Christopher Lee - Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross (2010)

Genre: Symphonic Epic Heavy Metal Opera
About: After hearing that the infamous Christopher Lee... who has done everything from being the original Dracula and Frankenstein in the 1950s, to Lord of the Rings in the 2000s, to singing in a Rhapsody song... was doing a Symphonic Metal Opera/Concept album, I could not believe it. I love concept albums, I love metal/rock operas (there are far too few of them in existence) and I love him (no homo). Even more amazing is the fact that he's like 80 years old, I think. The intro and first two acts were really slow, and barely symphonic or metal at all, and I was starting to think we might have another Saana (Timo Tolkki) on our hands. But I was so wrong. Track 3 ramps right up with a really epic Heavy Metal masterpiece, and it does not let up for the rest of the album. I will definitely have to check out his older two albums sometime, and I hope he releases another album like this in the very near future. I'm not sure if "Iberia" is a bonus track, or a hint at a second album because it ends with "They have betrayed us!". Charlemagne part 2??

Here's the promo, featuring what is basically the climax of the album: (Yes, this album is extremely cheesy. But in a good way that brings a smile to your face.)



(Sorry, they are really cracking down on this album, since it was deleted from 3 hosters within a day. I'm not going to bother re-upping as they will just delete it again. Definitely don't go torrent this instead.)