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Blind Guardian


Requiem

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This band needs its own thread. 

While not a strictly 'power' metal band in the sense of some of the others, this band, especially these days merges aspects of Iron Maiden, Metallica and even Queen into their current sound. I arrived really late with this band after being pretty unimpressed by what I considered to be cartoon metal back when 'Nightfall in Middle Earth' came out in 1998, but these days I can really appreciate all the bands' releases. 

I'm willing to bet there's a lot of support for their earlier more thrashy material around here, and that's cool. For me though they really hit their magical height with 'At the Edge of Time' which is just epic, fun and all things a great power metal album should be. 

Blind Guardian's albums from Best to Least Best

1. At the Edge of Time (2010)

2. A Twist in the Myth (2006)

3. Imaginations from the Other Side (1995)

4. A Night at the Opera (2002)

5. Nightfall in Middle Earth (1998)

6. Beyond the Red Mirror (2015)

7. Somewhere Far Beyond (1992)

8. Follow the Blind (1989)

9. Battalions of Fear (1988)

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 01/04/2017 at 0:09 AM, Requiem said:

Blind Guardian's albums from Best to Least Best

1. At the Edge of Time (2010)

2. Imaginations from the Other Side (1995)

3. Beyond the Red Mirror (2015)

4. A Night at the Opera (2002)

5. A Twist in the Myth (2006)

6. Nightfall in Middle Earth (1998)

7. Somewhere Far Beyond (1992)

8. Follow the Blind (1989)

9. Battalions of Fear (1988)

Nightfall In Middle Earth

Imaginations From The Other Side

At The Edge Of Time

A Night At The Opera

Nothing else worth commenting on to be honest.  On their last release they completely disappeared up their own arse delivering one of the most contrived and convoluted music releases I have ever had the misfortune to hear.  There's only so much pomp and circumstance these ears can take.

 

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2 minutes ago, MacabreEternal said:

Nightfall In Middle Earth

Imaginations From The Other Side

At The Edge Of Time

A Night At The Opera

Nothing else worth commenting on to be honest.  On their last release they completely disappeared up their own arse delivering one of the most contrived and convoluted music releases I have ever had the misfortune to hear.  There's only so much pomp and circumstance these ears can take.

 

Do you like 'A Twist in the Myth'? I love those more rock structured songs of theirs. As for pomp and circumstance, 'Beyond the Red Mirror' is no where near as silly as 'Nightfall' with it's O.T.T actors and sound effects, in my opinion. I get what you're saying though, it took a few listens to get into it. I think it's great though. 

Also thanks for posting in this thread. MacabreEternal's posts = the type of pomp and circumstance we can all be fans of. 

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This prompted me to revisit "Imaginations", which was always my favorite of theirs, and I guess I'm coming back around to it. I was surprised to discover I could still kind of sing along with it, because it's been years since I put it on. I'm still not entranced by the guitar work; Thomen The Omen is incongruously, jarringly one-dimensional; and some of those ride-the-winged-unicorn-to-victory melodies set my teeth on edge. But Hansi remains one of my favorite vocalists.

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5 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

This prompted me to revisit "Imaginations", which was always my favorite of theirs, and I guess I'm coming back around to it. I was surprised to discover I could still kind of sing along with it, because it's been years since I put it on. I'm still not entranced by the guitar work; Thomen The Omen is incongruously, jarringly one-dimensional; and some of those ride-the-winged-unicorn-to-victory melodies set my teeth on edge. But Hansi remains one of my favorite vocalists.

Of course the good news is they have replaced Thomas with the new drummer some years ago and the new guy is a gun.

I think there is a fair bit about 'Imaginations' that is a little rough, but for 1995 in power metal I think it's a very advanced album and it definitely has that 'x' factor (in the same way that 'Tales from the Thousand Lakes' and 'Turn Loose the Swans' also has for me). Songs like 'Bright Eyes' are so good. It's not my favourite of theirs though, as you can see from my list above. 

Agree re Hansi. He's one of my favourite vocalists too. 

