1197. Blind Guardian / Night-Fall in Middle Earth. 1998. 4.5/5

Blind Guardian’s profile as a band had been steadily building over the years, and along that path was also a redefining of their sound and the way they were writing and recording their albums. Their early albums were definitely heralded by a speed metal sound that came from their love of the band Helloween, and in many ways were certainly inspired by them. Over the course of their previous three albums, the band had begun to incorporate a lot more changes in their output, beginning to forgo the out and out speed and writing more complicated pieces, also injecting other instruments and styles within their basic framework. In particular, they had begun to sew in influences such as a folk rock sound into pieces of both the “Somewhere Far Beyond” album (which has an episode dedicated to it back in Season 3 of this podcast) and “Imaginations from the Other Side” album, bringing acoustic instruments and clear voiced vocals to include in songs that were of a ballad variety, but without the lyrical content that would normally signify such a connotation. Indeed, Hansi Kursch, lead singer and lyric writer, continued to delve deeply into mysticism and novels for his inspiration, which allowed Blind Guardian to avoid any comparisons with ballad-seeking bands for the sake of commercialisation.
For the new album, the band pushed things to a new limit. What they decided on was a concept album, based on the J.R.R Tolkien novel “The Silmarillion”, which was posthumously put together by his son Christopher. Piecing together the story through both song and short spoken words interludes between the tracks, it is a labour of love that once again stretched the way the band composed their music. There is a defined and conscious effort to have the music on the album try to have you feeling as though the events are set in that Middle-Earth setting, with the use of folk instruments including flutes and violin, along with heavily chorused vocals, mixed with the band’s usual hard riffing and fast paced playing, creating the atmosphere that gives the impression that you have been transported to this age, but without losing the integrity that Blind Guardian had built up over a decade in the business.

Now the thing to take into consideration from the very start is that this album is telling a story, but the album can work with or without that when you are listening to it. Indeed I don’t take that into account whenever I listen to this album. There are many people out there who are annoyed about the spoken word pieces that come between most of the tracks that help to gel the story together. And that is fine. Most probably, if it had been in the age of cassettes when this was released (and yes scarily that appears to be returning in some form) I would probably have gone through when recording it for the car and cut out all of those interludes and just left the main tracks. Skipping them when listening to this on CD does make a difference but not in all places. It is just easier to accept it as it is – a performance piece.
So as an album itself, it has many rises and falls, peaks and troughs, depending on where the story is going at that point of the album. And the album has songs that are standouts, ones that lift the album each time they come around. And as already mentioned, the morphing of the band’s sound from its original roots to a more orchestral style involving layered vocals and more interesting instruments filling out the songs makes this an album that is the fulcrum of the maturing of Blind Guardian.
In regards to what would be regarded as the ‘songs’ of the album, it opens in style with “Into the Storm” in a classic Blind Guardian fury of riff and vocals. This is followed by “Nightfall”, one of the more recent age styled song, showing a different side to the band than they had previously done a lot of. "The Curse of Fëanor" again channels the roots of the band, showcasing in the main the amazing ability Hansi Kursh has of going for the high range and pitch in his singing to the calm and melodic as well, helped along with great riffing from André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen and the incomparable drumming of Thomas Stauch. “Blood Tears” is a more reflective and powerful song, which is followed by one of the band’s masterpieces, “Mirror, Mirror”, which 25 years later is still as awesome as it was on its release.
"Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)" is of the then modern age of Blind Guardian, with lots of choral vocals mixing with an atmospheric background. It is followed by the return of the old with a scintillating performance in “Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill)”, with Hansi’s vocal range tested throughout and some great guitar riffs flying in throughout. This still finds its way into live set lists and is a crowd favourite. “Thorn”s stirring vocal soaring from Hansi is its starring role, his vocals here are incredible. “When Sorrow Sang” is another beauty, rampaging through the back half of the storyline like the Blind Guardian of old, while “A Dark Passage” brings the album and the story to a close in a pleasing fashion, being both anthemic and reflective in the same breath.

