Blind Guardian

Not at all. Blind Guardian have quality stuff throughout their discography. Don't pay attention to what Magnus says - he's a Black Metal snob.
Agreed, they changed a lot, but I like their progression. Even the stuff I felt was a tad over the top I didn't pull a Thomen "The Omen," I stuck around.
 
Agreed, they changed a lot, but I like their progression. Even the stuff I felt was a tad over the top I didn't pull a Thomen "The Omen," I stuck around.
Yep. The albums post-'Nightfall in Middle-Earth' have generally had a handful of good songs on them with the exception of 'A Twist in the Myth' which has some good choruses but the rest of those songs were not particularly memorable. 'A Night At The Opera' is a weird sounding album with all those layered vocals but it has one of the greatest songs of all time in 'And Then There Was Silence' so it gets a pass, plus there's 'Under the Ice' and 'Wait for an Answer' are both really good too. The last two albums (not counting the Twlight Orchestra) both have a similar feel and structure with each of them book-ended by two epic-sounding songs. I don't find the sandwich filling part of 'Beyond The Red Mirror' to be particularly memorable (those songs were better live in 2015) but 'At The Edge Of Time' at least had 'Curse My Name' which was quite dissimilar to anything I can think of that they'd done before and one of my favourite Blind Guardian songs.
 
Blind Guardian has taken part in the Wacken World Wide festival a few days ago, offering a 1-hour gig that included a new song called Violent Shadows (33:35, link below).

Hansi's between songs interactions with a non-existent audience, the screams from the audience, the fake pyro... Virtual concerts are really strange objects...

 
Blind Guardian has taken part in the Wacken World Wide festival a few days ago, offering a 1-hour gig that included a new song called Violent Shadows (33:35, link below).

Hansi's between songs interactions with a non-existent audience, the screams from the audience, the fake pyro... Virtual concerts are really strange objects...

and a fake lightning
 
Blind Guardian has taken part in the Wacken World Wide festival a few days ago, offering a 1-hour gig that included a new song called Violent Shadows (33:35, link below).

Hansi's between songs interactions with a non-existent audience, the screams from the audience, the fake pyro... Virtual concerts are really strange objects...

I am glad to have watched the show but them (or any band) pretending to communicate with the audience is a bit meaningless (as well as the very notion of "encores"), which is further underlined with the cheap CGI to represent the crowd. Unfortunately, for the time being, I have no answer to the question: "What should they do, then?" ;)
 
I recommend to watch the recent Enslaved's show at Roadburn festival. The approach is totally different, sober and elegant. No fake audience and more like a live in studio with nice lights and good filming.
 
I watched the Blind Guardian set at Fake Wacken last weekend. It was nice to see them performing onstage and they played well as always, but it was quite awkward when Hansi was talking to a seemingly imaginary audience. There may have been a few screens showing people watching at home, but this kind of set will always feel empty without fans there in person.

The new song sounded pretty good and I'm waiting with bated breath for news about the new album, which I think they've completed. Or they're very close to finishing at least. Blind Guardian's recent music has tended to sound better live without the layered vocals, so the studio version of this new song might be quite different.

They've also announced a tour of Germany (and Switzerland) for September and October 2021. Dates and cities so far with no venues. I reckon I might make the trip for a show.
 
Im watchin it now, over half way througj and Im over the shitty cgi and Im actually on board with Hansi chattin to the crowd. Its a bad call to do it in the first place but st this stage I dont mind it. The new one is good, heavy and harking back to the early days. Not fabulous but my breath is also bated.
Hoping very much that they play Wacken next year for me. And that Wacken actually goes ahead.
 
Okay, since Iced Earth finally clicked (I actually enjoyed Horror Show!), I want to keep some Blind Guardian music in reserve. I know some of you actually like this band, so... are there any good gateway albums? I've only checked out two: Battalions Of Fear (too much speed metal shredding, no good riffs or vocal lines) and Nightfall In Middle-Earth (it's alright, but I haven't been able to listen to more than 4-5 songs at a time - it's a little overwhelming).
 
I guess you can't really go wrong with any of them. I'll suggest Tales from the Twilight World and A Twist In The Myth. But I'm still learning about this band too.
 
Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations From the Other Side are good. more recent fair try Beyond the Red Mirror and At the Edge of Time.
 
I must admit Beyond the Red Mirror does nothing for me. Especially when I heard Imaginations (my favorite) again lately.

Also, Night at the Opera is hugely underrated.
 
I must admit Beyond the Red Mirror does nothing for me. Especially when I heard Imaginations (my favorite) again lately.

Also, Night at the Opera is hugely underrated.
Night at the Opera is too over the top for me at this point. And I'll take Beyond the Red Mirror over A Twist in the Myth any day.
 
I'll try it here, though I'm not sure if I expect an answer :D

Thing is - I've been having this earworm today, it's a Guardian song and I think it's not really an obscure one, but I can't seem to remember which one it is (I suspect something off Nightfall or Opera, but I don't have the time to listen to those as a whole right now). I think it's the chorus of the song - first the choir sings E - D - F - D - E and then Hansi belts with his sharp voice - as if to answer it - something along the lines A - B - C - B - A - E - E - D. I think I'm gonna slap my forehead really hard once I'll know, but just now I can't and makes me itchy.

Thanks in advance if anyone knew what I meant!

EDIT: Oh, nevermind, it was Theatre of Pain :D
 
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