Blind Guardian

I just came back from Blind Guardian concert. It was unfuckingbelievable. I'll write a complete review later...
 
I wish they would tour the UK too, it seems all the bands i want to see arent touring the UK lately (or are just doing Sonisphere which i cant afford)
Megadeth nope, Blind Guardian nope, In Flames nope... Alestorm (just for a bit of fun) well kinda but a little show in london, AND THEYRE SCOTTISH!  :mad:
 
Megadeth have been to the UK a lot in recent years although only one visit for 'Endgame' can't be justified. In Flames have been about the UK a bit as well but they cancelled a UK tour which was supposed to be coming to Dundee because one member got his wife pregnant and the other went into rehab, they did come back to the UK with Killswitch Engage later but no Dundee show.  :mad: Alestorm supported Sabaton in the UK last year but they seem to be focussing on Europe where there's a market for that kind of crap. Blind Guardian however only seem to have played two locations in the UK in their entire twenty-three year history: London and Bloodstock. They've never even been to Scotland when Hammerfall, Symphony X, Iced Earth, Helloween, Edguy, Opeth, Sabaton, Sonata Arctica and Firewind have all played shows in Glasgow in the last five years. It's so frustrating. I wish that a bigger band like Maiden or Dream Theater would take them on a UK tour sometime because they are well known here. They just seem to think that if they're not topping album charts then they won't tour a country but they've never made any effort to build up their profile over here.
 
a hint of dislike for alestorm there?  :lol:
All stayed away lately though, i saw in flames when they came around with killswitch... didnt hang around for the later though.
Aaaanyway... back to the subject and yeh blind guardian need to come here, everyone ive played their music too loves it, they have an untapped goldmine here. it would be perfect to see blind guardian and maiden together, both my current top two bands. I cant understand why theyve toured the UK so little, to the point that seeing them on tour needs a plane ticket and a hotel  :(    ...bad times
 
Havent seen this news or a Bards thread anywhere lately so a bump and a month old news that i've just caught up with :google:
Hi there,
A long (far longer than expected) journey has more or less come to an end. After having had great fun with our Greek and German friends some weeks ago, we are now preparing ourselves for the final show here in Germany. Even though being on the road is always a very enjoyable experience for everyone in the band, it, on the other hand, demands a lot of time and makes it almost impossible for us to really keep our focus on songwriting. It therefore became more and more obvious to us that there had to be a stop to our touring activities to maintain a proper songwriting cycle. It will be a challenging but also a very exciting period for us. Having an album like At the Edge of Time in our rearview mirror is a curse and blessing at the same time. No matter if we try to finalize the orchestra project or start the songwriting for the next new “regular” Blind Guardian album, it will demand our full attention during the next 24 months or perhaps even more. So, the final chance to see us live will be the Rockharz festival in Ballenstedt, Germany on Friday July 13th. I am absolutely sure that there will not be any Blind Guardian shows before autumn 2014. So, do not miss this one!
Last but not least, some information for those of you that are curious about the collector’s box that we’ve mentioned in some interviews. This box will contain remixed versions of the complete studio album works (based on the original releases) we have done for Virgin. During the next weeks we will provide you with the exact content once it is completely confirmed. There will be tons of material… I’ve found it extremely pleasant to revisit the old albums one more time, but mostly I enjoyed Nightfall in Middle-Earth, which for me remains the strongest Blind Guardian release to date. Mostly I was impressed by some of the songs, which we have not played live so far, “Noldor” and “The Curse of Feanor” in particular. I immediately decided that we have to play one or the other in 2014. So, it truly is something to look forward to. Sounds like a (false) promise, I already made some time ago, doesn’t it?
icon_smile.gif
History repeats itself, some mean people would say, and that life is a constant “Battlefield” – which reminds me of another great song of ours…
Hansi

:censored: Well on one note im pleased they are focusing so hard on writing new material ... but no more touring until late 2014 makes me heavily upset, i am yet to hear them live and want to incredibly badly. Hansi's voice for me has been losing its edge lately and the prospect of waiting 2 years or in Britain perhaps 5 (little bit of wit) is soul destroying for now. I know this is old news but i figure that there must be someone interested in this that is similarly out of touch with what happens in the world.
:goodbye:
 
I don't think Blind Guardian will ever do a real UK tour. They've headlined Bloodstock festival a couple of times but otherwise they won't do anything other than a London show. Iced Earth, Hammerfall, Sabaton, Edguy, Turisas and Sonata Arctica have all bothered to play in Glasgow recently...
 
As promised in the "Random Song Review Thread," I'm posting a few vids for my third-favorite metal band. Best album to get an introduction to the band is, in my opinion, "Live." (Or the DVD of the same tour, "Imaginations Through the Looking Glass.") The recent "Memories of a Time to Come" compilation is also worthwhile too, though it's less a "best-of" than a general survey of their work. (Or, you could jump in head-first and get the box set coming out next week!) The tracks below are by no means all of my favorites, but a pretty good sampling.

"Valhalla" is from their second album. It is a concert favorite, sort of their "Fear of the Dark," as the crowd really becomes part of the band on this one. The chorus is a little repetitive, but quite catchy. Blind Guardian favors simple melodies/choruses to encourage singing along -- I recall hearing that this is intentional and reflects German cultural traditions of singing along in beer halls and at Oktoberfest. Whatever, it sounds cool. So, rather than post the studio version, here's the live version. It sounds better than the studio version anyway, so much so that they re-recorded it for the "Memories" compilation, and that version sounds better too. The neat thing about this live version is that after the song is over, the fans just continue singing it, much to the band's amusement.
 
