683. Blind Guardian / Tales From the Twilight World. 1990. 4/5

Having started my introduction to Blind Guardian with a later album, and not having been able to really see what all the fuss was about, it wasn't until I started going backwards and hearing their earlier material that I began to discover what made this band tick. In particular, it was this album, Tales From the Twilight World that really began to make me see the great qualities that this band and their music contains.
I have always loved songs that are written about or based on books, stories, TV shows, movies... or all of these. They are perfect things to write about, because people then already have a reference point to the songs before they even know whether they like the music. Iron Maiden and Anthrax have been two bands who have done this with great success. It is an approach that Hansi Kursch has followed in writing the lyrics to this album, and which helped me to relate to the songs and music much more intently than I may otherwise have done.

The album kicks off with the pacey and double-kick driven "Traveler in Time", based on Frank Herbert's "Dune" series of science fiction novels. It is a great way to start the album, showcasing the fact that the band's heavy style is still prominent. This is followed by the song that got me into Blind Guardian, and still ranks as one of my favourites, "Welcome to Dying", a brilliantly energetic song, punctuated all the way through with the anthemic chorus with all hands on deck in regards to backing vocals. The solo break is also brilliant, and Hansi's vocals just perfect. This song was based around Peter Straub's great novel, "Floating Dragon" which I also love. this still gets played at high volume very often.
The short and unusual instrumental break of "Weird Dreams" follows, and we are then treated to the slow and acoustic ballad of "Lord of the Rings", combining gentle keyboards as well. Now power ballads are not my cup of tea, but this is not really one of those, it is a quieter, less loud version of Blind Guardian's song writing, and while it may not appear so on initial listenings, once you have heard this album a lot of times, it really does just seem to fit in, which surprised me as much as it would surprise anyone else.
From here we bust back into power metal mode with "Goodbye My Friend", a song based around the events of the film "E.T.". It reinvigorate the album, speeding along at a cracking pace. Another of the highlights of the album is next, with "Lost in the Twilight Hall". The lyrics here are based on what happened to Gandalf the Grey after defeating the Balrog in the mines of Moria before his reincarnation as Gandalf the White, as described in "The Two Towers". What really energises this song is guest musician Kai Hansen, of Helloween and Gamma Ray fame. Along with lending his vocals in both a lead vocal and backing vocal capacity, he also contributes a guitar solo to the song, which is instantly recognisable and brilliant. Great stuff.
The lyrics of both "Tommyknockers" and "Altair 4" are based on the Stephen King novel, "The Tommyknockers". Both songs are good, again driven along by Thomas' excellent drum work, but they are less memorable than those songs preceding them. I guess, in some ways, the songs are very similar which may account for this. "The Last Candle" completes the album, with another Kai Hansen guitar solo and appearance on backing vocals.

While I enjoyed both of the first two albums that Blind Guardian released, I think that this is the one that starts it all off for the band in the right direction. There are two or three songs here that can be considered as some of the best they have ever done, as well as being surrounded by more than credible other material. One of my favourite Blind Guardian releases.