I don’t mind admitting that my favourite era of Blind Guardian is the early albums, where they barely had time to draw breath given the pace they played the songs. But I do enjoy almost all of their albums throughout their career... probably just three where I have a real problem with the content. And this isn’t one of those.
I didn’t come across Blind Guardian until their next album, “A Night at the Opera”, one that, for me at least, went a bit too far in the direction they had been striving for. And so it was not until a couple of years later when I began to really discover the European power metal bands such as Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Primal Fear and the like, that I gave Blind Guardian a second chance. And this album was one of the two I discovered, along with “Tales from the Twilight World”. And once I was invested in Hansi’s amazing vocals, and the wonderful guitaring and drums through the track list, I was hooked.
Like I have already mentioned when it comes to “Nightfall in Middle-Earth", I have never invested myself in the story, and I too was often annoyed by the interludes between songs. While I know they served their purpose of the concept album, to me it felt as though they were blocking the flow of the album, managing to make it stall along the way. Over the years that has become less of a problem for me, but I understand when others suggest it to still be the case.
There are some great songs here, some of the band’s best. When they toured Australia for the first time and played in Sydney, they were forced to start late because of sound problems, which meant the show ran late, and because of the venue’s noise restrictions, they couldn’t perform the encore. That encore, as it has been for 20+ years, was “Mirror, Mirror”, a song that everyone in attendance of course had been gunning to hear live for 20 years. The scene was one of massive disappointment. Hansi apologised profusely, and promised that when they NEXT toured and played Sydney, they would play “Mirror, Mirror” twice. Four years later... it didn’t happen... but to hear it once live was still reward enough.

1164. Blind Guardian / Somewhere Far Beyond. 1992. 4/5

Blind Guardian had spent several years making a gradual build from their earliest beginnings into a popular and well received band. Their initial albums had been heavily influenced by Helloween and other speed metal bands of the era, and their earliest recordings reflected that. Their third album, “Tales from the Twilight World” had begun to incorporate more melodic pieces in their songs, and coming off the success of that album the direction of their writing for their fourth album, “Somewhere Far Beyond”, actually looked to push that a little further again.
Given the time this was written and recorded, it provides a stark contrast as to the way heavy metal music was heading at the time. As has been noted on other episodes, 1992 really saw American music following the influence of the popularity of the grunge movement with many bands gravitating in that direction to hold on to their popularity and so-called relevance, whereas in Europe bands like Bind Guardian just kept pushing their boundaries in a different direction, as far away from that scene as was possible.
Once again, lyricist and lead singer Hansi Kursch delved deep into his literary material to come up with the lyrics for the songs. His love of fantasy and science fiction meant that he drew inspiration from the writings of Michael Moorcock and his ‘Eternal Champion’ which features in two songs on the album, as well as the writings of Philip K Dick and Stephen King and JRR Tolkien. For me it was one of the best part of early Blind Guardian, having these influences in the lyrics of these great songs.

This album starts off in a typical Blind Guardian fashion, with the speed metal hybrid of the opening track “Time What is Time”, which is written about the movie Blade Runner, but from the perspective of a replicant rather than a human, then careering into “Journey Through the Dark”. Both showcase where Blind Guardian had brought their fame, with fast double kick drums driving these songs with fast riffing guitars and vocals that are melodically just perfect for the songs as they are written. Why then, I always ask when listening to the album, is there the short momentum killer of “Black Chamber” placed here following these two opening tracks? It acts as a speed bump, something that doesn’t feel as though it was needed. No matter, the album is redeemed immediately with “Theatre of Pain” and “The Quest for Tanelorn”. As he had done on earlier albums, Kai Hansen makes a guest appearance here on “The Quest for Tanelorn”, offered a co-writing credit as well as playing the lead solo on the song. You don’t need to ask me twice to listen to anything Kai is involved in. “Ashes to Ashes” mixes in classic Blind Guardian with personal feelings for lyric composer Hansi Kursch, who wrote this song about the death of his father. I guess a lot of artists would be pulled in the direction of a ballad, or at the very least a power ballad if they were to write a song about their father’s death. Nothing could be farther from that here, another brilliantly fast and powerful song.
Perhaps the best known songs from the album come here in the middle of the album, “The Bard’s Song – In the Forest” and “The Bard’s Song – The Hobbit”. In fandom, the songs are generally now just known as “The Bard’s Song” and “The Hobbit” to eliminate having to say the full title of the songs when discussing them. “The Bards Song” is one of the most requested Blind Guardian tracks and they rarely play a gig without it being in the set list. The style of the song, with the acoustic guitar and harp and violin, brings visions of ‘Lord of the Rings” to the album, and indeed is something that was progressed a few years down the track. This is complemented by the return to a heavier version of this style with “The Hobbit”. It’s interesting that “The Bards Tale” is inspired by the computer game of the same name from the mid-1980's, and of course “The Hobbit” is based on the Tolkien novel, but the way the band creates both of these songs with similar bases but different takes is really quite ingenious.
For some reason, just like with “Black Chamber” earlier, we have the short interlude of “The Piper’s Calling”, a bagpipe track that breaks up the haunting piece of the two Bard’s, before the closing song of the album, the title track “Somewhere Far Beyond”, which relates to the first two books of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” series, “The Gunslinger” and “The Drawing of the Three”. It is another great song, and the perfect way to end the album, with a high-quality track that befits closing out a high-quality album.
The album then does contain some bonus cover songs, both great versions of the original songs. First is their version of Queen’s “Spread Your Wings” which is perfectly reproduced, along with “Trial by Fire” by NWoBHM alumni Satan.

