Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time

\r\nIt’s been four painfully long years since “A Twist in the Myth” was released and finally, waiting’s over! Blind Guardian are back with their ninth full length album called “At the Edge of Time”. \r\n

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\r\nNow before moving on to the actual review, I really feel the need to share some flashbacks from older times. Remember when “Imaginations from the Other Side” came out and everybody thought “Well, that’s kind of weird and new” –It turned out to be a masterpiece. Same thing happened with “Nightfall in Middle Earth” and “A Night at the Opera” (I’m not touching “A Twist in the Myth” because it somewhat torn Blind Guardian fans apart). The point is, every time Blind Guardian release a new album it’s always that: NEW! You can compare it with the immediate previous release but absolutely not with older albums. So when you listen to “At the Edge of Time” try to focus on the new, wonderful things it has to offer instead of consuming yourself in a complaining process because it doesn’t sound anything like “Somewhere Far Beyond”.\r\n

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\r\nHaving those things in mind and respecting a band’s desire to change and evolve over the years I’ll try to approach this new album in a descriptive way and leave the judgment part to time itself.\r\n

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\r\nOn with the review…\r\n

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\r\nThe good!\r\n

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\r\nThis album is epic! And I mean epic both in the way it is produced and the feelings it can deliver. The sound of every track is shiny-bright and you can clearly hear every single instrument –And there are A LOT of instruments playing at various points. The first track is called “Sacred Worlds” -a newer enhanced version of the song “Sacred” which appeared as a soundtrack for the video game “Sacred 2” about two years ago. Well I can’t even begin to describe how overwhelmingly epic felt that introduction to the album –Definitely one of the most hair-raising things I’ve heard so far. \r\n

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\r\nThere’s also a good variety of atmospheric elements throughout the CD which can make your mind travel from the savage north to the mystical orient. For instance “Curse my Name” is a nice past-and-future-secret-ish medieval like ballad and “Wheel of Time” has such a huge oriental touch, it can probably make a group of angry Bedouins abandon their camels in the middle of the desert and start crying because they didn’t think of it first.\r\n

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\r\nPowerful speed dynamites are back! Songs like “A Voice in the Dark”, “Ride into Obsession” and “Tanelorn (Into the Void)” will give you the chills throughout your entire spine. Blind Guardian kind of scared us there with the previous album. If you haven’t got long hair, start growing –You’ll need it.\r\n

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\r\nLead guitarist Andre Olbrich never ceases to amaze me with his creativity. The riffs and solos carry the good old Blind Guardian tradition we all love and they are brilliant.\r\n

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\r\nThe bad…\r\n

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\r\nLike I said before, this album is epic, but there are moments where they just overdid it. Some parts of particular songs feel simply too much. Given the fact that Blind Guardian almost never used full orchestras on their recordings, at certain points some people may feel unfamiliar with that kind of sound –On the other hand, this may attract new listeners.\r\n

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\r\nThere are a couple of songs (“Control the Divine” and “Road of no Release”) which may go unnoticed. Maybe after I listen to the album a few more times, I might grow to enjoy them as much as the other tracks but for the moment they felt like “filler” songs. Ultimately this may very well be a taste issue.\r\n

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\r\nVocalist Hansi Kursch is not screaming anymore. He does sing brilliantly as always but I don’t think there’s a single Blind Guardian fan out there who doesn’t miss those days of old where the man used to literally tear his throat to bits on the microphone. Remember “Mordred’s Song” or “Time Stands Still”? [Sigh]\r\n

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\r\nOk that’s it, I honestly can’t find anything else on the bad side –The album is a beautiful piece of art. \r\n

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\r\nNow let’s all sing the bard song!\r\n

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\r\nManos “M for Metal” Alibertis\r\n

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\r\n"It is the best album we have ever writen" Marcus Siepen on his interview on METALZONE RADIO SHOW
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