| Battalions Of Fear | 1988 |
| Tales From The Twilight World | 1989 |
| Follow The Blind | 1990 |
| Somewhere Far Beyond | 1992 |
| Tokyo Tales (live) | 1993 |
| Imaginations From The Other Side | 1995 |
| Tokyo Tales | 1996 |
| Nightfall In Middle Earth | 1998 |
Blind Guardian may very well be the only power metal band left that's doing something interesting with their genre. Like a lot of bands lately, Blind Guardian added in a classical element to their music, a choir (one of the first metal bands to do so), but their music is still power metal, fast and brilliant. Their music is incredibly overblown, to the point that it can sometimes seem silly, but for some reason it really works, especially since their melodies are incredible and their songs are unbelievably catchy. Hansi Kursch's vocal style is quite an interesting one as well, with high screams unlike anything else I've heard to a cleaner voice that sounds like a psychotic elf. I love his voice; it fits in perfectly with the band's obsession with Tolkien-style medieval fantasy. Almost every song they have is about elves or tales or Tolkien in some way or another. And I've never seen another band thank "all the Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits and Men who still dwell in this world" right after their families and fellow metal bands. They tell it like it was.
Blind Guardian have been improving their unique style constantly to the point of near-perfection in Imaginations From The Other Side and Nightfall In Middle Earth. They've gotten their some critical acclaim as well, and have been labeled by many as one of the best metal bands around today, which they certainly are.
--Robert Grazer
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Time What Is Time, Quest For Tanelorn, Ashes To Ashes, Theater Of Pain, Black Chamber, Journey Through The Dark. LOW POINTS: None, really.
It’s interesting to hear what Blind Guardian were doing back with this album. It almost shows the band warming up fir the big breakthrough that would come with the next release, and at the same time continuing to develop their unique style. The great two-guitar sound hadn't quite been developed yet, and the arrangements aren't as wonderfully overblown as they would so be, but the band is getting there. I doubt that when this came out people really had any idea of what the band was really capable of, but by this time their little cult was growing larger, and their talents becoming more and more evident. I find it interesting to watch the band mature over the years. Especially a band that chose to create their own style and simply develop that to its fullest potential.
I also find it interesting that there are actually two songs on this album that have nothing to do with Tolkein-style fantasy themes. In the World War II song “Trial By Fire” the year 1945 is mentioned in the first line. Yep. Quite a few centuries away from their usual subject matter I'd say. It’s strange hearing the same Hansi who usually sings about Morgoth or Mordor sing the line “feel the radiation burn,” but at the same time I do enjoy it, and it is a good song, so I won't really complain.
The other departure from the normal subject matter comes in “Spread You Wings,” which is also the one song on the album I still have mixed feelings about. It’s about a guy named Sammy (yes, Sammy, not Samnor or Samnoth) who works at a bar and always dreams of being somewhere else. The big problem here isn't with the lyrics, since, quite frankly, the band can sing about whatever the hell, and just because the fans out there think that they are better at singing about elves than bars doesn't mean they have to do what I want. It’s their band. I'm not in the position to dictate what they do, I just have to buy it and listen to it. If I don't like it that’s my problem, not theirs.
Anyway the point is that the band is not really playing their style here. In fact “Spread Your Wings” reminds me of a hair metal ballad. Three cheers for diversity. Luckily Hansi can sing better than all of those hair metal people, and Blind Guardian can write better than all of them as well, so the song is strangely listenable. But at the same time something about Hansi Kursch, Lord of Man, Ruler of Voice, most noble one of the Deutsche race, singing “Come on, honey, spread your wings and fly away” over and over again really seems just... wrong. I should hate it, but for some very very strange reason, I don't.
But there are plenty of great highlights throughout the album, the best being “Time What Is Time” which I feel is one of the band’s strongest moments ever. The clean intro displays some great guitar work and the chorus is one of their catchiest. There’s also some experiments with orchestration on “Theater of Pain” where horns back up the melody in a most excellent fashion. I don't feel like going through every song on the album since for the most part it’s a consistent step in the band’s progress toward their glorious peak, and an essential release for Blind Guardian fans.
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COMMENTS
the song “Spread Your Wings” is a cover song for queen
[email protected] (Robert Grazer)
Shit. Shows how much I know.
Hey it's me again ("[email protected]"), guss what?
Trail By Fire is also a cover song, yep, it's for an 80's metal band called Satan.
damm, those guys really have strange cover ideas- from Beach Boys to Deep Purple.
On a second note- the title song is really funny, Power Metal with bagpipes. And on a third note (i really like notes OK?!)-Kai Hansen (Helloween/gamma ray) gives a gust shot on "The Quest For Tanelorn", damm again, that guy gust stars on just about every power metal band from europ- Edguy, Iron Savior, Hammerfall, Heavens gate...
I suppose I should point out that I have this on CD-R. A guy burned it for me in return for letting him burn my copy of Nightfall.
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Another Holy War, And The Story Ends, Imaginations From The Other Side, A Past And Future Secret, Bright Eyes. LOW POINTS: None.