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For me:

 

Imaginations From the Other Side

Somewhere Far Beyond

Follow the Blind

Nightfall In Middle Earth

Battalions of Fear

A Twist In the Myth

 

I don't have the others. What they played live off of their newer stuff wasn't great, bit they were untouchable up through Nightfall for me. I couldn't have been more thrilled that the aforementioned live set include Imaginations in its entirety, which was so fucking good.

 

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

 

 

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On 1/4/2017 at 1:09 AM, Requiem said:

This band needs its own thread. 

While not a strictly 'power' metal band in the sense of some of the others, this band, especially these days merges aspects of Iron Maiden, Metallica and even Queen into their current sound. I arrived really late with this band after being pretty unimpressed by what I considered to be cartoon metal back when 'Nightfall in Middle Earth' came out in 1998, but these days I can really appreciate all the bands' releases. 

I'm willing to bet there's a lot of support for their earlier more thrashy material around here, and that's cool. For me though they really hit their magical height with 'At the Edge of Time' which is just epic, fun and all things a great power metal album should be. 

Blind Guardian's albums from Best to Least Best

1. At the Edge of Time (2010)

2. Imaginations from the Other Side (1995)

3. Beyond the Red Mirror (2015)

4. A Night at the Opera (2002)

5. A Twist in the Myth (2006)

6. Nightfall in Middle Earth (1998)

7. Somewhere Far Beyond (1992)

8. Follow the Blind (1989)

9. Battalions of Fear (1988)

 

 

 

 

 

Am I going crazy or their third LP, "Tales from the Twilight World" is entirely absent from this list (and any other post in this thread)?

That's criminal, if you ask me!

I have all their CD's (first press, no reissue BS here) up until "Twist" (included), save for "A Night... Opera". How dare they call an album like that? That's a sacred title. It's as if, say, Helloween had put out a record and named it "The Number of the Beast". Some things you just don't do. You wanna reference? Alright, put a twist to it, then (see my joke?). Like "A night at the Movies" or "A Night Behind the Red Opera".

Just kidding. If I had to single out their best all around record I'd pick "Imaginations". The songs are there, the flow is there, the shitty useless covers are not and the production is there too (courtesy of none other that Fleming "I did a Rainbow record in Denmark, so Lars picked me up to Ride the Lightining" Rasmussen).

At the same time, I cannot deny that the one record of theirs that I enjoy the most is... "Follow the Blind"! It's even got Kai Hansen on it! It's cool to think how the whole late 80's early 90's power metal revolves around Kai Hansen. Hell, even Brazil's Angra... they flew to Hamburg and recorded their debut at Kai's studio! Hamburg is to power metal what Hollywood is to hair metal. The undisputed Mecca.

I always have a hard time sitting through "Nightfall". Even skipping intros and outros doesn't help me much. I do not like "Twist". The drum sound sucks and the single "Fly something" was very bad.

As for Hansi's vocals... I don't mind them. They fit the band, but I cannot certainly say that I consider him a great singer. I have their DVD... he truly sucks live. He nails it on "Tokyo Tales" (talk about picking a title and twisting it with humour to great effect done RIGHT this time... see The Scorps "Tokyo Tapes"), but that's because the whole record is unashamedly studio overdubbed (and he'll be the first to admit it). That record also benefits from the fact that you're not actually seeing him while delivering his vocals on stage. He is so UNFIT to be a frontman. Should enroll to a David Lee Roth masterclass. Even a Jack Russell masterclass could help... He is so incapable of OWNING the stage... but again, his tone and "drama" fit the music just fine for their studio releases.

And kudos to them for covering Demon. "Don't Break the Circle" is a decent cover of an amazing song.

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1 hour ago, Skull_Kollektor said:

Am I going crazy or their third LP, "Tales from the Twilight World" is entirely absent from this list (and any other post in this thread)?

That's criminal, if you ask me!

I have all their CD's (first press, no reissue BS here) up until "Twist" (included), save for "A Night... Opera". How dare they call an album like that? That's a sacred title. It's as if, say, Helloween had put out a record and named it "The Number of the Beast". Some things you just don't do. You wanna reference? Alright, put a twist to it, then (see my joke?). Like "A night at the Movies" or "A Night Behind the Red Opera".

Just kidding. If I had to single out their best all around record I'd pick "Imaginations". The songs are there, the flow is there, the shitty useless covers are not and the production is there too (courtesy of none other that Fleming "I did a Rainbow record in Denmark, so Lars picked me up to Ride the Lightining" Rasmussen).

