683. Blind Guardian / Tales From the Twilight World. 1990. 4.5/5

Though not a definitive recognition of the creation or popularising of the specific genre, you can draw a pretty good line from the fact that Helloween were forebearers and inspiration behind the genre of heavy metal that would become known as power metal. Though they themselves started off more as a speed metal band before developing through their first four albums a sound that was as uniquely wonderful as it was brilliant, they along with other bands of their era and ilk cut a swathe that primarily became the source of where power metal advanced along to in the 1990’s. Power metal though became somewhat keyboard based alongside the guitars and soaring vocals, whereas Helloween was very much guitar based. And this is where another band came alongside them to follow in their wake, and that band was Blind Guardian.
Their path followed that of the band that they looked up to. Their debut album “Battalions of Fear” was very much a speed metal album, much as Helloween’s “Walls of Jericho” had been a couple of years prior to this. Then Blind Guardian followed this up with “Follow the Blind”, an album that harboured that same sound but even went further to incorporate some thrash metal tendencies that were a major part of that time as well. Kai Hansen, who had just recently parted ways with Helloween, had contributed vocals and guitar on two songs on the album, further cementing the bind that tied these two bands together. Moving onto their third album there was a mood for further maturing and revision of their music. The band, again following the lead that Helloween had made with the two Keeper of the Seven Keys albums, looked to create an album that would incorporate a more melodic sound, creating epic sounding tracks that retained the basis of the band’s sound of their first two albums but giving them a push to be fuller musical pieces. Along with this, Hansi Kursch, who was the main lyrics writer for the songs, looked to move along the same path that he had on the first two albums, transcribing from his favourite books and films and bringing them to life in Blind Guardian’s music.
This was the direction taken by the band as they headed to the studio in the first half of 1990, at a time when the music world was reaching an interesting crescendo of its own, one which Blind Guardian almost completely ignored with their third studio album, the outstanding “Tales from the Twilight World”.

From the opening strains of the opening track, Blind Guardian are on a winner with this album. Met by the chorus of “The Morning Sun of Dune”, 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. Hansi sings from the point of view of Paul Atreides, and all that he has to overcome. “The Fremen sing that their kingdom will come, and I’m the leading one... so where is the way? When I’m a million miles from home”. It is a great way to start the album, showcasing the continued heavy and speed metal aspects of the band while incorporating these new epic quotients into their music.
This is followed by one of the band’s greatest tracks, and most likely my all time favourite Blind Guardian song and still the one that lights up the room every time it comes on, "Welcome to Dying". From the outset it crashes through the speakers as it drags you in, a brilliantly energetic song, punctuated all the way through with the anthemic chorus. There is an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ attitude in regards to the chorused backing vocals, supporting the marvellous tones of Hansi Kursch who leads the charge as lead singer. The solo breaks both within the middle of the track and then leading out the song are completely brilliant, and Hansi's vocals just perfect throughout. This song tells the story of the great Peter Straub novel, "Floating Dragon", which I also love. This is still a cracking song, still finds itself in live setlists and is one that showcases everything great about this band.
The short and unusual instrumental break of "Weird Dreams" follows, and as a way of transitioning between songs it interesting one. This is powerful, fast, loud, chock full of guitars harmonising throughout. Andre Olbrich has been allowed to unleash here as the writer of the song, and he and fellow guitarist Marcus Siepen utilise the freedom offered to them here. Its conclusion allows us to then be treated to the serene 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, acoustically driven 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. As the title would suggest, Hansi sings about the opening concept of Tolkien's “Lord of the Rings”, but in a Hobbiton setting rather than a Mordor setting. I guess you have to be a nerd to understand the reference.
From here we bust back into speed power metal mode with "Goodbye My Friend", with Thomen Stauch’s drumming again driving the song from the outset. “Goodbye My Friend” is Hansi’s tribute to the movie ‘ET: The Extraterrestrial’, from ET’s point of view, harping on the human race and how they are likely to destroy themselves through the fear and ego they possess. As Hansi sings as ET, “Communication to you is so strange, You I trust to no one no warmths reach your heart, To you I’m the stranger but you’re strange to me, You destruct all that is unknown to you”. Musically the song cruises along at a great speed and is another absorbing track. Another of the highlights of the album is next, with "Lost in the Twilight Hall". Lyrically, Hansi delves back into The Lord of the Rings, with the song describing 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 second volume "The Two Towers". Once again the band takes us on a ride, with great riffing guitars from Olbrich and Siepen, the wonderful fast bassline from Kursch and the crushing drums from Stauch. The tempo is the winner though, driving along at speed in perfect synchronicity. What also acts as a major energiser for this song is the appearance of guest musician Kai Hansen. 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. This semi-almost-title track is another of the outstanding songs on this album that make it as brilliant as it is.
The lyrics of both "Tommyknockers" and "Altair 4" are from the Stephen King novel, "The Tommyknockers". “Tommyknockers” invokes the preamble from the novel “Late last night and the night before Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers knocking at the door” while telling the story from Gard’s point of view in the novel, with “Altair 4” referencing the place that the kid David Brown had been portalled to when the magic trick by his sibling Hilly went wrong. Both songs are good, again driven along by Thomas' excellent drum work, but both are less memorable than those songs preceding them. Given the excellence of the songs on this album, in comparison they were always going to suffer a little. The album then concludes with "The Last Candle", with another Kai Hansen guitar solo and appearance on backing vocals being an attractive way to end the album.

I spent years and years when I walked down the aisles of albums and CDs at Sydney’s Utopia Records, looking for new albums to add to my collection, seeing the beautifully crafted front covers of the albums by Blind Guardian and thinking “I wonder if that band is any good?” And there were occasions when I thought that I should just buy one album and see what they are like, because maybe I’ll like them!! Because none of my friends listened to them, and I knew no one who had even heard a song by them. So it wasn’t until 2002 that I finally bit the bullet and decided to buy an album, which was their then current new release “A Night at the Opera”. That, as it turned out, was a mistake. Firstly because I wasn’t overly fond of that album, and secondly because it stopped me from delving any further into their back catalogue. Which meant it was another three years before I dared to give the band another chance, mainly on the back of having seen a video of them playing at Wacken, and a particular song that caught my attention called “Welcome to Dying”. So I decided to track down the album that that song was on, and it was “Tales from the Twilight World”. Paydirt! Here was an album that appealed to me! For a start, it was fast. It was almost speed metal like in places. It had great vocal, awesome guitars, brilliant drumming. And the songs, they had a substance to them, they had lyrics worth knowing and singing along to, and more importantly referenced things that I loved – Tolkien, Stephen King. And I was hooked. Not only that, I was now cursing Past Bill for his lack of foresight in not having cottoned onto this earlier. Idiot! So while not my first exposure to Blind Guardian the band, this album along with “Nightfall in Middle Earth” were certainly the two albums that made me fall in love with the band.
I have had my CD out again this past week, revelling in songs that are pure joy to me to listen to. All of those albums the band released in the 1990’s are terrific, each different in their own way as the band’s sound changed with each album released, and each has their own story that goes with it. This one, that invokes the works of books and films, mirrors the lyrical aspects that other bands I love such as Iron Maiden and Anthrax also follow. But it is the methodology that Blind Guardian follows, of the raging guitars of Andre Olbrich and Marcus Siepen, the flying drumming of Thoman Stauch, and the bass work and amazing vocals of Hansi Kursch, that create such a magnificent album as this. It is one of their best, and is arguably my favourite. And this is the crowning glory.