"Welcome To Dying" is from their third album. It reflects the bands early thrash roots, though they had started to become a more melodic power metal band by this time. It sounds great live, too, but this is the studio version. Very fast-paced heavy rocker, really interesting guitar solo.

 
. The chorus is a little repetitive, but quite catchy. Blind Guardian favors simple melodies/choruses to encourage singing along -- I recall hearing that this is intentional and reflects German cultural traditions of singing along in beer halls and at Oktoberfest.

Well, this alarms me straight away. If I hear something like this I'll usually discard it immediately. I hate stuff like this in metal. I will click the link anyways. For science...
 
Somewhere Far Beyond saw the further evolution of the band from their speed-metal beginnings to a far more folk-inspired, melodic sound. Two tracks here: First, the title track, which is mostly speed-metal, but it incorporates the folk elements. Second, "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)" which is an unabashed medieval folk tune, and every Blind Guardian fan is contractually obligated to know it by heart, as the crowd basically sings it in concert with little or no intervention by the singer, Hansi Kursch. Hansi's thick German accent is a little distracting, but still a nice tune.


 
This is the title track to the Imaginations From The Other Side album. I think this is a truly great song, more complex than some of their earlier stuff. It also begins a trend found reflected in the second half of the band's career, which is a much more layered, multi-tracked wall of sound. You can tell the influence of Queen (Hansi's favorite band) on this album, as the music becomes a lot more grandiose (or pompous, depending on your point of view;) ) in its sound.

 
I thought that the re-recording of Valhalla was really terrible. I prefer their pre-Nightfall era - before they started overdubbing the shit out of everything, particularly the vocals. My favorite album is Tales From The Twilight World.
 
Many believe that Nightfall in Middle Earth is the band's masterpiece. I've never read the Silmarillion, but evidently the album is based on that book by Tolkien. I don't get many of the references to the book, but the music is amazing. Two tracks again here. The first is "Mirror Mirror" which is possibly the heaviest song on the album. The second is "Nightfall" which is another live staple in which the fans sing along to a catchy, melodic chorus. (So, Sixes, you may want to stay away.) I have therefore included the live version here. Note: "Nightfall" is one of my three favorite songs by the band. (The other two yet to come.)

Consider that a teaser, as I need to take a break now -- I must help my daughter sort Girl Scout Cookies. The challenge will be to avoid eating them before they can be delivered to the buyers.


 
Back from the Girl Scout Cookies -- that took less time than I thought.

A Night at the Opera is probably the most egregious example of what Night Prowler refers to as "overdubbing the shit out of everything." It is named after the Queen album and multiplies the over-dubbing from that album about ten-fold, which is saying something. It actually makes the album a little hard to listen to, particularly since it is mastered using the more modern "everything louder than everything else" technique that saps the music of all dynamic range.

This album also contains BG's most excessively bombastic epic to date, "And Then There Was Silence," which is the second of my three favorite songs by the band. This song is apparently based on The Iliad or at least the Trojan War generally. I have read The Iliad and still don't follow many of the references, but whatever. At 14 minutes of wall-to-wall overdubs and time changes and mini-melodies wrapped around other melodies, this song has it all. Exhausting, but rewarding. The band also re-recorded this in 2012. I can't decide which version I like better, so here's the original.

 
Here is the last of my three favorite Blind Guardian songs: "Sacred Worlds." In fact, I think it is my favorite of them all. Eschewing fake-orchestral keyboard sounds, the band enlisted a real symphony orchestra to help them with this one. The band has been threatening to release a fully orchestral album for years, and this track represents their first dip of the toe into those waters. The song starts like a classical recording, resembling a movie score for a fantasy film. Then it fairly abruptly becomes a metal anthem with a rousing chorus that has become the band's trademark. (Speaking of soundtracks, this song apparently was featured in a video game called Sacred.) The song closes with a return to the orchestra -- whodathunk that my favorite metal song of the past five years would end with the gentle strains of a flute and clarinet. I genuinely think this is the band's masterpiece. The word to describe it is "majestic." Looking forward to see if they can top it if and when they release another album in the next few years -- they are slower at releasing albums than Maiden has become.

 
Nice job Cornfed. My favourite is probably Somewhere Far Beyond with Nightfall in Middle Earth being second. I like several older and later tracks as well, some even better than the best on Somewhere Far Beyond but as a whole album, I preferred that one the most. I saw them live at the tour they did for A Night at the Opera. I didn't like that album but the concert was awesome. Clearly the loudest audience reaction happened when Run for the Night was played. What an energetic speedy song. Very impressive band, especially drummer Thomen "The Omen" Stauch.

After he left the band I lost track of them. Not only because he was gone, but also because of the over the top multi-tracking. And the music got too complicated for me (at that time). Maybe I can stand it better these days.

Here a few favourite songs of mine. I might post more later:

Run for the Night

Ever heard their old demo stuff (the band was called Lucifer's Heritage back then)?
I like this song Brian (which is very Maidenish).

And this is an excellent song presenting their calmer atmospheric side. It features the best melodies they ever did.
 
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