I came into Blind Guardian far too late, another of those bands that I really should have discovered a lot earlier than I did. As a result of this, it wasn’t until the turn of the century that I finally began to track down the bands and its albums. This was then delayed slightly again as the first album I bought, “A Night at the Opera”, was one that did NOT enthuse me at the time at all. Eventually I found my way at the start of the Blind Guardian journey, discovered the speed metal base that they began with, and found the hook, progressing through the albums with joy. And it was really three albums that especially caught my attention, and Somewhere Far Beyond was definitely one of those. It was before they developed their absolute affinity to the folkish side of their music that they brought forth with their love of Tolkien’s written works, and before they infused a more power metal base into their music and the grandiose vision with orchestral arrangements and creating albums that sounded like they were operas. They dabbled with the folk ballad here with “In the Forest”, but in the main stuck with the tried and true that had gotten them to this point of their career. And that’s what lights this up for me, the power and speed of the twin guitars, the terrific drumming here to support that, and as always Hansi Kursch’s amazing vocals with their unique sound and brilliant range of emotion.
When it comes to European metal from the 1990’s and beyond, many of the bands in this category can sometimes sound a bit samey, that they follow the same template and go for the same overreaching vocal or keyboards to harness their strengths. But Blind Guardian have always been unique in that respect, and “Somewhere Far Beyond” again showed the terrific ability this band has to write and record an album that is their own. It has the powerful singalong choruses but it has those hard riffing head banging moments as well. 30 years on, and it has stood the test of time wonderfully well. Whether you are a long time fan or just a new person on the block, “Somewhere Far Beyond” has something here that will grab you and drag you in. And once you are in, there is no turning back.

1010. Blind Guardian / Live Beyond the Spheres [Live]. 2017. 4.5/5

Sometimes you can forget how long Blind Guardian have been around. And it stretches into decades now, which is quite remarkable. Not only is it almost 30 years since the release of Battalions of Fear, they have also previously released two live compilations in Tokyo Tales and Live. So when you come in to deciding on a new live album, you know you have to bring your A game to the table.
Anyone who has listened to Blind Guardian knows how much works goes into their studio albums, and the way the songs are layered over each other with amazing and complex vocal harmonies supported by brilliant musicianship.

