New Blind Guardian released this week
During the past 25 years, few other bands have marked the international music scene as sustainably as BLIND GUARDIAN. The band from Krefeld, Germany has continued to develop musically with every new recording, never jumping on the bandwagon of short-lived trends and always delivering deeply original top-quality releases. Some of the most important and most accomplished songs from 25 years of BLIND GUARDIAN have been carefully remixed and, in three cases, re-recorded for Memories Of A Time To Come (Virgin/EMI). Released May 22 in 2CD and digital packages and as an expanded digital-only edition with 15 additional tracks, Memories Of A Time To Come is more than a typical best-of collection but rather an independent, coherent album which invites its listeners to an impressive musical journey through time.
The band, which started out in 1984 under the moniker of LUCIFER’S HERITAGE and renamed itself BLIND GUARDIAN in 1987, catapulted to the top of the Germany speed/thrash metal movement with early anthems such as “Majesty” and “Valhalla,” releasing in 1990 the best genre album to this day in Tales From The Twilight World and amazing tracks such as “Traveler In Time” and “The Last Candle.” Two years later, the band ventured to new stylistic horizons with Somewhere Far Beyond, experimenting with orchestral elements (“Somewhere Far Beyond”) and Celtic folk influences (“The Bard’s Song,” parts I & II). The multi-layered BLIND GUARDIAN sound was perfected on Imaginations From The Other Side (1995), before the thoroughly atmospheric J.R.R. Tolkien concept album Nightfall In Middle-Earth (1998) set new standards in the “mental movie projector metal” sector (represented here in the title track and “Mirror Mirror,” BLIND GUARDIAN’s most catchy tune of all).
Having reached a point where other artists would long have opted for early retirement or despaired of their self-imposed standards, BLIND GUARDIAN unerringly continued on their creative expedition. The 14-minute “And Then There Was Silence,” re-recorded for Memories Of A Time To Come, was the climax of the album A Night At The Opera (2002) which featured an epic opulence that had never been heard before in the metal genre. Yet despite their fondness of experimenting, the quartet has always remained faithful to their roots. Newer recordings still feature thrashy, uncompromising tracks such as “This Will Never End” and “Ride Into Obsession,” which never sound like nostalgic youthful memories but always contain new, complex ideas. The band’s current stage of development is documented by the soundtrack-like, orchestra-recorded “Sacred Worlds” from their 2010 album At The Edge Of Time (no. 2 on the German charts) – a classics-meets-metal stroke of genius which no other band worldwide has accomplished to date.
BLIND GUARDIAN: Memories Of A Time To Come [2CD, digital]
CD1
1. Imaginations from the Other Side*
2. Nightfall*
3. Ride into Obsession*
4. Somewhere far Beyond*
5. Majesty*
6. Traveler in Time*
7. Follow the Blind*
8. The Last Candle*
CD 2
1. Sacred Worlds (Original Version)
2. This Will Never End*
3. Valhalla**
4. Bright Eyes*
5. Mirror Mirror*
6. Bard Song – Forest*
7. Bard Song – Hobbit**
8. And then there was Silence**
Expanded Edition [digital only]
1. Imaginations from the Other Side*
2. Nightfall*
3. Ride into Obsession*
4. Somewhere far Beyond*
5. Majesty*
6. Traveler in Time*
7. Follow the Blind*
8. The Last Candle*
9. Sacred Worlds (Original Version)
10. This Will Never End*
11. Valhalla**
12. Bright Eyes*
13. Mirror Mirror*
14. Bard Song – Forest*
15. Bard Song – Hobbit**
16. And then there was Silence**
17. Brian***
18. Halloween (The Wizard’s Crown)***
19. Lucifer’s Heritage***
20. Symphonies Of Doom***
21. Dead Of The Night***
22. Majesty
23. Trial By The Archon
24. Battalions Of Fear
25. Run For The Night
26. Lost In The Twilight Hall
27. Tommyknockers
28. Ashes To Ashes
29. Time What Is Time
30. A Past And Future Secret
31. The Script For My Requiem
*Remix 2011
**New recording 2011
***Reworked 2011
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