Blind Guardian

I finally got A Twist in the Myth and I have to say I'm impressed. It is a good album, but I can definately see why their old drummer left! An obvious follow-up to A Night at the Opera and very experimental. One of the things I like about Blind Guardian though is that this change in direction was rather gradual compared to other bands (Metallica and In Flames come to mind). All in all a good album.
 
Natalie said:
Hey, that's my favorite Blind Guardian song too! :yey:

Me three!  The Illiad+Blind Guardian=Heavenly 13 min. bliss

My favorite Blind Guardian album would definently have to be Imaginations From the Other Side.  I think I like it so much because it took quite a few listens over a time span of a couple months to really get into.  I can say the same about Dream Theater's Images & Words (which is by the way, my favorite album of ALL time).
 
I love Blind Guardian, Hansi Kurch is one of the best singers of all time!
My favourite albums are Battalions of Fear, Imaginations From The Other Side and A Twist in the Myth, but i think all thier albums are great!
 
Sorry for bumping this, but didn't want to start a new thread, as there are already two old Blind Guardian threads.  

Blind Guardian's new album is set to drop on July 30, called At the Edge of Time.  A single, "Voice in the Dark," will be released on June 25.  Info, including a complete tracklist, is at Blind-Guardian.com.  Looking forward to the new album.  Hope they tour North America.  
 
Cool! I hope it's a bit better than A Twist In The Myth, which was ok, but I didn't feel was nearly as good as their previous work. I will be looking into this album for sure.
 
Twist was definitely a new direction, I wouldn't call it "better" or "worse" than their previous stuff, just yet.
 
cornfedhick said:
Sorry for bumping this, but didn't want to start a new thread, as there are already two old Blind Guardian threads.  

Blind Guardian's new album is set to drop on July 30, called At the Edge of Time.  A single, "Voice in the Dark," will be released on June 25.  Info, including a complete tracklist, is at Blind-Guardian.com.  Looking forward to the new album.  Hope they tour North America.  
I can't wait for the new stuff! Also, there's a 30 second sample of Voice In The Dark and some footage from the studio on their site: http://www.blind-guardian.com/ Trailer number 4 has quite a bit of music played in it and it's sounding GREAT!
 
You can now hear 30-second samples of all the songs on the new album here:
http://www.blind-guardian.com/discography.php3?cat=1&album_id=24.

My commentary, in spoiler tags:

Hard to judge based on these snippets, but the album seems fairly diverse.  Some anthems, some really proggy operatic stuff, and a couple softer ballads, including what seems to be one piano-and-vocals-only track.  The first and last tracks seem the strongest.  The first track, "Sacred Worlds," has already been released as part of a video game and is available in full on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fakNlghOJY.  Not sure if it's precisely the same mix, but the chorus sounds pretty much the same.  I note that the YouTube track is 6:18 long, whereas the band's website lists this track as over 9 minutes long, so obviously SOMETHING is different.  I had read somewhere on the Internet that they had not planned on including it on the new album, but it seems that was erroneous.  Good thing, too, as I like it.  The last song, "Wheel of Time," is another 9-minute epic, sounds like it's over the top in their signature bombastic style -- I thought I even detected horns, though presumably they were synthesized.
 
cornfedhick said:
You can now hear 30-second samples of all the songs on the new album here:
http://www.blind-guardian.com/discography.php3?cat=1&album_id=24.

My commentary, in spoiler tags:

Hard to judge based on these snippets, but the album seems fairly diverse.  Some anthems, some really proggy operatic stuff, and a couple softer ballads, including what seems to be one piano-and-vocals-only track.  The first and last tracks seem the strongest.  The first track, "Sacred Worlds," has already been released as part of a video game and is available in full on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fakNlghOJY.  Not sure if it's precisely the same mix, but the chorus sounds pretty much the same.  I note that the YouTube track is 6:18 long, whereas the band's website lists this track as over 9 minutes long, so obviously SOMETHING is different.  I had read somewhere on the Internet that they had not planned on including it on the new album, but it seems that was erroneous.  Good thing, too, as I like it.  The last song, "Wheel of Time," is another 9-minute epic, sounds like it's over the top in their signature bombastic style -- I thought I even detected horns, though presumably they were synthesized.
There are also 3 full new songs for purchase in iTunes.
 
I'm really enjoying it so far.  So far the highlights for me are Sacred worlds, Ride Into Obsession, and A Voice in the Dark. It has a bit more of Blind Guardian's old speed metal sound mixed with their modern sound. It has a few minor dull spots and the closer, Wheel of Time doesn't live up to Sacred Worlds as an epic, but overall I'd call this one of their best. I can't wait to hear them do this material live.
 
