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Blind Guardian


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6 minutes ago, baldoooo said:

The first bands that I really got into was maiden,Testament and Blind Guardian. Two years straight I dropped everything I was listening to and my playlist only consisted of albums/songs from these bands. The nostalgia everytime I listen to one of their songs makes every second of it more epic.

They have that effect. I only got into Blind Guardian a couple of years ago as I used to think they were lame, but once I caught the bug I went crazy, bingeing for months. They're so good. 

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Blind Guardian are a fun band. At its core I think power metal is a fun sub-genre. Sure some bands take themselves a little more seriously, are a bit darker, and whatever else but overall it's good times metal. Blind Guardian do that better then most imo. The energetic riffs, memorable melodies, catchy sing-a-long choruses and Tolkien inspired lyrics make for quite the package. Plus Hansi has some serious range in his vocals.

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Blind Guardian are a fun band. At its core I think power metal is a fun sub-genre. Sure some bands take themselves a little more seriously, are a bit darker, and whatever else but overall it's good times metal. Blind Guardian do that better then most imo. The energetic riffs, memorable melodies, catchy sing-a-long choruses and Tolkien inspired lyrics make for quite the package. Plus Hansi has some serious range in his vocals.
Agreed on all counts. Power metal is pretty fun and upbeat overall, even the darker bands tend to fit that style. Blind Guardian has long been one of the best the genre had to offer, and their live performance that I caught last year did plenty to reinforce that belief for me.

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15 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Agreed on all counts. Power metal is pretty fun and upbeat overall, even the darker bands tend to fit that style. Blind Guardian has long been one of the best the genre had to offer, and their live performance that I caught last year did plenty to reinforce that belief for me.

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I'd love to see them live. 

I really only got into power metal when I started to actively look for more 'fun' music, too. I was tired of the dark stuff a few years back and thought I'd finally see what all the fuss was about with these bands. Glad I did. 

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I'd love to see them live. 
I really only got into power metal when I started to actively look for more 'fun' music, too. I was tired of the dark stuff a few years back and thought I'd finally see what all the fuss was about with these bands. Glad I did. 
I got into it when I was working at a record store that specialized in power, gothic, progressive, and melodic/symphonic black and death metal. The kind of place that sells incense, dragon sculptures, and sex toys along with their metal is a strange place indeed, but I did get into a lot of metal that I wasn't exposed to prior to then. Blind Guardian was my way in because of the riffs. I wasn't looking for anything fun, but I loved how they mixed those killer melodies and vocals with awesome speed metal guitars.

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  • 3 weeks later...
This band has taken some getting used to but Im starting to dig them now. Currently own Nightfall in Middle Earth
Several people point to that album as their high water mark. It's a great one, but I feel like they peaked with their prior album, Imaginations From the Other Side. Don't skip that one or Somewhere Far Beyond.

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6 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Several people point to that album as their high water mark. It's a great one, but I feel like they peaked with their prior album, Imaginations From the Other Side. Don't skip that one or Somewhere Far Beyond.

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Will do. Im going to head to zia next check and i will see what i can find.

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3 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Here's a sample from the album in question, which is probably my favorite Blind Guardian song from one of power metal's perfect albums.
 

 


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I definitely see what you mean when you talk about the incorporation of different subgenres within the power metal. Im liking these guys more and more.

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On 06/04/2018 at 11:18 PM, BlutAusNerd said:

I got into it when I was working at a record store that specialized in power, gothic, progressive, and melodic/symphonic black and death metal. The kind of place that sells incense, dragon sculptures, and sex toys along with their metal is a strange place indeed, but I did get into a lot of metal that I wasn't exposed to prior to then. Blind Guardian was my way in because of the riffs. I wasn't looking for anything fun, but I loved how they mixed those killer melodies and vocals with awesome speed metal guitars.

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I’d love to hear some anecdotes from your time in the store. I bet a place like that would produce a few stories. 

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I definitely see what you mean when you talk about the incorporation of different subgenres within the power metal. Im liking these guys more and more.
At this point, they were pretty standard power/speed metal, albeit a lot more epic and aggressive than most of their contemporaries. They added symphonic and progressive elements later, but this is the sound I prefer from them. Seeing this album played live start to finish was a highlight of my time listening to metal, they were flawless.

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1 hour ago, BlutAusNerd said:

At this point, they were pretty standard power/speed metal, albeit a lot more epic and aggressive than most of their contemporaries. They added symphonic and progressive elements later, but this is the sound I prefer from them. Seeing this album played live start to finish was a highlight of my time listening to metal, they were flawless.

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Dude that sounds like such an experience. As i get older I am less interested in jumping into the pit at shows and more interested in experiencing the music from a sonic perspective.

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Dude that sounds like such an experience. As i get older I am less interested in jumping into the pit at shows and more interested in experiencing the music from a sonic perspective.
Other than being drunk and getting tossed around during Obituary's set at MDF a few years ago, it's probably been about 10 years since I've moshed. I always felt like I was missing the show, and I'll headbang if I'm really getting into it, but otherwise I just prefer to take it all in and watch the performance. Since it's a classic/iconic album, and Blind Guardian has a pretty devoted following, the whole venue sang their asses off with Hansi during those huge choruses. I've never really felt the whole "metal unity/brotherhood" concept that many seem to espouse, but that feeling of everyone singing together was really cool. Their performance was on another level, absolutely stunning.

