Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time

[korruption]

Info from www.metalcallout.com:
Blind Guardian has done a pretty impressive job of slowly releasing bits of information here and there about their upcoming album ‘At The Edge Of Time’. If you follow the site at all, you probably have noticed that we have devoted quite a bit of page space to Blind Guardian and have followed each step of the revelation process with keen interest. That being the case, we are proud to share with you the announced album art for ‘At The Edge Of Time’. The artwork (seen above) reminds me of most of the other Blind Guardian albums, in particular 2006’s ‘A Twist in the Myth’ and so I think it’s safe to assume the artistry duties were carried out by the same man, Anthony Clarkson. Enjoy, and keep coming back for more Blind Guardian news leading up to the summer release of ‘At The Edge of Time’. You can check out the track listing for the album BG announced today along side the cover art.
At The Edge Of Time:

01. Sacred Worlds (9:17)
02. Tanelorn (5:58)
03. Road Of No Release (6:30)
04. Ride Into Obsession (4:46)
05. Curse My Name (5:52)
06. Valkyries (6:38)
07. Control The Divine (5:26)
08. War Of The Thrones (4:55)
09. A Voice In The Dark (5:41)
10. Wheel Of Time (8:55)

A tiny sample from the new single, "A Voice in the Dark"

Even though it sounds the same, meh, you never know. Hopefully they've learned a few things from their last album.

 

[The Wicked One]

The 30 second clip is a major improvement from A Twist in the Myth.
The only song I dug from it was 'This Will Never End'. 'Otherland', and 'Turn the Page' were alright.

To me this sounds like a mix between Nightfall and A Night at the Opera.

So overall it will hopefully sound better than ANatO.

Then again you can say A Twist in the Myth was very uh 'diverse' so maybe we will find even better songs or not.

The single 'A Voice in the Dark' will be out June 25th. If I have $$ I'll pre-order it.
Tracklist includes:

'A Voice in the Dark'
'Your The Voice'
'War of Thrones'

 

[korruption]

Here's a sampler of the album, 30 secs per song.

It sounds better than their last abortion but that isn't saying much if anything.

 

[RedCriss]

I like Blind Guardian quite a bit, they have some really amazing songs, though there is not a single album where I like every song. After Nightfall In Middle-Earth I somewhat lost them out of sight, did not pay any attention to the last two releases.

About a week ago, I listened to the short 30 seconds samples and they sound ok, but not as if a masterpiece is about to be released.

However, I just heard the first 6 minutes (out of 9) of the first track of the new album, Sacred Worlds. And I have to admit that it really grabbed me. Starting with a mystic intro, soon the drums enter and speed is increased, ending up in a nice and heavy riff (along with keys). The verse is slow-paced and soft at first, getting a bit heavier then. It goes on a bit progressive: soft parts, screaming guitars, heavier parts. But while many parts on Nightfall In Middle-Earth already started to be a bit too much over the top, it all fits quite well here.

So, at least for me, there is hope that we'll get a great Blind Guardian album this time again, maybe something in between Tales From The Twilight World and Imaginations From The Other Side. In a few weeks we will know...

 

[korruption]

I smell popcorn...

I 'sampled' a few songs. Thanks to my low expectations, they aren't half bad. Hell, I'd even consider them listenable.
"Wheel of Time" is pretty good, as is "Sacred Worlds." I still don't know what they were thinking with the last album... I hope I can let that go someday...

I think they really need to make the choirs sound far less multi-tracked. Sure it's epic but sounds err... too "copy-pasted."

Ah well... Popcorn time!

 

[The Wicked One]

Well I have had the album for some time and its been in constant rotation in my car.
I'll say something close to heresy. I like it more than Nightfall.

Sacred Worlds: WAAAAY better than the original Sacred video game song. I do finding myself skipping it from time to time.

Tanelorn (Into the Void): Fast? Check. Heavy? Check. Hansi screaming like a fucking madman? Didn't see that one coming...but it rules. His growling is a nice addition as well. This song would give the older speed metal songs a run for their money. I love this song.

Road of No Release: I like the piano work on this song. Other than that I hear some more awesome wailing by Hansi. The time/tempo changes make this song memorable.

Riding into Obsession: Also a fast one, but more like something along Arsis speed and patterns. By now you realize that layering vocals on the songs are done more tastefully. That epic feeling whenever a BG song is even affecting my not so metal friends or are not exactly into BG style music.

Curse My Name: This is very folkish, the flute work on the chorus is memorable and will stick in your head long after the song is over.

Valkyries: This song could have easily fit in Imaginations From The Other Side. Heavy as Born in a Mourning Hall or Bright Eyes, and has the moreso epic time changes of And the Story Ends.

Control The Divine: Somewhat like Valkyries in that it reminds me of IFtOS. This one chugs along with the occasional extended high note.

War of the Thrones: To tell you the truth I was hoping that after hearing the acoustic version on the single, that it would include some distortion somewhat like Past and Future Secret or Mordred's Song, the piano fits but the acoustic version on the single is better IMO.

A Voice in The Dark: Its heavy, each bridge before the chorus is more epic than the last. I thought this song would carry the album. More or less it is well placed between the previous song and...

The Wheel of Time: Has an almost Eastern percussion work like Iced Earth's Framing Armageddon, mixed in with bombastic trumpets and a more European pattern for the violins. Pulls you into one epic ride. One of the best closing songs for an album.

If you don't like reading the review here is a quick recap. It is EPIC. But not the corny kind.

 

[Thorns On My Grave]

O?h mod god this album is good. I have listened it two or three times a DAY since release. Seriously. Sacred Worlds, Ride Into Obsession, Valkyries, The Wheel of Time... all of the rest are amazing, but the ones I just listed are literally instant BG classics in the vein of their earlier works (not in sound, but in pure awesomeness).