Blind Guardian new album review.

Wyvern

Master of Disaster
Staff member
Nov 24, 2002
14,121
167
63
57
I just downloaded a promo of "A Twist In The Myth", quality is good but has voiceovers (obviously designed for radio). In anycase was a cheap, easy way to review this one before it's release.

'This Will Never End': great opener, starts fast and pounding with a nice scream by Hansi. The song goes along the SFB or IFTOS era music, a bit less thrashy but very heavy and full, not to forget fast and pounding.

'Otherland': complete change, it starts very soft and melodic, I hear lots of textures intertwined. Very atypical BG song and at the same time the choruses and harmonies remind you of what the band is about. Part sounds like something out of ANATO, part like something of D&W, but at the same time has something unlike anyhting form the band before. On the other hand has nothing of happy metal ala newer Helloween, nor a bit of mallcore (for anyone's relief).

'Turn The Page': great vocal harmonies again, a bit of minstrel vibe in the back while rich choruses fill the song. Heavy but mid-tempo, the guitar work is great, and the changes in the song definitively reminds me of the prog way Uriah Heep made some of their songs.

'Fly': the song who gave fear to many upon the listening of the single sounds as good to me as it was there. I can't find a single hint of weakness or selling out on this one, the music is waht I do expect: heavy, pounding, fast and/or mid-tempo, with great guitar work and powerful vocals.

'Carry The Blessed Home': another atypical song IMO, starts like a very melodic ballad, but not in the folk way of some softer song of the band. The use of a bagpipe (I guess) gives nevertheless a great vibe to the song and the song is never cheesy like so many power metal ballads. Love the guitar work, reminds so much I'm listening to a metal band and not some newer crap that reassures my spirit.

'Another Stranger Me': this one starts the most Helloween alike song and even so never falls into the realm of happy power, shows definitively the newer side of the band.

'Straight Through The Mirror': the band choose a formula for this album and none of the songs truly deviate for it, beig this one another example. The drumming is fast, the vocal harmonies full, the guitar work typical of the band
and has grown IMO especially on the soloing.

'Lionheart': definitively not the Saxon or Astral Doors song :lol: This one is less epic, less straightforward metal. Like the rest of the album is a collection of vocal harmonies upon layers of energetic drumming and guitar playing, some oriental melodies and folk resonance found its way into the song too.

'Skald And Shadows': the album version of this song does get back to the vibe of The Bard's Song- In The Forest, and surely is the proverbial candy for the classic fans. A beautiful song indeed which in a sense comes weird along the lines of the album so far.

'The Edge': the song which goes along the rest of the album doesn't add anything spectacular to the slab, but it's notewhorty the segment between
2:46 and 3:17 corresponding to the solo part, the rythm there becomes infectious and I was tapping the floor immediately.

'The New Order': the closing tune finds the mood on mid-tempo with a sound not as full as the rest but preserving the grest vocal harmonies of Hansi along with energetic drums and fine guitars.

Yes this is not the speed/thrash/power of the early albums or the way Savage Circus is playing today. And if this is not as classic to a fan like me as IFTOS is, but surely doesn't show that the band has lost class or energy. I do find (and I warn everybody) that the sound may become saturating and therefore some may find it hard to swallow.

In a nutshell I'll say that even if it's not the best achievement of the band, if I consider the whole of the albums and take another band for comparison (let's say Judas Priest) I'll say is the "Ram it Down" of Blind Guardian :D
 
The album is better than I personally expected (judging by 'Fly', which disappointed me), but although I like the fact it's less layered than ANATO I still miss their aggressive and fast stuff like in the era up to "Imaginations...".
They obviously have completely ditched that style and I think it's a shame...

As far as the sound goes, it's really overcompressed...
I don't get this new trend, are they aiming to make the albums LESS listenable or what?!
 
SickBoy said:
As far as the sound goes, it's really overcompressed...
I don't get this new trend, are they aiming to make the albums LESS listenable or what?!

You refer to the sound by itself or the way of the compositions? Just BG or bands in general these days?

I won't call ir unlistenable, but like I pointed in my previous post is their weakest album. And although they didn't went into the more commercial way (let's say like Priest with "Turbo") they didn't went to sell out to mallcore (like Lacuna Coil did with "Karmacode"), so I have mixed emotions regarding the new album but overall I found it alright and I'm going to purchase it when it comes out.

NP: Uriah Heep - 'Paradise/The Spell'
 
SickBoy said:
I was aiming at the sound itself, not the songs.
It's sadly a trend to master CDs "louder than everything else" nowadays... :(

Now I got it. Sadly (or gladly) since unlike you I'm musical impaired (an advantage of being a listener and not a musician :lol: ) I seldom distinguish those details. The most I can say is that now I have to put the input level at 4 instead of 7 when I record a tape :)

NP: Steel Prophet - 'Anger Seething'
 
SickBoy said:
You still record to tapes?! :OMG:

Of course, pure Old School. 90 min Type II (chromium oxide) tapes, and I take a lot of time to ensure most of the tape is recorded (whcih actually is around 46:50 mins per side). My CDs never left home, if a tape got damaged or lost I can always re-record another tape :D
 
I've been burning more cd-rs than tapes lately, but I still use tapes, even though they are becoming harder & harder to find....


J-Dubya
 
J-Dubya 777 said:
I've been burning more cd-rs than tapes lately, but I still use tapes, even though they are becoming harder & harder to find....

J-Dubya

I agree so I'm stacking them. Everytime I can I buy a dozen or so, but i know the time will come when technology will force me to a change :(

NP: Luca Turilli - 'The Miracle of Life'