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Blind Guardian - A Twist In The Myth
Nuclear Blast Records - NB 1515-2 - September 4th, 2006
By Brandon Strader
With beautiful imagery of a scary dragon in a grim environment, the new Blind Guardian album, A Twist In The Myth, should be pretty easily recognized. There seems to be a pattern there, as a lot of the Blind Guardian albums featured awesome artwork, but does this new offering stand up against albums past?
In traditional Blind Guardian fashion, every single song is catchy and worth listening to. The first song starts out with some heavily auto-tuned vocals, which may have not been the best decision right off the bat, as that sort of sets a lame vibe throughout the song... There is no introduction to this album, it just starts with some heavy thrashing riffs rather than the orchestration we had loved from such albums as Nightfall in Middle-Earth... But that is also a huge difference on A Twist In The Myth, the orchestration is basically gone except for a possible keyboard part here and there, and the guitar work is more dominating... If only they could have paired the more dominating guitar work WITH the orchestration, that would have been colossal!
The second track, 'Otherland', contains a pretty cool riff to start with, a low kind of chug with some higher guitar squeals. The verse and chorus on this song is particularly cool, the chorus having somewhat of a Borknagar vibe... And, of course, Blind Guardian is still layering a bunch of vocal layers for every chorus. Yawn. The song seems to go through the same basic Blind Guardian formula with nothing too avant-garde going on... Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Solo, Verse, Chorus, End.
'Turn The Page', the third track, is a fun little folky track! The vocal melody and guitar in the verse contains some great folk progressions, as does the chorus, but for crying out loud! The chorus is the same exact vocal-layer smothered chorus that is featured in every song... That's probably the downfall of A Twist In The Myth, not enough variation. There is no 'Mirror Mirror' or 'Nightfall' on this album! The solos and leads in this song don't try to be anything more than they are, and they are just plain fun!
The album version of 'Fly', I assume, is the same as the single-version! You can find the review of the Fly single on UM, so I shall keep it short here. There's some cool chugging and percussive clicks in the verse, which evolves into a second verse accompanied by some heavy guitars... The song itself isn't really so complex but the vocals contain the main melody of the song I suppose. There's a cool rock 'n' roll type solo in this song, and a lot of cool guitar leads throughout.. The layered vocals in this song work pretty well.
The song 'Carry The Blessed Home' has somewhat of a Tenacious D - 'Wonderboy' kind of sound! You think that's a weird comparison now, but wait until you've heard the song! It's that soft, mellow kind of triumphant music. I can almost imagine vocalist Hansi Kursch singing about the incomparable powers of Wonderboy in this track. The song is very pleasant, and even has a nice, smooth square wave present until the chorus, which is much heavier with some great riffs and a guitar lead over top... Amazing, the Blind Guardian guitarists are able to reproduce the same guitar tone for solos that they had on previous albums! This is probably our favorite track from the album so far.... despite the over-done vocal layers in the chorus... ahhh why must they do this?
'Another Stranger' starts out with some normal heavy riffing, then a guitar lead comes in, then it all drops to silence with an echo'ing clean guitar accompanied by the vocalist's grinding vocals... It's a surprise to see the vocalist doesn't even attempt to change his style at all throughout the whole album, which eventually becomes very, very annoying. I guess Kursch's vocals are better in small doses. Anyway, the song has a cool kind of hard rock vibe mixed with the "Blind Guardian" sound.
'Straight Through The Mirror' is just another Blind Guardian-style heavy song. I wouldn't go as far as to say it is filler, as it does feature some great leads and solos, and a vocal melody that is, well, different from the other songs. The chorus still features the heavily layered vocals though, which at this point has really become very, very annoying. The song has some great nearly fret-harmonic leads throughout, and at one point breaks out a wah-wah heavy guitar in one of the verses for some added sound. Another solo section near the end... yeah... this song conforms to the Blind Guardian songwriting formula!
As visions of gunblades dance in my mind, I prepare for the listening of 'Lionheart'. Actually I may not have been so far off base with that, as the intro is very intense and sounds reminiscent of good old times with the gunblade. This chorus at least isn't full of layered vocals, it has a lead vocal which is then accompanied by the layered vocals, and drops back down to the single vocal... Hey, at least it's not constant vocal layer, eh? The song retains it's intensity, even through the choruses, throughout the entire length of the song. It's got some great melody and the guitar progression on the chorus is pretty great. Half way through the song it ventures into the most diverse material of the whole album, but only for a small while. With some synthesizer sounds accompanied by a vibrato-set guitar and a squeaky lead above, it is probably one of the weirdest sections. I guess the few seconds that follow that is a Blind Guardian-style hardcore breakdown? Haha, don't believe that last statement, but either way, it is pretty cool and 'Lionheart' shows some good strength.