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22 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

Other than being drunk and getting tossed around during Obituary's set at MDF a few years ago, it's probably been about 10 years since I've moshed. I always felt like I was missing the show, and I'll headbang if I'm really getting into it, but otherwise I just prefer to take it all in and watch the performance. Since it's a classic/iconic album, and Blind Guardian has a pretty devoted following, the whole venue sang their asses off with Hansi during those huge choruses. I've never really felt the whole "metal unity/brotherhood" concept that many seem to espouse, but that feeling of everyone singing together was really cool. Their performance was on another level, absolutely stunning.

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I definitely share that sentiment. I feel like it was okay when I was mainly going to punk shows because moshing is just a big part of that. But i feel like metal, to me, is something i want to be present for.

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  • 11 months later...

Definitely one of my favorite bands. When I'm looking for something to work out to or just to really get into, they are one of the only bands that is up there with Iron Maiden and Dio for me in terms of being able to consistently deliver. 'Mirror Mirror' is my favorite Blind Guardian song and I guess Nightfall on Middle Earth is my favorite album by them as well. But, to paraphrase Office Space, I celebrate their whole catalogue. 'The Bard's Song', 'Lord of the Rings', 'Time what is Time', 'Twilight of the Gods,' 'Under the Ice'...I could go on. One of those bands where a good chunk of their catalogue occupies the place in my heart reserved for favorite songs.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My favorite band. Nothing comes close to Hansi's voice and their music. I think their peak actually was fairly recently with "At the edge of time" album. Probably their only album where they have two epics instead of one, Sacred Worlds and Wheel of Time. But almost the whole album is fantastic. I say almost because Control the Divine and Valkyries are truly boring songs. But the rest make up for it.  And Hansi's performance is my favorite out of any album (I'm not into the way he sings on Imaginations, all the raw stuff hides the clean part of his voice too much).

But mainly it's because Wheel of Time is such a truly magnificent song.

Has someone posted the news about the orchestra album already? Couldn't find anything yet, so here it goes:

http://www.blind-guardian.com/2019/03/01/blind-guardians-twilight-orchestra-legacy-of-the-dark-lands-teaser/

It's called "Legacy of the dark lands" and is due to be released November 1! It looks like it's really gonna happen, I thought it never would lol

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On 5/6/2019 at 1:56 AM, AltairEndian said:

My favorite band. Nothing comes close to Hansi's voice and their music. I think their peak actually was fairly recently with "At the edge of time" album. Probably their only album where they have two epics instead of one, Sacred Worlds and Wheel of Time. But almost the whole album is fantastic. I say almost because Control the Divine and Valkyries are truly boring songs. But the rest make up for it.  And Hansi's performance is my favorite out of any album (I'm not into the way he sings on Imaginations, all the raw stuff hides the clean part of his voice too much).

But mainly it's because Wheel of Time is such a truly magnificent song.

Has someone posted the news about the orchestra album already? Couldn't find anything yet, so here it goes:

http://www.blind-guardian.com/2019/03/01/blind-guardians-twilight-orchestra-legacy-of-the-dark-lands-teaser/

It's called "Legacy of the dark lands" and is due to be released November 1! It looks like it's really gonna happen, I thought it never would lol

Wow, you don’t like ‘Valkyries’? That’s one of my favourite Blind Guardian songs. When that opening guitar picking starts I just get chills, and the chorus! So, so great!!

I agree with you though in that I find it to be their best album. It’s just so lush and beautiful, yet adventurous. Perfect. 

I’m looking forward to the orchestral album and I’ll buy it straight away for sure. I hope it has plenty of hooks though and isn’t too indulgent and boring. 

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One other thing I want to say is about the 'A Twist in the Myth' album. 

In many ways it's the odd one out of the band's discography because it's full of 4-6 minute rock songs essentially, and lacks the bells and whistles of (most of) their usual fare. And I've been listening to this album a lot lately to the point where I have to say that it's my second favourite BG album - it could even be my favourite. 

The songs are just so damn catchy, with huge choruses and no wasted space. Every track is a masterpiece of songwriting. I think it's a highly underrated album and doesn't get the praise that it deserves. 

 

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  • 6 months later...

With the symphonic album, 'Legacy of the Dark Lands' finally released, it would be interesting to hear some opinions on it. 

Even though it's early days, I'm a bit ambiguous about it. I don't have it on CD yet as the pre-order has been delayed, but I've been listening on Apple Music so I've got a decent sense of it. 

Firstly, the music and production are phenomenal. The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra has done a great job as usual - they even have their own Metal Archives page that outlines their metal career, which is stunning. Anyway, the music is brilliant. 

Hansi's singing is classic Hansi. He does all the usual voices, overdubs and basically provides his best Queen-does-metal thing. So far so good. 

Now for the spoken interludes. Like 'Nightfall in Middle Earth', the album is based around a fantasy book, but it's not Tolkien, and there are interludes all over this thing. There are a lot of interludes, each more over the top and bombastic than the last, with English actors portraying fantasy characters discussing indecipherable twaddle that I - a highly intelligent man - can't make heads nor tails of.

I'm anticipating it making a bit more sense when I get my hands on the booklet, although considering the narrative within 'Beyond the Red Mirror' is still absurdly opaque, I'm not holding out a great deal of hope. I can't remember which novel the project is based around but I'll try to check it out. 

So far this is a fun release with some great material on it, if a bit bewildering. Time will tell how it all settles down. 

Anyone heard this yet and want to comment? 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Blind Guardian is great. I got into them through Tales from the Twilight World and specifically the song "Lord of the Rings". I was listening to them a lot when the Lord of the Rings movies came out. I feel like they are a criminally under-appreciated band & am not even sure if they have anything on vinyl, but I would totally pick up some of their stuff if it existed.

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