Like most of Blind Guardian’s stuff does, this album blew me away. It all sounds amazing. You can appreciate how good the older material still stands up today and how well the band plays it and how much the crowds appreciate it. But it’s the material off the last two studio albums that stands out here. Those albums have gone even further in complexity when it comes to instrumentation and the mixture of layers throughout, which sounds magnificent on the studio versions, but how on earth could you transfer that to the live setting? In this band’s case, with magnificent ease. The live versions are not just note perfect copies of the studio versions, they are fantastically produced versions where the band just hammers away at you, while Hansi melds and morphs the vocals into a form which he and his fellow vocalists can pull off live without affecting the magnificence of each track. It’s quite a feat, and one that I think they pull off spectacularly. The brilliance of songs such as “The Ninth Wave”, “Sacred Worlds”, “Wheel of Time” and “Tanelorn” loses nothing here in the live setting. Hansi’s vocal line in the chorus of “Sacred Worlds” is still as powerful, as different as it is without the choir of voices behind him that drives the studio version. Just brilliant.
This is a real package, with three discs stretching to almost 160 minutes, so very little is missed (though that is open to opinion). You have the faster, energetic favourites such as “Banish From Sanctuary”, “Lost in the Twilight Hall”, “Into the Storm”, “Majesty” and the ever ready encore of “Mirror Mirror” mixed in with “The Last Candle”, “A Past and Future Secret” and “The Bard’s Song (In the Forest)” all without compromising the flow of the album. Mostly of course this is because Blind guardian has always been able to do this. And yes, if I had been insisting on a song list it would have included favourites of mine such as “Welcome to Dying” and “Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)”, but those have appeared on the previous live albums so I guess you can’t have everything.
The band as ever is just bloody brilliant. Mi Schüren’s keyboards are vital in the mix and they are terrific here. As always, Frederik Ehmke’s drumming is superb, and is locked in wonderfully with Barend Courbois’ bass guitar. That rhythm is rock solid and driving throughout. The twin guitars of Marcus Siepen and André Olbrich are wonderful, creating an atmosphere that is the basis of a great live album, flowing freely and with energy, while the magic vocals of Hansi Kürsch continue to amaze, such is their strength and power.

Into their fourth decade, and Blind Guardian continue to show not only that they are still relevant in the metal world, but are still one of the leaders of the power metal genre. This live album is perhaps not the place I would start if I was looking to find my way into the musicology of this band, but it would definitely be on the path.

Rating:  “Let’s get crazy for the last time…”.  4.5/5

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.

837. Blind Guardian / Memories of a Time to Come. 2012. 4/5

What do you do when you decide it is time to take a long and well deserved break from touring and writing, in order to keep your fans remembering that you are still out there, but just on a sabbatical? Well, you release a box set containing the majority of your back catalogue firstly, and then you release a double album packed full of some of your greatest hits, with some remixing on some tracks and some remastering on some tracks, and put it out into the public sphere to feast upon.

As always, greatest hits packages are a subjective argument. There will always be songs included and songs that are left out that will be debated by fans as to whether it was warranted. This is no exception. Depending upon whether you rate one era of Blind Guardian over another, this could be seen to be somewhat of a furphy. I think the toughest part of picking out songs for a best of for Blind Guardian is the fact that all of the songs intertwine with the others on their album, making them a part of the fabric of that album, thus meaning to hear them individually sometimes doesn't work because you are expecting to hear them with their other songs around them. In time they work fine in that respect, as is obvious through the songs that make the live set list each tour, but initially that can be a bit more difficult that you would expect.
Certainly this double album is packed full of great songs, with many of my favourites here, such as "Nightfall", "Traveller in Time", "Follow the Blind", "Sacred Worlds", "Valhalla" and "Mirror Mirror". None of the entries can be questioned, and as a soundtrack to the career of Blind Guardian it serves its purpose if being used as an introduction point for the uninitiated.

So let's just say that I enjoy this collection, and it has some terrific songs on it. If I had been in charge of the track list it would have been quite different from this one - I mean really, where the hell is "Welcome to Dying" for a start?!? And the fact that these songs have had a makeover also improves the release.

Rating:  Best-of in competition.  4/5

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.

538. Blind Guardian / Imaginations From the Other Side. 1995. 3.5/5

The progression of Blind Guardian’s career throughout the 1990’s decade is one that highlighted the difference in how the progression of heavy music in general transited the decade in North America and Europe. While grunge and alternative metal and the other variations as a result made their mark through America, it was power metal that made a significant move on the European continent. Blind Guardian was one of the leaders of this wave, though despite this their own sound through this period also had changes from one album to the next that showed a redefining of their core sound as the decade progressed. To this point in time, there had been a gradual development of Blind Guardian’s sound over the course of their first four albums, and this would continue through their couple as well. The band had begun life closer to a speed metal band than anything else, though gradually that had been infused with power metal tracings into “Tales from the Twilight World”, a course that their contemporaries in Helloween had done, and thus not surprisingly incorporated by the guest appearance of Kai Hansen on three of their albums in that time period. Then came “Somewhere Far Beyond” an album that made a step further in that progression of power metal and a lesser infatuation with speed metal. The success of this moving of the goalposts continued, until such time as they released their album “Nightfall in Middle-Earth", a concept album where almost every trace of their original speed metal had been enveloped in their more maturing and orchestral direction. The album that straddled those two albums, and therefore acting as a bridge from one to the next, was this one, “Imaginations from the Other Side”.
How much of this came from a new producer? The band has admitted in interviews that the writing for this album had some difficulties, more from the fact that the band was looking to lift their game and raise the standard of what they wanted to use, which led to more ideas that they felt were not up to this new standard being cast aside. It was not until the first two songs were laid down as demo’s, containing the song that would become the title track of the album and also “The Script for my Requiem”, that they felt they were heading in the right direction. They also wanted to look for a new producer as they were unsatisfied with how both “Somewhere Far Beyond” and their live album “Tokyo Tales” had sounded. Hansi Kursch and Andre Olbrich, the two main songwriters of the band, apparently toured studios over their summer, and eventually came back to the one they visited first, Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen. The producer involved? Flemming Rasmussen, best known as the producer of Metallica’s most influential albums. He had been impressed with their demo tape, and once they began working together, despite the band feeling that he expected much more of them than their previous producer especially in rhythm guitar and vocal performances, the chemistry seemed to work, and allowed the band to ascend to that higher plane that they had been aiming for.

