Blind Guardian

Ever heard their old demo stuff (the band was called Lucifer's Heritage back then)?
I like this song Brian (which is very Maidenish).
I hadn't heard the old demos until the Memories of a Time To Come release last year, which included at least some of them (including "Brian") on the bonus disc. "Lucifer's Heritage" (the song) sounds even more Maiden-like than "Brian"!

Agree with you that the melodies from "Lord of the Rings" are great. Thought about posting that one above, but went with "Welcome To Dying" as I thought it would have broader appeal on this forum.
 
Another personal favourite of mine, from Somewhere Far Beyond (1992): Theatre of Pain.
This is the Blind Guardian I like. Catchy and melodic. There's also an orchestral version but I discard that as soon as I hear the opening solo of this gem.
:shred:
 
A bunch to reply to here, so I'll see how I go.

@Cornfedhick, I'd say that Somewhere far Beyond is the first true BG Power metal album. Tales from the Twilight World was definitely more melodic than the first 2 albums but for every Lord of the Rings there's a Goodbye My Friend and overall I feel the album is still quite heavy. I'd probably classify the album as a hybrid of speed and power metal. Although to be fair Blind guardian overall are definitely heavier than your standard power metal band. Additionally, I do like your comparison of Valhalla with Fear of the Dark in terms of being the singalong type, although there is one thing slighty off here, Valhalla is a brilliant song whereas Fear of the Dark is not. <ducks from the rotten tomatoes>

My favourite album would definitely be Tales From the Twilight World, the blend between the speed and power metal elements is unbeatable for me at least. Then it would be Nightfall in Middle Earth 2nd, and Somewhere Far Beyond and Follow the Blind joint 3rd. One thought I do have about Nightfall is that I think they could have done a double album with it, instead of having 20-40 second interlude pieces everywhere, although of course we don't actually know if they would have enough good material for something like that.

Like Night Prowler, I'm not a huge fan of the over the top overdubbing featured heavily on some of the later albums. Additionally, for all the pure ballads that Blind Guardian have, the only one that has really grabbed me is Blood Tears. So I would say that I prefer the heavier side to the band, especially looking at my favourite BG songs. My personal top 10 is dominated by stuff like Majesty, Valhalla, Mirror Mirror and the like. Speaking of Majesty I am slightly disappointed by the fact that it hasn't come up in the discussion at all, although it is a different beast to Valhalla. Majesty has a somewhat repetitive song structure especially for it's length but makes up for that with brilliant riffing and solos, engaging lyrics and I do really love how Hansi delivers them here.

However, I feel that the most underrated song of all is the instrumental from Follow the Blind, Beyond the Ice. This song has a ton of great riffs in it, kickass solos and plenty of changes throughout the song so you don't really know what's coming next. In fact it reminds me alot of a couple of Maiden's instrumentals (Transylvania and Genghis Khan).

 
Wow, that was actually really good! Is that from a show like the X-Factor/American Idol?

Blind Guardian have one show booked for sometime next year, hopefully they'll do a UK date that I can actually get to.
 
I love Blind Guardians sound. The singer has a great voice and lots of talent. The thing that prevents me from really getting into them is the whole fantasy thing. I realize that is a key factor in who they are, but i still don't like it. I do have a lot of respect for them. In a way they're the originators of what is kind of a new sub-genre of power metal that is very symphonic and and fantasy-based power metal.
 
I know Dio was really the originator of this fantasy style. I was watching the episode of Metal Evolution about Power Metal. I found it interesting how they talked about Helloween. Made me think of how all these bands that are influenced, or said to be influenced and the successors to Helloween, make fantasy based power metal. While Helloween is still around, and still making power metal not fantasy based, along side them. Just an interesting thing to notice.

I guess i don't like the fantasy thing because, well, i guess i just appreciate more lyrics and music that is based on a persons life/experiences, in the real world. Helloween seems to be one of the only power metal bands like this. Most of the time, i know there is the Keeper story. But for the most part, well, it's not ;) And Masterplan, when i was reading the lyrics for Time To Be King, it seems like now they have dipped into the fantasy thing. I'm pretty sure for the first time Jorn wrote all the lyrics for that album, and of course he idolizes Dio. But yea, Power Metal seems to be identified by the fantasy style nowadays, so maybe it's a genre i will be fading away from in the future? idk.

