The latest pick for Song of the Day is one that is, quite literally, worshipped by some people I know. For them, this is the greatest song ever committed to record — or, if not the absolute pinnacle, something so close to it that the distinction barely matters. Today’s selection is Blind Guardian’s “And Then There Was Silence,” and if you’ve never heard it, you are about to understand what the word “epic” actually means.
The song runs a staggering fourteen minutes long and comes from this German power metal band’s 2001 album, A Night at the Opera. The lyrical foundation draws from two of the greatest works in the Western literary canon: Homer’s The Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. Let that sink in for a moment. A heavy metal song rooted in ancient Greek and Roman epic poetry. Specifically, “And Then There Was Silence” chronicles the final days of Troy — the fall of a city, the collapse of a civilization, and the human cost of a decade-long war — all rendered in the language of power metal. The ambition alone is enough to demand respect.
There is a persistent and deeply unfair misconception about metal as a genre — the idea that it is nothing more than formless noise, guttural bellowing, and musicians who wouldn’t recognize a melody if it knocked them flat. “And Then There Was Silence” will dismantle that notion within its first minute. Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kürsch doesn’t merely carry a tune; he commands the music with a vocal range and precision that rivals the most accomplished operatic tenors and sopranos working today. His voice soars through passages of genuine beauty, then plunges into something more urgent and desperate, perfectly mirroring the emotional arc of the story being told. This is singing in the most demanding and traditional sense of the word.
This is also the song that finally pulled me headlong into the world of power metal — a subgenre I have affectionately and unapologetically taken to calling “nerd metal.” The label is meant as the highest of compliments. Power metal draws its lyrical DNA from fantasy novels, mythology, folklore, medieval history, science fiction, and the great legends of human civilization. It is music made by and for people who stayed up past midnight reading Tolkien, who know the difference between the Trojan War and the Peloponnesian War, and who see no contradiction between loving heavy guitars and loving great literature. Blind Guardian, in particular, have built an entire career on this premise, and “And Then There Was Silence” represents the form at its absolute peak.
What makes the song especially remarkable is its narrative perspective. Rather than presenting the fall of Troy from a broad, panoramic viewpoint, Blind Guardian tells the story through the eyes of Cassandra — the Trojan princess cursed by Apollo to speak true prophecies that no one would ever believe. She saw every catastrophe coming and was powerless to prevent any of it. It is one of the most haunting figures in all of classical literature, and the choice to center the song on her experience gives the music a quality of grief and inevitability that the straightforward historical account could never achieve.
The structure of the song itself echoes that of an ancient epic poem. It builds, recedes, transforms, and builds again. I have compared its finale to the ending of Peter Jackson’s The Return of the King — the one famously criticized for having too many endings. Just when you feel certain the song has reached its emotional peak and is preparing to close, another movement begins, and rather than feeling excessive, each new section deepens and enriches everything that came before it. The song earns every one of its fourteen minutes.
Here is the honest truth: even people who are entirely indifferent to metal — who would not voluntarily put on a heavy guitar record under any ordinary circumstances — tend to find something in this song that reaches them. Something in the melody, the storytelling, the sheer scale of it connects across the usual genre boundaries. It asks only fourteen minutes of your time and, in exchange, offers something genuinely unlike almost anything else in popular music. That seems like a reasonable trade.