At the same time, I cannot deny that the one record of theirs that I enjoy the most is... "Follow the Blind"! It's even got Kai Hansen on it! It's cool to think how the whole late 80's early 90's power metal revolves around Kai Hansen. Hell, even Brazil's Angra... they flew to Hamburg and recorded their debut at Kai's studio! Hamburg is to power metal what Hollywood is to hair metal. The undisputed Mecca.

I always have a hard time sitting through "Nightfall". Even skipping intros and outros doesn't help me much. I do not like "Twist". The drum sound sucks and the single "Fly something" was very bad.

As for Hansi's vocals... I don't mind them. They fit the band, but I cannot certainly say that I consider him a great singer. I have their DVD... he truly sucks live. He nails it on "Tokyo Tales" (talk about picking a title and twisting it with humour to great effect done RIGHT this time... see The Scorps "Tokyo Tapes"), but that's because the whole record is unashamedly studio overdubbed (and he'll be the first to admit it). That record also benefits from the fact that you're not actually seeing him while delivering his vocals on stage. He is so UNFIT to be a frontman. Should enroll to a David Lee Roth masterclass. Even a Jack Russell masterclass could help... He is so incapable of OWNING the stage... but again, his tone and "drama" fit the music just fine for their studio releases.

And kudos to them for covering Demon. "Don't Break the Circle" is a decent cover of an amazing song.

Yes, a Blind Guardian fan! 

Firstly, I did actually forget about 'Tales from the Twilight World' to the extent that I don't think I've even hear it before, which is strange. I'll have to rectify that as soon as I can. 

I think because Queen and Blind Guardian are far enough apart in genre that it's not such a crime as it would be if Helloween called an album 'The Bumber of the Beast', but I'm still not very impressed with 'A Night at the Opera' as the name for a Blind Guardian album in any case. It's definitely their worst title and it makes the album a little strange. The music on it is fantastic though, so many great songs! 

'A Twist in the Myth' definitely took me a few listens, but I really like it. Even 'Fly'! Songs like 'Turn the Page' with it's cool Irish element and 'Carry the Blessed Home' with the bagpipes are just amazing songs. 

Never seen them live but would have loved to - I hope they tour Australia again for the next album. I presume they will. There's a lot of overdubbing in live releases - always has been and probably always will be, and I really think that's a pity because it completely negates the point of a live release. Oh well... 

Hey Skull, what do you think of 'Beyond the Red Mirror'?

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I do not have "BTRM", nor the one that precedes it... so I never heard a note of both! I might get them soon, though. These day you can grab the ltd editions for about 10 euros. I might even grab them today when I come home from work eheh

Alright, I'm gonna give "Twist" another chance! It sure sounds different... Even the album sleeve stands apart! See when it comes to being a nerd, I'm more into the actual Tolkien BOOKS, than computer video games ahah

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 13/04/2017 at 3:24 PM, Skull_Kollektor said:

I do not have "BTRM", nor the one that precedes it... so I never heard a note of both! I might get them soon, though. These day you can grab the ltd editions for about 10 euros. I might even grab them today when I come home from work eheh

Alright, I'm gonna give "Twist" another chance! It sure sounds different... Even the album sleeve stands apart! See when it comes to being a nerd, I'm more into the actual Tolkien BOOKS, than computer video games ahah

'Twist' is basically a rock album, with not a lot of power metal to it. It's not my favourite of theirs, but it's definitely really enjoyable. 

If you're going to get one of their last two albums get 2010's 'At the Edge of Time'. It's just epic and amazing. I love it so much. Huge choruses. 'Beyond the Red Mirror' from 2015 is a lot more progressive and even a little tangled. It took a lot of listens before I could even really distinguish the songs from each other, particularly around the middle of the album. It's really good though. Very fantasy based which is cool. 

They're averaging an album out every 5 years at the moment so I guess the next one will be in 2020! 

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  • 1 month later...

