And Then There Was Silence

"And Then There Was Silence" is a song by German power metal band Blind Guardian. It was released in November 2001 as the lead single from their album A Night at the Opera.

"And Then There Was Silence"
Single by Blind Guardian
from the album A Night at the Opera
Released12 November 2001
RecordedTwilight Hall Studios (Grefrath, Germany)
Genre
Length14:06
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)Hansi Kürsch, André Olbrich
Producer(s)Charlie Bauerfeind
Blind Guardian singles chronology
"Mirror Mirror"
(1998)		 "And Then There Was Silence"
(2001)		 "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)"
(2003)

Written by singer Hansi Kürsch and composed by Kürsch and guitarist André Olbrich, the song is based on The Iliad by Homer and on the Aeneid by Virgil, and narrates the final days of Troy, as foreseen by Cassandra, daughter of the king of the destroyed city who foresaw the event.

The song required as much production time as the rest of A Night at the Opera combined due to its length, intricacy, and number of audio tracks. At over 14 minutes, it is the longest track recorded by Blind Guardian. A new version was recorded in 2012 and included as part of the compilation album Memories of a Time to Come.

Track listing
  1. "And Then There Was Silence" – 14:06
  2. "Harvest of Sorrow" – 3:40
  3. "Born in a Mourning Hall" (multimedia track) – 5:17

Personnel

Production
  • Anry Nemo – cover art

Charts
Chart (2001) Peak
position
Germany (Official German Charts)[2] 41
Spain (AFYVE)[3] 1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[4] 41

Year-end charts
Chart (2001) Position
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[5] 143

References
  1. Terich, Jeff; Hickman, Langdon; Davis, Cody (22 September 2017). "10 more of the best metal albums of the millennium". Treble. Retrieved 4 April 2019. The 14-minute closer, a progressive metal epic about the Trojan War that doesn't hit its first go-around of the chorus until just past the four-minute mark...
  2. "Blind Guardian – And Then There Was Silence" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  3. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  4. "Blind Guardian – And Then There Was Silence". Singles Top 100.
  5. "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on 26 July 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
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