And Then There Was Silence
Turn your head and see the fields of flames
He carries along
From a distant place
He’s on his way
He’ll bring decay
(don’t move along cause things they will go wrong
the end is getting closer day by day)
in shades of grey
We’re doomed to face the night
Light’s out of sight
Since we’ve reached the point of no return
We pray for starlight
We wait for the moon
The sky is empty
Alone in the unknown
We’re getting nowhere
We have been betrayed
By the wind and the rain
The sacred halls empty and cold
The sacrifice made should not be done in vain
Revenge will be taken by Rome
We live a lie
Under the dying moon
Pale faced laughs doom
Indulges in delight
It’s getting out of hand
The final curtain will fall
Hear my voice
There is no choice
There’s no way out
You’ll find out
We don’t regret it
So many man have failed
But now he’s gone
Go out and get it
The madman’s head it shall be thine
We don’t regret it
That someone else dies hidden in disguise
Go out and get it
Orion’s hound shines bright
Don’t you think it’s time to stop the chase
Around the ring
Just stop running, running
Round the ring
Don’t you know that fate has been decided
By the gods
Feel the distance, distance
Out of reach
Welcome to the end…
Watch your step, Cassandra
You may fall
As I’ve stumbled on the field
Sister mine
Death’s a certain thing
Find myself in darkest places
Find myself drifting away
And the otherworld
The otherworld appears
Find myself, she dies in vain
I cannot be freed
I’m falling down
As time runs faster
Moves towards disaster
The ferryman will wait for you
My dear
And then there was silence
Just a voice from the otherworld
Like a leaf in an icy world
Memories will fade
Misty tales and poems lost
All the bliss and beauty will be gone
May my weary soul find release for a while
At the moment of death I will smile
It’s the triumph of shame and disease
In the end
Iliad
Raise my hands and praise the day
Brake the spell, show me the way
In decay
The flame of Troy will shine bright
The newborn child would carry ruin to the hall
The newborn’s death will be a blessing to us all
Good choice?
Bad choice?
Out of three
You’ve choosen misery
Power and wisdom
You deny
Bad choice
War is the only answer
When love will conquer fear
So the judgment’s been made
To the fairest
The graceful says
Badly he fails
Warning
Fear the heat of passion, father king
Don’t let him in
Don’t let her in
Desire, lust, obssession
Death they’ll bring
We can’t get out
Once they are in
She’s like the sunrise
Outshines the moon at night
Precious like starlight
She’ll bring in a murderous price
In darkness grows the seed of man’s defeat
Jealousy
I can clearly see the end now
I can clearly see the end now
I can clearly see the end now
The thread of life in spun
The coin’s been placed below my tongue
Never give up
Never give in
Be on our side
So we can win
Never give up
Never give in
Be on our side
Old moon’s time is soon to come
Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Nothing to lose
Like one we’ll stand
We’ll face the storm
Created by man
Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy
And as the lion
Slaughters man
I am the wolf
And you’re the lamb
Hallowed Troy shall fall
Round the walls
Faith is shattered, bodies fall
Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Nothing to lose
Like one we’ll stand
It’s all for one and one for all
All we live for will be wiped out
I feel that something’s wrong
Surprise, surprise they’re gone
Full moon your time goes by
And new moon’s still kept out of sight
We live
We die
Misty tales and poems lost
All the bliss and beauty will be gone
May my weary soul find release for a while
At the moment of death I will smile
It’s the triumph of shame and disease
In the end
Iliad
Raise my hands and praise the day
Brake the spell, show me the way
In decay
The flame of Troy will shine bright
Roam in darkness
Spread the vision
We will be lost if you truly believe
Troy in darkness
There’s a cold emptiness in our hearts
That they’ve gone away
And won’t come back
They’ll tear down the wall to bring it in
They’ll truly believe in the lie
With blossoms they’ll welcome the old foe
The vision’s so clear
When day and dream unite
The end is near
You’d better be prepared
The nightmare shall be over now
There’s nothing more to fear
Come join in our singing
And dance with us now
The nightmare shall be over now
There’s nothing more to fear
The war it is over, forevermore
No hope
The blind leads the blind
Carry on
Though future’s denied
Mare or stallion
There’s far more inside
We are in at the kill
We’ll cheerfully die
Misty tales and poems lost
All the bliss and beauty will be gone
May my weary soul find release for a while
At the moment of death I will smile
It’s the triumph of shame and disease
In the end
Iliad
Raise my hands and praise the day
Brake the spell, show me the way
In decay
The flame of Troy will shine bright
Its holy light shines on
So the judgement’s been made
We’re condemned though the trial’s far ahead
The crack of doom
Father
Your handsome son is heading home
Heading home
Still the wind blows
Calm and silent
Carries news from a distant shore
Out of mind
Can’t get it
Can’t get it out of my head
Sorrow and defeat
Sorrow and defeat
Through the Shattered Lens 