Got into them over 10 years ago, after hearing the live album I was instantly hooked. Twist in the myth is my favorite but I am biased because this was the first album by them I purchased and holds a special place. There is not an album I dislike by them, though I am not too well-versed in their first 2 albums. The newest album is actually growing on me even though at first I was turned off by it being overly symphonic and not enough metal. Gotta get used to it though because I think their next LP will be completely orchestral. There's always the next Demons and Wizards album to look forward to, if Hanson and Jon ever get to finishing it (hopefully in the next year or so) 

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14 hours ago, cyan11 said:

Got into them over 10 years ago, after hearing the live album I was instantly hooked. Twist in the myth is my favorite but I am biased because this was the first album by them I purchased and holds a special place. There is not an album I dislike by them, though I am not too well-versed in their first 2 albums. The newest album is actually growing on me even though at first I was turned off by it being overly symphonic and not enough metal. Gotta get used to it though because I think their next LP will be completely orchestral. There's always the next Demons and Wizards album to look forward to, if Hanson and Jon ever get to finishing it (hopefully in the next year or so) 

It's funny because the more I listen to 'Beyond the Red Mirror' the more I find myself not enjoying it all that much. I keep taking it off the stereo really early and now I've figured out why.

So many songs feel really interchangeable and lack their own identity, especially around the middle of the album. There's also a shortage of hooks. 'At the Edge of Time' - the one that precede 'Beyond' - absolutely slays it.

 

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Putting Somewhere Far Beyond that low is something I disagree with. It's the last resounding epic of their power/speed era and it's one of the best releases of the 1990s along with their other output. 

A Twist in the Myth and At the Edge of Time are kind of underrated due to the gargantuan undertaking that A Night at the Opera was. While not containing these vast epics (...And Then, There Was Silence), A Twist in the Myth has a more stripped-down sound, which was a refreshing decision. I think it managed to reinvigorate them to have a go at the more progressive/symphonic sound later with At the Edge of Time

Beyond the Red Mirror , unlike the previous album (which is an important distinction to make), is an attempt to recapture the their old mid-'90s magic by making a sequel to Imaginations From the Other Side which is sad and really rubs salt in the wound when one begins to discover how monotonous it can get. Granted, I do like several tracks on it but as a cohesive whole, listening to it just feels like a chore. The only time this whole "sequel album" concept has worked in metal (from what I know) is with Helstar's Vampiro which is "album of the decade" material. Attempting to cash in on the hype and nostalgia of a previous critically-acclaimed record is just ludicrous. 

On 4/10/2017 at 4:10 AM, MacabreEternal said:

Nightfall In Middle Earth

Imaginations From The Other Side

At The Edge Of Time

A Night At The Opera

Nothing else worth commenting on to be honest.  On their last release they completely disappeared up their own arse delivering one of the most contrived and convoluted music releases I have ever had the misfortune to hear.  There's only so much pomp and circumstance these ears can take.

 

I don't understand how you could omit their power/speed era stuff considering that comment. 

On 3/31/2017 at 4:09 PM, Requiem said:

I arrived really late with this band after being pretty unimpressed by what I considered to be cartoon metal back when 'Nightfall in Middle Earth' came out in 1998

 

 

 

 

 

"throws copy of Silmarillion at head" :P

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2 hours ago, Ecthelion said:

Putting Somewhere Far Beyond that low is something I disagree with. It's the last resounding epic of their power/speed era and it's one of the best releases of the 1990s along with their other output. 

A Twist in the Myth and At the Edge of Time are kind of underrated due to the gargantuan undertaking that A Night at the Opera was. While not containing these vast epics (...And Then, There Was Silence), A Twist in the Myth has a more stripped-down sound, which was a refreshing decision. I think it managed to reinvigorate them to have a go at the more progressive/symphonic sound later with At the Edge of Time

Beyond the Red Mirror , unlike the previous album (which is an important distinction to make), is an attempt to recapture the their old mid-'90s magic by making a sequel to Imaginations From the Other Side which is sad and really rubs salt in the wound when one begins to discover how monotonous it can get. Granted, I do like several tracks on it but as a cohesive whole, listening to it just feels like a chore. The only time this whole "sequel album" concept has worked in metal (from what I know) is with Helstar's Vampiro which is "album of the decade" material. Attempting to cash in on the hype and nostalgia of a previous critically-acclaimed record is just ludicrous. 

