By Alan Sculley

For the past five years or so, fans of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra have been hearing about the impending arrival of the rock band/symphony’s newest work, Night Castle. They’ve even been teased on the past couple of holiday tours as Trans-Siberian Orchestra has played a few of the songs that were to be featured on the album.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Finally, on Oct. 27, just a few days before the Trans-Siberian Orchestra began this year’s edition of its extensive holiday tour, the long-awaited Night Castle arrived in stores. And it appears that the group’s founder and chief songwriter, Paul O’Neill, was determined to make it worth the wait — on a couple of different fronts.

On a musical level, Night Castle has grown from rather modest beginnings into a work of truly epic proportions.

“It was supposed to be out in July 2005, and obviously we slightly missed that date,” O’Neill jokes during a mid-October phone interview. “Night Castle was originally going to be 10 songs and our first regular album. But then [Trans-Siberian Orchestra songwriting collaborator and singer for the progressive rock group Savatage] Jon Oliva said to me, ‘Paul, Tran-Siberian’s not like another band. It’s not like Savatage. The fans expect the stories.’”

“So it kind of spun out of control,” O’Neill says. “Basically we were going to do six songs rock opera, six songs regular album.  Then it kind of snowballed, and by the end it was way over two hours.”

In sheer size and scope, O’Neill and his songwriting collaborators, Oliva and Robert Kinkel, have outdone themselves. Night Castle is the first double-disc album by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It features 26 songs, 21 of which are the Night Castle rock opera. The two-disc st comes with a 68-page booklet that includes lyrics, the story on which the rock opera is based and illustrations by Greg Hildebrandt (of Lord of the Rings fame).

The music is as wide-ranging and epic as a 26-song work would suggest, ranging from the edgy rock of “Sparks” to the classically tinged rock of “Toccata-Carpimus Noctem” and “Moonlight and Madness.” In other words, it embodies the blend of progressive hard rock and classical that has always been the Trans-Siberian Orchestra signature.

It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who has followed Trans-Siberian Orchestra that Night Castle turned into such a massive work; everything O’Neill touches with Trans-Siberian Orchestra tends grow into something on a grand scale.

And then, of course, there is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra live show, which O’Neill has cheerfully come to describe as being like Pink Floyd on massive steroids.

Two separate editions of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra criss-cross the country every holiday season — the only way to accommodate the 80-plus cities on the schedule over the two-month period of the tour. Each edition of Trans-Siberian Orchestra includes a full orchestra and rock band and multiple vocalists, which allows the group to replicate the complex music on the albums.

The live show has come to encompass a main stage in the front of arenas and a second stage at the back, the largest lighting rig of any touring act and an array of special effects — lasers, smoke, pyrotechnics and more — that make a Trans-Siberian Orchestra performance as dazzling visually as it is ambitious on a musical level.

This year’s performance will combine the familiar with the new. As with the last several years, the first half of the performance will feature the first of Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s three holiday rock operas, Christmas Eve and Other Stories. The second half of the show is a full-on progressive rock concert, with a number of  Night Castle songs making their live debut.

O’Neill initially had a different idea for this year’s live show.

“We decided because of what’s going on in the economy, we definitely want to give people the comfort of the familiar,” he says. “For so many people, [Christmas Eve and Other Stories] has become a part of their holiday. Then in the second half is where we cut loose with all the brand new stuff.”

The Colonial Life Arena is located at 801 Lincoln St. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra performs at 3 and 7:30 p.m.; doors open one hour before showtime. Admission ranges from $25 to $55.50. Call 1-866-472-8499 or visit coloniallifearena.com for tickets and more information.