From the outset, Blind Guardian show that while they are once again maturing their own style into something they can carry forward with, they have not abandoned completely their complex songwriting which has been a hallmark of their work, and that they are not skimping on any of their finest attributes. The title track opens the album in a typically epic way, again showcasing how they are ramping up the operatic storytelling they are famous for and giving their music a bigger and more grandiose sound. “Imaginations from the Other Side” is like the opening of a metal musical, the depth and gravity of the track both musically and vocally is what hits you from the outset. It is a statement from the start. Blistering guitars, harmonising choir vocals and perfectly formatted drumming that brings the whole package together.
Fear not though for those who are already looking back on the past with melancholy, because there is still plenty of ripping sections coming up, none more so than on "I'm Alive", which retains its structure from the earlier albums with that speed metal pace throughout and driven by the drums and guitars. “A Past and Future Secret” is the acoustically middle-earthian tome that Blind Guardian had shown on their previous album with “The Bard’s Song – In the Forest” and would again going forward. Power ballad?Not really, given the acoustic nature of the track, and the fact that there is far more Tolkien feel about these slower acoustic tracks than the desire of crying about love and lost love that power ballads regularly describe. It is a trait of Blind Guardian to include tracks like this, and in doing so here they retain that part of themselves that they quirkily hold onto.
“The Script for my Requiem” bounces back into the traditional Blind Guardian tune, the slightly faster song with great guitars and vocals. While the music here begins to trend towards the power metal side of their music, it is still quintessentially Blind Guardian, and this is what distinguishes it from the majority of the bands in that genre of music. The drumming isn’t all fast double kick, Thomas Stauch retains his own style which is a long step away from what would typically be found in power metal albums from the drummer, and that helps to retain the uniqueness of a track such as “The Script for My Requiem”. This is followed by “Mordred’s Song”, the tale of which comes from Arthurian legend and explores his story from his own eyes, with lines such as “I've gone beyond the truth, It's just another lie, Wash away the blood on my hands, My father's blood, In agony we're unified”. “Mordred’s Song” sits back in a mid-tempo not usual for the band, but ties together many of the traits that will seep forward from this album, the continued telling of tales from novels, mixing in acoustic and electric guitars, almost floating along through the song to give the tale its tragedy within the music. It's a haunting song, which indeed the story itself is as well.
Not time for rest though, as "Born in a Mourning Hall" blasts into its beginning immediately, charging out of the speakers and bound to keep the album forceful and heavy. The faster pace here and the great drumming drives the song. Lyrically it is an unusual one for the band, as Hansi and Andre usually source their material from books and fantasy, whereas this song seems to be referencing modern issues such as television and technology and being trapped within their spell that they cast upon you. Of course, the overreaching story that twists through the album is based on this idea. The album explores the journey of a child who escapes reality through a mirror, entering a fantastical world filled with Arthurian legends, swords, and dragons. It draws inspiration from classic tales like The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and The Chronicles of Narnia and the Arthurian legend, which is why all of these images appear in the songs. “Bright Eyes” follows that trend, combining this merging of Blind Guardian’s two musical convergences to produce a song that musically is caught in the middle of its past and future.
“Another Holy War” ramps us back to a more familiar song speed, and drums and guitars combine on this track to push the album into overdrive. Hansi's vocals, on their own and then their choired masses that support over the top, are wonderful here again, making this one of the best tracks on the album.
And then comes that epic closing track “And the Story Ends”, and it really is an epic conclusion to the album. Steeped in the tones that would come in various forms on the albums that followed this one, Blind Guardian throw the kitchen sink at this song, led from the front by Hansi’s formidable and powerful vocal cries that drive the song into the stratosphere. The marching drums and guitars start off everything, followed by the choir vocals before breaking into the heart of the song. The tempo of this song is the best example of the bridge between the past and future, but the dialling down of tempo loses nothing in intensity and power and sheer energy throughout. Everything combines here in an enthralling six-minute conclusion that stamps its mark on the ascent of this band in an era that they are charging out at the front of.

