Blind Guardian

Well according to their website, they're touring Europe in spring 2015, so their North American tour will either be summer or fall.. I would prefer to see them in the fall, not just because the small indoor venues get very hot when they get packed in the summer, but, also because BG's music makes me think of the Renessaince Faire, and the PA one is usually held in the fall
 
From: http://www.blabbermouth.net/cdreviews/beyond-the-red-mirror/
Previewing their tenth album "Beyond the Red Mirror" with the previously-released "Twilight of the Gods" EP, German power-symphonic metal maestros BLIND GUARDIAN capitalize on a long break with an encompassing and magical effort. For "Beyond the Red Mirror", the band worked with three different worldwide choirs from Budapest, Prague and Boston, along with two full-scale orchestras bearing 90 members apiece. The results are as larger-than-life as the band intended, fleshing out a sci-fi and fantasy piece bridged to their 1995 album, "Imaginations from the Other Side".

As "Twilight of the Gods" (one of only two songs to clock in beneath five minutes) proved to ring like a broad-scoped, QUEEN-esque musical sonnet, the rest of "Beyond the Red Mirror" is simply massive. Beginning and ending with two epics that roll at 9:29 each, this album plays like BLIND GUARDIAN's reach for a masterpiece, and they practically hit it.

You couldn't ask for a more breath-stealing intro with the gusting chorus opening the expansive "The Ninth Wave", a song stuffed as much with electronica buzzes and defined guitar lines as there are swarming voices. Hansi Kürsch, one of the best metal vocalists in the business, is nearly secondary to the enthralling choral tides that introduce and conclude the track. This could've been a near-ten-minute EP unto itself, that's how conclusive and meticulous the song is structured.

The decorative harpsichord setting off "Prophecies" is a delicious intro for André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen to plow through successions of IRON MAIDEN-derived chords and marching progressions. Why BLIND GUARDIAN gets away with it is due to the incredible vocal outpourings around them. Again, the majestic theater aspect of QUEEN plays into this track as much as IRON MAIDEN and it's the proficiency behind the delivery that makes "Prophecies" sing instrumentally on top of the wondrous voices around it. Equally enchanting is "At the Edge of Time", which keeps a frolicking back beat and spritely orchestral accompaniment behind Frederik Ehmke's gradual stamp. The delicate measures BLIND GUARDIAN puts behind the thrusting march of "At the Edge of Time" are astonishing to behold, no matter how many symphonic metal albums you've been exposed to.

The swift "Ashes of Eternity" gusts on the heels of Frederik Ehmke's fluid pounding, the breezing guitars and Hansi Kürsch's vocals, which toughen to full snarls at times, but never fail to exhale with full conviction. The gorgeous backing vocals add to "Ashes of Eternity"'s tireless drafts. Even more vigorous is "The Holy Grail" thereafter, which does HELLOWEEN and GAMMA RAY proud, much less HAMMERFALL and MANOWAR with its hurricane-speed tale of valor. Let the musical echoes of battle always sound this powerful.

The 7:56 "The Throne" is a metal opera unto itself while serving the album's overall goal in sweeping the listener from one riveting plane to another, transitioning the twenty years between "Imaginations from the Other Side" and this album. "The Throne" works a little harder to find its spark as the band and orchestral pieces thicken up the longer the piece rolls, but Hansi Kürsch valorously leads the way and put to the stage, this piece should sound even bigger, so long as all of its recorded parts are presented live.

What can be safely assumed is that the album's carnival-esque finale, "Grand Parade" will make it to their live forum. Cited by André Olbrich as the best song BLIND GUARDIAN has ever written, there's substance to this claim as it rolls, romps and cascades with all the gala these guys can load up. "Grand Parade" is a cheerful promenade for much of the ride with a thundering chorus ushering it along until a dramatic change in tone arrives with the first guitar solo, altering the course toward a valiant and clamorous bang. A return to the battle front with power metal thrusts and cinematic orchestration ram the song back to its original celebratory cavalcade for a triumphant finale. Indeed, this is the best song BLIND GUARDIAN has conceived. Phenomenal.

