A Twist in the Myth

Mid period Blind Guardian reigned supreme above the rest of the power metal scene for various reasons. Excellent, energetic choirs interplaying with both Hansi's very medieval mournful clean voice and his rough cries of anguish and fury. Plentiful memorable and majestic melodies and choruses mixed with aggressive thrashy parts. Blind Guardian was the perfect mix of speed metal and symphonic power metal. Added to this were the lyrics, far superior to the ‘ride above the valleys of steel’ standard tripe, the Bards actually sang epic fantasy/medieval tales of courage and tragedy.

After the huge and complex Night at the Opera Blind Guardian clearly decided to create something simpler, more accessible and memorable and ‘return to their roots’ whilst keeping many elements of their new sound. Remaining from Night at the Opera is Hansi’s new all clean happy voice, excellent production (thankfully) and the lack of the emotion and medieval atmosphere present in mid period Guardian. Gone are the big choirs, orchestral touches, long tracks and epic feel. Returned from the old Blind Guardian… roughly nothing really except for shorter simpler songs. There’s a distinctive happy more rock ‘n’ roll feel here closer to the likes of Helloween and Edguy than anything Blind guardian have put out before. Sadly blind Guardian really aren’t very good at this style. There are a couple of catchy choruses which are probably the best parts of this album, especially the incredibly strong vocal lines in Otherland. Ultimately this album needed to be at least as catchy as most of Blind Guardian’s back catalogue to compare to them, and it really isn’t.

The lyrics here are often embarrassing and the catchier the song the more horrendously childish and annoying the lyrics tend to be. Forget the dark, tragic, epic fantasy of the Silmarillion and King Arthur. Now we have childish songs about the power of imagination which sound like something from Barney the Dinosaur. The language is also very simple and childish, how many people over 10 use the phrase ‘make believe’? Some examples of the lyrical delights this album has to offer include ‘Once I've touched the rainbow, The man on the moon will appear’ and ‘It's nothing else but fantasy, It's make believe, make believe’. These lyrics aren’t funny like Rhapsody or Manowar, they’re just plain bad. In an interview promoting this album Hansi mentioned his desire to write a song about Harry Potter, after listening to this you won’t be surprised.

There is one very touching, original and emotional song on this album. Carry the Blessed home, as Hansi’s last song about the Dark Tower and the end of Roland’s quest, it falls short of the masterpiece it could be by being too short and simple, yet it’s still very powerful and my personal favourite on the album. The ballad Skalds and Shadows is perhaps Blind guardian’s weakest acoustic song, but it’s a difficult legacy to live up to and is still rather excellent, though the acoustic version with Fly has a stronger medieval campfire feel.

Though disappointing, for any major fans of happy power metal or people who just can’t get enough of Blind Guardian, this is a worthy buy. If you really want to see what this band is capable of at its best listen to Nightfall in Middle Earth and Imaginations from the Other Side.