I still consider "Nightfall in middle earth" one of the best albums of all times. I remember waiting in front of the recordstore on the releasday in 1998, came home and listened to it from start to finish a few times while reading the newest "Rock Hard" magazine, good times. Even today it's one of the few albums I still enjoy listening from start to finish.
I discovered that album in 1999 (via Hansi's "Demons and Wizards" project with Iced Earth), and it's one of the few metal albums I still listen to regularly 25 years later. (It really helps if you've read some of the Silmarillion, of course.) Hard to pick a favorite track since it's so consistently excellent, but maybe "The Curse of Feanor" gets the most play.
Also, attending a BG concert at the old Graceland in Seattle back in 2004 or so and singing along to "The Bard's Song" with a few hundred other fans who knew all the words was definitely a peak geek moment.
The start of “Into the storm” after Morgoth says “She, the mistress of her own lust” on a spoken intro track gives me the shivers to this day and I still consider it the best banging start of the album I have ever heard.
“Into the Storm” is just brilliant. Punching intro, vocals come in for a little “soft” intro themselves, and then vocals go hard (“where can I run”) and we’re off to the races. I’m typically a guitar guy, but man I really enjoy Hansi’s talents to compose vocals…mixing moods, styles, speed, all in the span of a few verses. Reminds me of “Time Stands Still”. That second verse comes in real self-reflective and interior like (“I stand alone”) and then BOOM “I dare you!!!”.
I definitely consider NIME to be best BG album. They tried to replicate the same level of complexity in their follow up albums, but the sound engineering and mixing just never felt the same. NIME sounds crisp and clear and every after is too layered and muddy
It seems to me that there are remasters that improved things a bit. I've always liked "A Night at the Opera", but it sounded strangely hollow, a bit like classical music or Metallica's Saint Anger. The 2017 remaster sounds more like metal. AFAICT, it's quite well done, not one of these shitty remasters that just increases compression and calls it a day.