I don't understand how you could omit their power/speed era stuff considering that comment. 

"throws copy of Silmarillion at head" :P

I am currently reading The Silmarillion right now!

I think the 'Nightfall' album will make more sense for me now. It's still pretty 'weak metal' though. Look at Eldamar's 'The Force of Ancient Land' album for a proper Tolkien metal experience. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just found out that Blind Guardian have released a 3CD live album a week a go called 'Live Beyond the Spheres'. The track list looks amazing and I'll be getting this for sure. This really crept up on me and I actually had no idea this was coming. Very exciting! Anyone got it yet? 

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I just found out that Blind Guardian have released a 3CD live album a week a go called 'Live Beyond the Spheres'. The track list looks amazing and I'll be getting this for sure. This really crept up on me and I actually had no idea this was coming. Very exciting! Anyone got it yet? 

 

I tend to prefer live shows over live albums, so I don't have many of them. Let me know how it is though, they're a band that I could see making a great live album.

 

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

 

 

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5 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

 

I tend to prefer live shows over live albums, so I don't have many of them. Let me know how it is though, they're a band that I could see making a great live album.

 

Absolutley, live shows are way better than live albums. In a promo video they were talking about how they wanted the live tracks they chose to be 'studio quality' etc while capturing the ambience of the crowd etc. I don't think if this is code for 'studio touch-ups', but at any rate it should sound really good. They don't do things by halves, I'll give them that much. 

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Firstly, I must be crazy rating ‘Beyond the Red Mirror’ as their third best album. Sorry everyone.

What I’m here to post about though is the terrible reproduction quality of the Nuclear Blast rerelease of ‘Imaginations from the Other Side’ (its not possible to write that without singing it in your head...). 

I was in a music store the other day and saw it there, and it’s like they’ve taken a colour photocopy of the original or something. It’s really blurry with no definition. Just terrible. I’d have second thoughts buying it if I didn’t already have it due to the shoddy job they’ve done. An amazing album cover ruined. Nuclear Blast must have had an intern responsible for it or something. It defies belief really. 

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Firstly, I must be crazy rating ‘Beyond the Red Mirror’ as their third best album. Sorry everyone.
What I’m here to post about though is the terrible reproduction quality of the Nuclear Blast rerelease of ‘Imaginations from the Other Side’ (its not possible to write that without singing it in your head...). 
I was in a music store the other day and saw it there, and it’s like they’ve taken a colour photocopy of the original or something. It’s really blurry with no definition. Just terrible. I’d have second thoughts buying it if I didn’t already have it due to the shoddy job they’ve done. An amazing album cover ruined. Nuclear Blast must have had an intern responsible for it or something. It defies belief really. 
That's ridiculous on both counts. I haven't heard Beyond the Red Mirror, but I would be surprised if it could work its way into their top 3 for me. Also, fucking up the excellent art on their best album? Rookie mistake like crazy. Even as a reissue for an album that most fans should already have, Blind Guardian is the kind of band that will pull in outsiders who are looking to get into the genre, and the reissue should still sell pretty well. Or it would have, if it didn't look unprofessional..

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On 3/30/2018 at 1:35 AM, BlutAusNerd said:

That's ridiculous on both counts. I haven't heard Beyond the Red Mirror, but I would be surprised if it could work its way into their top 3 for me. Also, fucking up the excellent art on their best album? Rookie mistake like crazy. Even as a reissue for an album that most fans should already have, Blind Guardian is the kind of band that will pull in outsiders who are looking to get into the genre, and the reissue should still sell pretty well. Or it would have, if it didn't look unprofessional..

Sent from my HTCD160LVW using Tapatalk
 

Yeah, it's just terrible. It looks cheap in the worst possible sense of that term. 

'Beyond the Red Mirror' is a pretty cool album, but it isn't up there with the best that this band has to offer due to being overinflated, needlessly dense and very samey throughout. It's hard to differentiate the songs from each other, although there are indeed some excellent moments. 

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The first bands that I really got into was maiden,Testament and Blind Guardian. Two years straight I dropped everything I was listening to and my playlist only consisted of albums/songs from these bands. The nostalgia everytime I listen to one of their songs makes every second of it more epic.

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