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Blind Guardian: At the edge of time
26/11/10 || Altmer
The name of this band invokes things like dragons, divine penises, princesses in dark towers, “LOTS” of elves, and things like that. Blind Guardian are the ultimate D&D nerd band. They sing about Stephen King, Michael Moorcock and the likes. They made a song for an RPG video game. I mean, what the fuck, guys? What the utter fuck? You know, I know people who listen to this band. They have almost no friends, they study some nerdy subject, they play dungeons and dragons too much… wait, that’s an unfair stereotype, you say? Doesn’t matter, I used to hang out with ‘em. But despite this being the actual truth, good bands remain good. This is a good band.
Now, onto their music. Ok, so the last two albums weren’t all that amazing and they kind of decided to completely overdo it with the orchestra. Hansi decided it was better to sound like an ARMY OF HANSI ORCS and not surprisingly the music suffered for it. The orchestra became the focal point and there was a great loss of one of those BG trademarks, the rhythm/lead guitar trading that Marcus and Andre are known for. It was still there, but it was nowhere near as important as before and the guitars were not the most noteworthy thing in the mix. Hence the last two albums failed at those instances where orchestra carried the songs, and succeeded at those where guitars carried the songs.
On this album that’s been changed a little. Some songs here still feature that overbearing orchestra, like opener “Sacred Worlds” (yes, the video game song) and the closer “Wheel of Time”. Those are both examples of the “epic” song type that is so common in power metal these days, and also the type of song I consider kind of annoying, since this band wrote “Ashes to Ashes” and “Valhalla”. However, that old school has been brought back to great effect. “Tanelorn” is THE EXAMPLE of why this band rules. It is a complete throwback to their roots. Ace rhythm/lead work, Hansi’s excellent vocals (he has lost none of his potency) and actual speed make this song exactly what I want from Blind Guardian anno 2010. In fact, those songs are the reason I fell in love with them years ago – the old school blasting is what attracted me the most.
Overall, though – the album is still a mixed bag. We get more songs like Tanelorn like “Voice in the Dark” and “Ride into Obsession”, which is all fine. Those songs do exactly what BG should do and show they have lost none of their skill at writing the songs that made them famous back in the early nineties. They hark back to an era of golden BG songs. There’s the aforementioned epics, which aren’t bad but the orchestra is way too prominent and takes away from the instrumental prowess on the songs. There are acoustic/guitar ballad combinations in the vein of shit like “Skalds and Shadows”. They fucken suck big time and no surprises there. There’s a couple of more midtempo tracks floating around that are good material in themselves, and not worthy of skip treatment, but don’t have the standout vibe that stuff like Tanelorn does.
This is a really skilled band, Hansi is an amazing singer (no matter what death metal addicts say), but sadly they decided to go the gay route a few albums back and do away with what made them awesome. They have at least brought some of it back on this album, so this album isn’t a failure like “ANATO” was. Hansi hasn’t layered his vocals as much, which is great, too. But it’s not in the same league as “Imaginations” or “Somewhere Far Beyond”, even though this disc is way better than the last two. I would recommend giving it a cautionary spin to see if you like this more than the previous two albums, but if you’re a fan you will probably buy it anyway. If you hate this type of nerdiness, then stay away, as, yes, it is still very power-metal influenced (although with way less keys).
Recommendation: Go back to your roots even more on the next album, because that is your best style.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Website: www.blind-guardian.com
- Band
- Hansi Kürsch: vocals
- Andre Olbrich: lead guitars
- Marcus Siepen: rhythm guitars
- Oliver Holzwarth: session bass
- Frederik Ehmke: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Sacred Worlds
- 02. Tanelorn
- 03. Road of No Release
- 04. Ride Into Obsession
- 05. Curse My Name
- 06. Valkyries
- 07. Control the Divine
- 08. War of the Thrones
- 09. A Voice in the Dark
- 10. Wheel of Time