It seems absolutely ludicrous as I sit here today talking to you about this album that I did not discover Blind Guardian until 2002. Well, that’s partly true. I knew the band existed because every time I walked into Utopia Records in Sydney and passed the ‘B’ section, there were these elaborately designed album covers of a band called Blind Guardian, and I always wondered what they might sound like. You know, I probably could have walked up to the counter and asked if they would play me one of their albums so I could have a listen and decide if I wanted to give them a go. But I never did, and the 1990’s was a strange time to be checking out bands I wasn’t aware of. So it wasn’t until 2002 that I decided to take a punt. And on that day I actually took a punt on two bands that I had heard nothing of and knew nothing of. And I bought Iced Earth’s newest album “Horror Show”, and I bought Blind Guardian’s newest album “A Night at the Opera”. Error. “A Night at the Opera” is, still, my least favourite Blind Guardian album. And based on what I thought of it when I got home, it could have been the LAST Blind Guardian album I ever bought. But it wasn’t. And we’ll get to that story down the trail on another episode.
But back to this album, “Imaginations from the Other Side”. Because my acquirement of the Blind Guardian catalogue was so haphazard, I didn’t hear this album until I had listened to others of other generations. And for this band in particular, that is a difficult thing to do. As I have mentioned here, there is a subtle change and maturing of the band’s key sounds from album to album, such that if you heard them out of order it makes for a difficult listening experience first up. Imagine listening to “Powerslave” and “No Prayer for the Dying” out of sequence, or “Reload” and “Ride the Lightning”. That’s a difficult transition. Much is the same with Blind Guardian.
My immediate love of the band came from their second and third albums, steeped as they are in the German speed metal they came up with. And I had also found “Nightfall in Middle-Earth", a very different styled album. Taking all of that into account, my initial exposure to this album was not as extreme as with “A Night at the Opera” but it was not completely compliant with what I was expecting. It wasn’t as overall blistering as the first albums I loved, nor was it as well crafted and rounded as the album that followed it. In fact, in my blog “Music from a Lifetime” in my review of this album in 2009, I wrote fairly simply “I must admit that I had trouble with this for a long time”. Over time however I stopped trying to look for what was obviously not there and listen to what was being offered instead. And that was my gateway into the album. I actually paid attention to songs such as the title track, “I’m Alive”, “The Script for My Requiem” and espefially the closing of “Another Holy War” and “And the Story Ends”. The power of the guitars, the fabulous drumming throughout, and the way Hansi changes his vocals to suit the mood of the track, and how powerful he was on this album when it was necessary.
Over the past week I have revisited this CD from my collection, and it has been terrific. I know there are albums I probably enjoy more, but this is one that has certainly risen in my estimation from what I thought of it when I first got it. On reflection this week, of Blind Guardian’s 12 studio albums, I rank this at #5... or #6... it’s real close.
Blind Guardian had fought the fight against the changing musical world in 1995 and won. What they came up with next not only put them in esteemed company but rewrote the book when it came to power metal and their place in the world order. It was an album worth waiting for.

403. Blind Guardian / The Forgotten Tales. 1996. 3/5

An interesting compilation of rearranged tracks from previous Blind Guardian releases, and some cover versions of some slightly left-field songs from other bands.

The rearranged and acoustic/orchestral versions of their songs come across surprisingly well. They come across as almost completely new songs, and sound great.
The cover versions range from the bizarre (“Mr Sandman”, “Surfing USA”), to the surprising (“The Wizard”, “Spread Your Wings”). “Surfing USA" has a ridiculously heavy guitar solo, which certainly ‘updates’ it from the Beach Boys original. “Spread Your Wings” is wonderfully well done without compromising Queen’s original version.