With no disrespect intended to their contemporaries, BLIND GUARDIAN delivers symphonic metal of the highest art on "Beyond the Red Mirror". How far these guys have come since "Battalions of Fear" is not only remarkable, it's tremendous. As Hansi Kürsch has described the story behind this album, the red mirror is a representative, lone-standing portal to purported salvation and it must be found at all costs. What BLIND GUARDIAN has found with this album is inspirational and it's inexcusable the Grammy committee has long kept a sightless eye toward these virtuosi of metal music.
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Absolutely. It sounds like BG is going more symphonic, and I am perfectly fine with that. This sounds like it's going to be a great kickoff for 2015.
 
They are going beyond symphonic.

From: http://www.blind-guardian.com/2014/11/07/what-lies-beyond-the-red-mirror/
Recorded at Twilight Hall Studio in Grefrath, Germany and produced by Charlie Bauerfeind (Saxon, Hammerfall, Helloween), Beyond the Red Mirror showcases Blind Guardian’s long-awaited collaborative work with three different classical choirs: one from the Czech Republic (Prague), one from Hungary (Budapest), and one from the United States (Boston). Two grand orchestras – each featuring 90 musicians – also lend their brilliant talents to the new recordings with absolutely spellbinding results.
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I'm really excited for this one!
 
And the new trailer goes completely into the orchestration and let's you hear a lot of it. The teaser near the end has increased my level of excitement by a TON!
 
Quite an amazing album to say the least! They did step up the progressiveness quite a bit from the last one too. It'll take at least 5 listens to fully sink in.
 
The Ninth Wave
Don't like the beginning of this song. Starts out cool with the choirs, but the quasi-electro part doesn't fit with the intended epicness.
Metal parts are weak... I can already start ranting about the production - guitars and drums sound weak.
Not really impressed with this song... It's not bad, but it's quite average for BG standards. Chorus grew on me near the end though.

Twilight Of The Gods
It's OK. Although I think they tried to cram in too many things into this song and it sounds kinda sewn together...

Prophecies
I have no idea what's going in this song, does it even have a chorus? Hansi sounds good, but he's reaching A Night At The Opera level with the over-dub-load.

At The Edge Of Time
Epic atmosphere, but again over-dub-load... I don't have high hopes for the rest of the album.
One of the reasons I can't stand A Night At The Opera is the vocal over-dub-load that suffocates all the instruments.

Ashes Of Eternity
Exactly the same thing as Prophecies...

The Holy Grail
Honestly didn't notice this song started and the previous one ended. CHOIRS! CHOIRS! MORE FUCKING CHOIRS! EVERY-FUCKING-WHERE CHOIRS!
Basically this:
Forostar said:
it's too much of the same intensity. This music doesn't breathe, it doesn't build, it doesn't change.
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The Throne
I love Hansi but he needs to cut down on the goddamn choirs and needs to be lower in the mix.
It's frustrating as fuck, his vocals and the orchestrations are 2x louder than guitars/bass/drums.
Blind Guardian's old intensity and speed seems to be long, long gone :(
Now it's all about folky guitar melodies and 100-Hansis-choirs :(

Sacred Mind
OK musically I guess. At least more than a couple of previous songs. Still, Hansi overload.

Miracle Machine
This is what I've been waiting for - no guitar/bass/drums, just Hansi and orchestrations! Yay! Good idea guys!
:facepalm:

Grand Parade
At least the chorus is catchy... but overall a big disappointment. Which is what this album is.
Previous album was simpler than Nightfall/Opera/Myth and a step in the right direction, kinda back to the roots.
This is A Second Night At The Opera = disappointment.

Didn't have the desire to listen to the bonus song...
 
The production sounds perfectly fine to my ears. Then again, I'm not a very good judge of production since Dance Of Death sounds amazing to me as well.
 
In one hour and ten minutes from the time of this post, Hansi and Andre from Blind Guardian will be answering questions on Reddit. You can post questions now here and the answers will be in the same place later.
 
@Night Prowler I know it won't change how you feel about the album, but Prophecies does have a chorus. It's the part that goes:

"A crow, a storm
Shadows will be rising soon
A crow, a storm
The Nine sing
Once upon a dream ago
We're the ones you've left alone"

It's in the song 3 different times. ;)
 
I don't really have an in-detail review to post, but I think it's the best album since Nightfall. Gets weaker as it goes on, but it's still very, very good.
 
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