Also a LOT of power metal bands sound like their main influence is the 2 keeper albums, and i'm honestly not a big fan of them. I love the Andi Deris albums a lot more.
 
I think you are unnecessarily splitting hairs. While Power Metal may have common lyrical themes, having 'fantastical' lyrics does not make it a whole new genre... even sub genre. Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, Edguy, Helloween, Sonata Arctica, etc.... lyrics aside they all sound... well... happy.

In the Helloween/Gamma Ray thread there was an interview with Michael Kiske posted and he talks about how it blows his mind to this day that the two keeper albums he made have had such a huge impact to this day. His singing style heavily influenced the POWER METAL genre to the point that Stratovarius got Timo Kotipelto, Hammerfall has Joacim Cans and Edguy's Tobias Sammet all obviously seek to sound/sing like those helloween albums, irrelevant of lyrics. It is a gross generalization to say that the genre as a whole is dominated by "fantasy" lyrics when there are so many bands out there in the genre that don't follow that trend and other bands from other genres that do. Amorphis's bulk of songs/albums are based on norse mythology... fantasy, yet they are far from power metal.
 
I don't really think all power metal has the fantasy element. But i think there are a lot of people who do associate this with power metal. Actually i would say people think of European power metal bands as having the fantasy style. Like i said i watched Metal Evolution about Power Metal. They talked about Helloween and the bands that followed after them, like Hammerfall etc. Then they started talking about the fantasy element that is now part of it. And i do believe it's most european power metal bands with this fantasy element in their music. But most of the bands we're thinking of are european, I'd say.

There's other bands like Nevermore that i like, they're American. And they're not really identifed as PM. I havn't dug too deep to find the bands i listen to, so there's a lot i don't know I'll admit. But I do say what most people identify as being power metal are things like big happy, catchy chorus's, speedy and melodic and happy overall, and of course fantasy. Most bands i see branded as PM have the fantasy thing about them. But like i said, there's a lot i don't know.
 
Besides watching a documentary I HIGHLY recommend reading already existing threads on these bands and genre... As most members here have had this conversation several times before, you have a bit of catching up to do ;)
 
Even though most (all?) of Blind Guardian's lyrics are fantasy based there's still a lot of feeling in a lot of their songs that allows me to appreciate them as being more than just about fantasy. I think it's cool that they song about loads of fantasy stuff because it means they re-tell a story from a new perspective and music has introduced me to a lot of literature that I probably wouldn't have read otherwise. For example, if it wasn't for Iron Maiden I may not have ever read Dune (which is my favourite novel) and Blind Guardian's 'Nightfall in Middle Earth' album influenced me to have a crack at The Silmarillion again after struggling with it the first time around.
 
Even though most (all?) of Blind Guardian's lyrics are fantasy based

Depends on what you consider 'fantasy'. And Then There Was Silence is about the Iliad, for instance. Some of their more recent songs aren't really fantasy-based either, in the traditional sense at least.
 
I suppose The Iliad is historical fiction then? A good chunk of 'At the Edge of Time' is fantasy-based, I know the final three songs are.
 
I consider the Iliad mythology. I just don't think of it as fantasy in the way of Tolkien or things like that. I haven't listened to the latest album yet, but I remember A Twist in the Myth had some real-world themes.
 
'At the Edge of Time' is better than 'A Twist in the Myth' so you should check it out, you've had more than three years! 'Sacred Worlds', 'Curse My Name' and 'Wheel of Time' are the highlights from 'At the Edge of Time'.
 
I might have given it a listen when it came out, but if I did, it obviously didn't leave much of an impact. I might give it another spin, though. I actually liked A Twist in The Myth, believe it or not.
 
I definitely consider 'A Twist in the Myth' to be their weakest album but I wouldn't go as far as saying it's horrific. It has some good moments but overall isn't particularly strong.
 
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