The album version of 'Skalds and Shadows' is only different from the single-version in that it contains some extra violins, loud orchestral crashes, and that neat "wind chime" sound... When I heard the single-version was the acoustic version, I was honestly expecting something heavy from the album version, rather than this... it's not different enough from the original! It has the same guitars and vocals as the single version, but also features a violin part and some overly hard crashes! Well, it's a great ballad anyway... is it a ballad? Well... it's a great mellow tune. Whatever!
'The Edge' totally kicks butt just from the introduction. It's a pummeling tremolo force, accompanied by neat little sounds and some strings... Blind Guardian fans throughout the trailer parks of America are probably shouting, "That be fighting musics there!" when they hear this. I know I did. And I'll fight anyone who thinks otherwise, while 'The Edge' plays in the background! But after the nice little bit of pummeling, it goes into something like a Lacuna Coil section from Comalies... And then into some various other verses, each one being heavy but they're each different, and there's also a chorus. Pretty sweet if you ask me, at least it doesn't conform to the Blind Guardian-Songwriting Formula. It still has a great solo, but the chorus isn't completely smothered with layered vocals, and 3/4 of the way done it even features a held-out death growl!! Fantastic!
Finally we have reached the last track, 'The New Order' It's been so much fun reviewing this, I wish it could go on forever... hah, just kidding. The song is pretty cool though, starting with some acoustic guitar, and softer vocals from Kursch - hey, I guess he can sing differently! The song is a good closing number for the album, as it's somewhat more down-tempo, though it doesn't linger on the acoustics and does break into some heaviness. More great guitar progressions, fantastic leads, and the following verse contains some nice strummed clean chords.. This heavy track is noticeably different than the others, and it's pretty fresh. "The chorus is smothered with layered vocals though," I type, barely able to restrain my fury. Ah, well I suppose the vocal layers aren't too bad. They're just severely overused throughout A Twist In The Myth.
If you've made it this far in the review, you're a pretty dedicated Blind Guardian fan, or perhaps you just skipped to the end to see the score. A Twist In The Myth isn't anything too new from what they've already done, it's actually somewhat of a backwards pedal... It contains very little orchestration, and the majority of the melody focuses on the vocals, and yes - overused extremely layered vocals. Still, it's a very fun listen and very memorable. It's got some highlights, and some not so great parts, but overall it's a very sturdy album and it's definitely worth checking out. The real Blind Guardian fans don't need a review to tell them to buy this album though, we'll all be standing in line at the CD shop when A Twist In The Myth pops onto shelves on September 4th.
8/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Blind Guardian Website
Official Nuclear Blast Website
Nuclear Blast Records - NB 1515-2 - September 4th, 2006
By Brandon Strader
With beautiful imagery of a scary dragon in a grim environment, the new Blind Guardian album, A Twist In The Myth, should be pretty easily recognized. There seems to be a pattern there, as a lot of the Blind Guardian albums featured awesome artwork, but does this new offering stand up against albums past?
In traditional Blind Guardian fashion, every single song is catchy and worth listening to. The first song starts out with some heavily auto-tuned vocals, which may have not been the best decision right off the bat, as that sort of sets a lame vibe throughout the song... There is no introduction to this album, it just starts with some heavy thrashing riffs rather than the orchestration we had loved from such albums as Nightfall in Middle-Earth... But that is also a huge difference on A Twist In The Myth, the orchestration is basically gone except for a possible keyboard part here and there, and the guitar work is more dominating... If only they could have paired the more dominating guitar work WITH the orchestration, that would have been colossal!
The second track, 'Otherland', contains a pretty cool riff to start with, a low kind of chug with some higher guitar squeals. The verse and chorus on this song is particularly cool, the chorus having somewhat of a Borknagar vibe... And, of course, Blind Guardian is still layering a bunch of vocal layers for every chorus. Yawn. The song seems to go through the same basic Blind Guardian formula with nothing too avant-garde going on... Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Solo, Verse, Chorus, End.
'Turn The Page', the third track, is a fun little folky track! The vocal melody and guitar in the verse contains some great folk progressions, as does the chorus, but for crying out loud! The chorus is the same exact vocal-layer smothered chorus that is featured in every song... That's probably the downfall of A Twist In The Myth, not enough variation. There is no 'Mirror Mirror' or 'Nightfall' on this album! The solos and leads in this song don't try to be anything more than they are, and they are just plain fun!
The album version of 'Fly', I assume, is the same as the single-version! You can find the review of the Fly single on UM, so I shall keep it short here. There's some cool chugging and percussive clicks in the verse, which evolves into a second verse accompanied by some heavy guitars... The song itself isn't really so complex but the vocals contain the main melody of the song I suppose. There's a cool rock 'n' roll type solo in this song, and a lot of cool guitar leads throughout.. The layered vocals in this song work pretty well.
