this is not a true progressive rock band, I am quite sure the moods and arrangements will appeal to most prog listeners. Several songs have the same sound and style as Jethro Tull's Broadsword album (and indeed Ian Anderson did a guest appearance on the first album). If the description above appeals to you, I would strongly recommend you gave this band a listen. This album would be the best start for most prog rock fans.


Conclusion: 8 out of 10.

Rob Michel