When it comes time for Blind Guardian fans to choose their favorite Blind Guardian album, it's usually a tie between this and 1998's Nightfall In Middle Earth. I'll vote for Nightfall myself, mostly because it's longer with more great songs and better production, but I won't blame anyone who chooses Imaginations From The Other Side, since it's a solid release form this German power metal band, and ranks among the finest albums of 1995. Blind Guardian deliver 50 minutes for nine great songs on this album, all with that great guitar tone and in the unique Blind Guardian style. The songs shift from the all out speed and fury to slower and more dramatic entries (the powerful closer "And The Story Ends" is a great example)
A seven minute epic title track begins the album, which combines upbeat fast verses with a pounding chorus with heavy drums and Hansi screams, plus the choir, the solos, the works. In the end if anything the song seems too short. Following is one of the all out fastest songs Blind Guardian has ever done in "I'm Alive" (which may or may not be inspired by the Helloween song of the same name). All the melodic qualities are kept as the song rages on, plowing down everything in its path. In contrast, "A Past And Future Secret" (as well as the beginning to "Mordred's Song") is slow, dominated by clean guitar and Hansi's gentler vocal styles. A really strong medieval mood comes through as well, something the Blind Guardian folks are really big into.
My favorite track on the album is "Another Holy War," the middle of a spectacular three song stretch which closes the album (the others being "Bright Eyes" and "And The Story Ends") which is melodic beyond words, and one of the catchiest things I've ever heard, right from the intro through the final guitar solo. The choir's echo of Hansi's singing of the songs title is hilarious, and how can you dislike Hansi dragging out the line "I will die before my mission eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeends" on and on? Plus the both guitar solos are amazing, shifting up and down but never losing to overall energy displayed here.
Overall I find Nightfall In Middle Earth to be a tad more satisfying than Imaginations, and as such is the perfect introduction to the band, but there is still plenty to enjoy here, and if you liked NIME than this is most definitely your next stop, as the band further proves that they have something new and interesting to put into power metal. They develop their style further, and take it to the next level. Be careful and listen to this album when no one else is around, since you may find yourself singing along and not even knowing it.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: The Curse of Faenor, Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns), Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill), Blood Tears, Mirror, Mirror, Nightfall, The Eldar, Into The Storm, A Dark Passage, Thorn. LOW POINTS: None.
After having some fun with Forgotten Tales (featuring the best versions of "Surfin' USA" and "Mr. Sandman" ever recorded), Blind Guardian's next album took their music up another step from Imaginations From The Other Side, improving everything from the actual melodies to the production. Not to mention this is the first fully conceptual outing for the band, not just music with a medieval theme anymore, no. This is a full blown rock opera based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, featuring 22 tracks, half of which are short interludes, usually less than a minute long that range from the quick beauty of "The Minstrel" to the simple roar of "Lammoth" to the introduction and battle of "War Of Wrath." These tracks are far from filler, as each one is vital to the flow of the album. My favorite of the interludes is "The Battle of Sudden Flame" which has a strong melody to perfectly link together the two halves of the album.
Another thing that amazes me is how damn even this album is. Out of the eleven 'real songs' on here, I'd say that all but one ("When Sorrow Sang," because the chorus reminds me a little too much of "Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill)," but the song is still a winner, and it's one of the only places you can find a bass in a Blind Guardian song since Hansi stopped playing) could qualify as the best song on the album. Each one is absolutely fantastic (though for awhile I considered "Thorn" slightly weaker and somewhat overlong, but not anymore), ranging from the speed and fury of "The Curse Of Faenor" (with exceptional vocal melodies on the chorus, as well as some great guitar work) to the slower more intense music of "Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)" (where the choir probably gives their best performance on the album).
Both "Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill)" and "A Dark Passage" are climactic battle songs, the former in particular having some of the best vocal work form Hansi. Many consider "Mirror, Mirror" to be the band's finest song yet, and it's not hard to make a case for it. It's probably got the most memorable guitar solos on the album, which give a melodic blast of life in a way that it seems only Blind Guardian can do. And then there's "The Eldar," which is something you wouldn't really expect from Blind Guardian. Sure, there have been plenty of singer/piano songs before (the best being Queensryche's "Someone Else?"), and Blind Guardian had done slightly similar tracks before, especially "Black Chamber" from Somewhere Far Beyond, but that was only a thirty second song, while this is an important full-length entry into Nightfall In Middle Earth. The mood it builds with its mostly simplistic melody is remarkably strong and sad, and makes it quite unlike anything the band had done before, while at the same time becoming another of the album's many highlights.
So overall if you're even the least interested in Blind Guardian get this album now, and you'll most likely become hooked. Unless of course you think that their music is too overblown to enjoy, but that's all part of the greatness of it. These guys are so serious but at the same time so good. And the melodies? It's hard to deny the band's talent there. If this album doesn't convert you to their little cult nothing will, so don't waste your time with them anymore. But I see it differently. I see a band using all of their talent to create music and what Blind Guardian come up with in the end is easily the album of the year (the only release that comes close is Iced Earth's Something Wicked This Way Comes), and overall the best power metal release since Iron Maiden's Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son a decade earlier.
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