The song 'Carry The Blessed Home' has somewhat of a Tenacious D - 'Wonderboy' kind of sound! You think that's a weird comparison now, but wait until you've heard the song! It's that soft, mellow kind of triumphant music. I can almost imagine vocalist Hansi Kursch singing about the incomparable powers of Wonderboy in this track. The song is very pleasant, and even has a nice, smooth square wave present until the chorus, which is much heavier with some great riffs and a guitar lead over top... Amazing, the Blind Guardian guitarists are able to reproduce the same guitar tone for solos that they had on previous albums! This is probably our favorite track from the album so far.... despite the over-done vocal layers in the chorus... ahhh why must they do this?
'Another Stranger' starts out with some normal heavy riffing, then a guitar lead comes in, then it all drops to silence with an echo'ing clean guitar accompanied by the vocalist's grinding vocals... It's a surprise to see the vocalist doesn't even attempt to change his style at all throughout the whole album, which eventually becomes very, very annoying. I guess Kursch's vocals are better in small doses. Anyway, the song has a cool kind of hard rock vibe mixed with the "Blind Guardian" sound.
'Straight Through The Mirror' is just another Blind Guardian-style heavy song. I wouldn't go as far as to say it is filler, as it does feature some great leads and solos, and a vocal melody that is, well, different from the other songs. The chorus still features the heavily layered vocals though, which at this point has really become very, very annoying. The song has some great nearly fret-harmonic leads throughout, and at one point breaks out a wah-wah heavy guitar in one of the verses for some added sound. Another solo section near the end... yeah... this song conforms to the Blind Guardian songwriting formula!
As visions of gunblades dance in my mind, I prepare for the listening of 'Lionheart'. Actually I may not have been so far off base with that, as the intro is very intense and sounds reminiscent of good old times with the gunblade. This chorus at least isn't full of layered vocals, it has a lead vocal which is then accompanied by the layered vocals, and drops back down to the single vocal... Hey, at least it's not constant vocal layer, eh? The song retains it's intensity, even through the choruses, throughout the entire length of the song. It's got some great melody and the guitar progression on the chorus is pretty great. Half way through the song it ventures into the most diverse material of the whole album, but only for a small while. With some synthesizer sounds accompanied by a vibrato-set guitar and a squeaky lead above, it is probably one of the weirdest sections. I guess the few seconds that follow that is a Blind Guardian-style hardcore breakdown? Haha, don't believe that last statement, but either way, it is pretty cool and 'Lionheart' shows some good strength.
The album version of 'Skalds and Shadows' is only different from the single-version in that it contains some extra violins, loud orchestral crashes, and that neat "wind chime" sound... When I heard the single-version was the acoustic version, I was honestly expecting something heavy from the album version, rather than this... it's not different enough from the original! It has the same guitars and vocals as the single version, but also features a violin part and some overly hard crashes! Well, it's a great ballad anyway... is it a ballad? Well... it's a great mellow tune. Whatever!
'The Edge' totally kicks butt just from the introduction. It's a pummeling tremolo force, accompanied by neat little sounds and some strings... Blind Guardian fans throughout the trailer parks of America are probably shouting, "That be fighting musics there!" when they hear this. I know I did. And I'll fight anyone who thinks otherwise, while 'The Edge' plays in the background! But after the nice little bit of pummeling, it goes into something like a Lacuna Coil section from Comalies... And then into some various other verses, each one being heavy but they're each different, and there's also a chorus. Pretty sweet if you ask me, at least it doesn't conform to the Blind Guardian-Songwriting Formula. It still has a great solo, but the chorus isn't completely smothered with layered vocals, and 3/4 of the way done it even features a held-out death growl!! Fantastic!
Finally we have reached the last track, 'The New Order' It's been so much fun reviewing this, I wish it could go on forever... hah, just kidding. The song is pretty cool though, starting with some acoustic guitar, and softer vocals from Kursch - hey, I guess he can sing differently! The song is a good closing number for the album, as it's somewhat more down-tempo, though it doesn't linger on the acoustics and does break into some heaviness. More great guitar progressions, fantastic leads, and the following verse contains some nice strummed clean chords.. This heavy track is noticeably different than the others, and it's pretty fresh. "The chorus is smothered with layered vocals though," I type, barely able to restrain my fury. Ah, well I suppose the vocal layers aren't too bad. They're just severely overused throughout A Twist In The Myth.
If you've made it this far in the review, you're a pretty dedicated Blind Guardian fan, or perhaps you just skipped to the end to see the score. A Twist In The Myth isn't anything too new from what they've already done, it's actually somewhat of a backwards pedal... It contains very little orchestration, and the majority of the melody focuses on the vocals, and yes - overused extremely layered vocals. Still, it's a very fun listen and very memorable. It's got some highlights, and some not so great parts, but overall it's a very sturdy album and it's definitely worth checking out. The real Blind Guardian fans don't need a review to tell them to buy this album though, we'll all be standing in line at the CD shop when A Twist In The Myth pops onto shelves on September 4th.
8/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Blind Guardian Website
Official Nuclear Blast Website