Rating: So, not a new album, and not a best of. But an interesting interlude nonetheless. 3/5.

394. Blind Guardian / Follow the Blind. 1989. 3.5/5

From the first time you put this album on, you can’t help but like the way it sounds. Starting off with a recognisable Requiem chant (anyone who has seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail will know it immediately), we then burst straight into “Banish From Sanctuary” at a rate of knots, and we are away. It is important to start an album off on the right foot, and Follow the Blind does that beautifully. "Damned for All Time" careers onward at the same speed, with super drumming being followed by the flying riffs of Olbrich and Siepen's guitars. This is undoubtedly speed metal at its finest. You get a real feel for Hansi's vocals on this album, as they are not as multi-layered as they become on later releases.

"Follow the Blind" brings back to more conventional metal, not utilising the speed aspect, and becoming a little repetitive and cliched towards the end of the song both lyrically and musically, and it probably drifts on a tad too long too. "Hall of the King" is another goos song in the vein as those that openeed the album, as is "Fast to Madness". "Beyond the Ice" is just brilliant, and the duelling harmony Iron Maiden-esque guitars that complete the last couple of minutes of the song are just awesome. "Valhalla" is also excellent, along with guest vocalist Kai Hansen who trades with Hansi throughout the song.

The album concludes with two covers. The first is a great version of the classic Demon song "Don't Break the Circle", which is extremely faithful to the original while also bringing a little Blind Guardian to its output. The second is the Regents and Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann", which is almost a comic way to bring this album to its conclusion.

As a later arrival to the Blind Guardian fold than most, I find this to be one of my favourite albums of theirs. Following in the best footsteps of the forefathers, this album skips along at a hefty pace, driven along by a particularly good drum beat. The vocals are almost anthemic on this album. They do not dominate the songs, just help them to progress. Hansi’s vocals sometime get a little too over layed, but on this album I think he is almost at his peak. There is also not an attempt at a domination of guitar licks and solos as there sometimes seems to be – here they also complement the song and the other band members contributions.
This is a terrific follow up to Battalions of Fear and I love the real speed metal edge it has. It's what sets it apart a little from what was to come.

106. Blind Guardian / Battalions Of Fear. 1988. 3/5.

The first long-form release for Blind Guardian, following on from their two EP releases under Lucifer's Heritage.

In the same way as their earlier releases, there are distinct references to Helloween and Iron Maiden throughout this album. Certainly the guitaring is obvious at times, and allows their influences to shine through.
Songs like Majesty, Guardian of The Blind and Battalions Of Fear are my favourites on the album, and in my opinion the stand-outs.

This is a good album, impressive for a first up effort. Good songs, good vocals. It was a sign of what the band became.

Rating : A solid start, before their direction changed slightly later on. 3/5.

105. Lucifer's Heritage / Battalions Of Fear. 1987. 2.5/5.

This was the EP put out by the band that very shortly changed their named from Lucifer's Heritage to the better known Blind Guardian.
Most of the songs on this EP also appear on Blind Guardian's debut album, also entitled Battalions Of Fear (see next review).

Like other efforts within these walls, this is significant as a historical piece. Because most of this became half of the first official release of the band, it is interesting to see the difference in production between the two.

Rating : An interesting beginning. 2.5/5

26. Blind Guardian / A Night At The Opera. 2002. 2/5

This was the first Blind Guardian album I bought, when it was released in 2002. I had never heard any of their stuff, but it looked as though the band were of a genre that was right up my alley.
Having secured it from Utopia, I listened to it probably a dozen times, thought it to be "OK", and promptly slotted it away and forgot about it.

Listening to it today, I'm not overly sure what I saw in it originally. While growing from the same roots of other stuff I love, I found it to be very confusing, with too much competing within the music itself to allow the songs to blend together. What came across was not so much a wall of noise, but more like when you get the radio caught between two stations, and you can hear both at once (I know in this digital age that this doesn't happen too much anymore, but those that can remember it happening will know what I am talking about).

Rating : This was one of those out-of-the-blue purchases, that you hope will pay off, but doesn't. Seems like only others of my friends (ie Kearo) has the golden touch in this regard. 2/5.