Helphyre said:
I'm really enjoying it so far.  So far the highlights for me are Sacred worlds, Ride Into Obsession, and A Voice in the Dark. It has a bit more of Blind Guardian's old speed metal sound mixed with their modern sound. It has a few minor dull spots and the closer, Wheel of Time doesn't live up to Sacred Worlds as an epic, but overall I'd call this one of their best. I can't wait to hear them do this material live.

Thanks, really looking forward to the U.S. release later this month (I don't download illegally for a variety of reasons).  From what I have heard on the band's official site, I have a feeling I'm going to love "Sacred Worlds."  Speaking of that, their website just got a major overhaul, and it is MUCH better. 

Also in anticipation of the new release, I have been rediscovering the much-maligned A Twist in the Myth, and admittedly that album did have more filler than usual, but "Turn the Page" is completely awesome and at the moment might be my favorite BG song of all. 
 
One of these days I will sit down and re-listen to A Twist in the Myth. I pretty much love every other Blind Guardian album, so I must have missed something on that album I like. I still haven't heard the new one.

And I remain happy to be in Canada, where downloading isn't an illegal act, because I am now working on rectifying that particular deficiency in my collection.
 
Two weeks ago I caught the Lord of the Rings trilogy on TNT and decided to pop in Nightfall in Middle Earth... This album gets better all the time. "Twist" wasn't bad, but I much rather listen to their first two albums. I am looking forward to this one though, as well as Apocalyptica's. Been listening to Haggard's latest, good stuff as always.

To keep it on a BG topic, What the hell ever happen to Staunch? He left the band, then formed Savage Circus (debut album was AWESOME), then he got fired from his own band....
 
I bought it when it was released, listened to it now 5-6 times.  Sacred Worlds and Wheel of Time are epic; Ride into Obsession, A Voice in the Dark and Cry for Tanelorn are excellent old-school BG.  The rest I'm not familiar enough with yet.
 
Blind Guardian are one of my favourite bands, it's a shame they don't bother doing proper UK tours. :mad:


I think the new album is an OK Blind Guardian album. 'Sacred Worlds' is probably my favourite song on the album and the rest have grown on me. I'm bitterly dissapointed by 'War of the Thrones' though, which is about one of my favourite series of books, George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Overall the album isn't a patch on 'Nightfall in Middle-Earth' or 'Imaginations from the Other Side' but unlike, say, Metallica, Blind Guardian are still capable of making a decent album. (Obviously the two bands aren't comparable musically)
 
I got it, but I never had a chance to listen to it much, and now I have TFF.  I guess I'll have to return to it in a month or so.  I like Sacred Worlds, Tanelorn, Wheel of Time, and A Voice in the Dark quite a lot, so far. Also, the production and sound quality is superb, I was blown away by the sounds of some parts when listening on my dad's headphones.

Edit: Whoops, I didn't even remember I had posted earlier in the topic.
 
Invader said:
I got it, but I never had a chance to listen to it much, and now I have TFF.  I guess I'll have to return to it in a month or so.  I like Sacred Worlds, Tanelorn, Wheel of Time, and A Voice in the Dark quite a lot, so far. Also, the production and sound quality is superb, I was blown away by the sounds of some parts when listening on my dad's headphones.

Still waiting for the U.S. release... :innocent:  Not entirely sure why it was necessary to stagger the release dates by nearly a month, a few days is typical, but this is rigoddamndiculous.  The good news is that The Final Frontier is finally released in the U.S. today, so much of my excitement about Blind Guardian's album is dwarfed and muted by the new Maiden album.  (Nice marketing plan, Nuclear Blast.)  Whatever, I'm buying it anyway, but, like Invader wrote, it won't get as heavy a rotation at casa cornfed as it otherwise would for the next few weeks.      
The beloved Iron Maiden Commentary was mentioned in a press article about Blind Guardian, which has been posted to BG's official site.  

Here's the article:  http://metalasfuck.net/zine/articles/2010/bard-and-his-songs-%E2%80%93-audience-hansi-kursch-blind-guardian

The relevant passage:

"Now you all know the bards and their songs. With an illustrious career spanning over twenty years, Blind Guardian are as ambitious as ever. Hansi talks shop about the new record as well as the orchestral project, his love for Aussie power ballads and that damn haircut…

When I was first discovering metal as a kid that would wish his hair would hurry up and grow past his shoulders, I entered the wonderful world of power metal. A site dedicated to Iron Maiden Commentary recommended a select few bands and one of them was Blind Guardian.

Unbeknownst to me, Blind Guardian was almost the golden standard in power metal, setting and raising the bar with every record...."  [etc.]
 
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