876. Blind Guardian / Beyond the Red Mirror. 2015. 4/5

Following 2010's amazing At the Edge of Time, which completely revitalised my belief in Blind Guardian after some years of despondency, it has taken five years for the band's next album to come to fruition. The band's announcement that they were withdrawing from touring for two years to concentrate on writing and recording an 'orchestral' album was both disappointing and intriguing. It felt like an inordinate amount of time to have to wait around for new material and new shows. Of course, as with most things, before you could blink the album was here, ready to be played and enjoyed.

From the outset this is an amazingly written, produced, thought-out and recorded album. The construction and detail in being able to combine and incorporate three different choirs from around the world, as well as two full orchestras, into the framework of the songs on this album is staggering. This, along with the layered vocals and other tricks and gadgets that Blind Guardian has added into its repertoire in recent years make for a full blown recording coming out of the speakers at you. Musically and instrumentally, it is overblown extravagance, sometimes not allowing you to know where to turn in trying to decipher what is hammering you. Lyrically, you want t follow what is being sung, as this concept album takes up the story first started in the wonderful Imaginations From the Other Side album, and the chase to find the Red Mirror and where it leads forms part of the mystique of this recording.
Don't be fooled by the talk of choirs and orchestras, the members of Blind Guardian still punch through the exterior and are front and centre all through the album. I still get shivers listening to Hansi Kursch when he sings in those dominant passages, his vocals layered each and every way. André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen's guitars crunch their way into "The Ninth Wave" with authority while Frederik Ehmke on drums doesn't miss a beat, holding the whole procession together like a good drummer should. The songs are all lengthy, and come together in their own Acts in the telling of the story. "Twilight of the Gods" was the single to be released from the album, and is a more familiar Blind Guardian song structure, replete with duelling harmony guitars and double kick drum. "Prophecies" melds into the brilliant "At the Edge of Time" where the focus comes in the orchestral backdrop. Any doubts on the band's ability to produce the heavier side of their psyche are put to rest in "Ashes of Eternity", where Hansi also utilises the full range of his vocals to its potential. So too with "The Holy Grail", which rips along in classic style, a modern version of anything that can be found on those early albums. "The Throne" and "Sacred Mind" carry the album in the same mindset. There is a change in tack with the slower and shorter "Miracle Machine", and finally into the concluding narrative of "Grand Parade" to finish the album. If I have any major qualms about this album it is with these final two songs. To me the momentum of the album is hindered here by "Miracle machine", and "Grand Parade" is unable to completely recover from this.

As with many new albums in this day and age, this took me awhile to get used to, and a time to get into it. I can understand why some long time fans of the band are not as enamoured with this as others. I can also understand how it would be difficult for anyone not familiar with the band to try and take this in. There is a lot there, and familiarities and differences alike can combine to throw the average listener a curve ball. As with so many albums, if you can take the time to sit down and listen to it uninterrupted, without distractions, and be able to hear the different levels and planes of the music, take in the orchestral movements that are woven within, and allow the multitude of voices to blend themselves into the voice of one, then I think many doubters will be able to hear what is special about this album. There has been a lot made of the orchestra and choir pieces on this album, but to be honest they don't form as much of the album as you be led to believe. There is still so much of the Blind Guardian you know and love here that if you are averse to the other introduced pieces, you will barely even notice them. This is not a standard metal album or even a progressive piece. It is Blind Guardian's creation of rock-operatic proportions, something not to necessarily compare to their previous work, but to take as a stand alone piece, and marvel at the talent that it took to create it. If you can do that, then you will hear an amazing album - one you can enjoy for what it is designed to be.

Rating:  They'll wait and sleep, until a new dawn'll save us from the dark.  4/5.