BLIND GUARDIAN – A Twist In The Myth

The German-inspired Power Metal genre has become a scene infected by incompetence, derivativeness, and a considerable resistance against new ideas. Inspired by the success of new bands like Hammerfall, Rhapsody (Of Fire), and Edguy, as well as more experienced ones like Gamma Ray, Helloween, Angra, and Kamelot, the market was suddenly drowned in a sea of new bands; some good but a helluva lot bad. Amidst this inferno of double-bass kicks, falsetto vocals, and guitar lines with more in common with the Teletubbies than Slayer or Metallica, there was always the one band that stood a head above the others. Every fan of good music would have guessed the band’s name already -– and the rest of you too, considering the title of this review. The band is Blind Guardian, whose four studio albums released between 1990 and 1998 are milestones in the history of Heavy Metal, and will remain so for centuries to come. The German quartet mixed medieval traditions, a progressive approach, and a God-like sense of melody with, at times, relentless aggressiveness, and the result was a complex, enchanting, and unique blend of Metal music.

Following the success of the aforementioned albums – Tales From The Twilight World (1990), Somewhere Far Beyond (1992), Imaginations From The Other Side, and Nightfall In Middle-Earth (1998), as well as the very promising efforts of Battalions Of Fear (1988) and Follow The Blind (1989), which featured such classic tracks as “Valhalla,” “Run For The Night,” “Majesty,” and “Banish From Sanctuary,” the expectations were high when the band released their first studio album of the new millennium – 2002’s A Night At The Opera.

Like the Queen classic from which it’d gotten its title, this album was an immensely pompous and utterly complex creation … during the recording, the band used no less than 200 vocal tracks, 100 keyboard tracks, and 50 guitars in addition to drums and bass, which was loved by many -– and loathed by some, causing argument that the Guardians had lost focus and the ability to write good songs, relying on impressive orchestration instead. Nevertheless, the album sold heaps of thousands, giving the band the resources needed to arrange nothing less than a two-day Blind Guardian Festival. This arrangement saw the band play alongside acts like Napalm Death, Rage, Soilwork, and Grave Digger, and guitarist Marcus Siepen has explained to Metal Express Radio that although not successful economically, this was a definitive highlight in the band’s career.

Anyway, we’re talking 2006 now, and A Twist In The Myth has arrived. Blind Guardian has never been a band to make commercially accessible songs, but if they are to have a radio hit once in their career, this album is the one to provide it. The song to do this is “Another Stranger Me,” the second single off the new album, a drop-dead gorgeous rocker that most certainly paves new ground for a band not exactly known for its straight 4/4 thumpers. And, there’s more too -– “Turn The Page” and “The New Order” can already be considered BG classics and should be considered compulsory in every live set, and “Fly,” “Otherland,” “Straight Through The Mirror,” “Skalds And Shadows,” and “Carry The Blessed Home” are other gems, making A Twist In The Myth a very strong album indeed. However, neither “This Will Never End” nor “The Edge” deserves their place on an album like this, and the album’s most intricate composition, “Lionheart,” is far, far from the level of former epics like “The Script For My Requiem,” “Imaginations From The Other Side,” “A Dark Passage,” or “Somewhere Far Beyond.”

This album also makes the debut of the band’s new drummer, Frederik Ehmke, and although no Thomas Stauch –- the band probably hates such comparisons, but it’s pretty impossible to stray away from them -– he does a good job. Still, he does not in any way dominate tracks and enhance musical passages like Thomen did, and his drumming style is far from as unique as that of his predecessor. Stauch’s signature style was a crucial part of Blind Guardian’s sound, but Ehmke does lay down some nice grooves too –- in “Lionheart,” for example.

What’s good about this, though, is that Ehmke’s less dominant style has given the other band members more room to shine, and if André Olbrich’s melodic leads have not been all over the place on the band’s previous albums (they have …) they certainly are this time. Every fan of melodic guitar playing should buy this album immediately, as he puts down some truly fantastic lines this time. “Turn The Page” is just one example -– his lead at 2:39 is nothing but genius. Singer Hansi Kürsch also proves himself to be still going strong -– he’s far from as aggressive as before, but his falsetto sounds amazing, and overall he puts down a good performance. Whether or not he’ll be able to deliver the highest screams live is up to debate, though.

To sum this up a bit, this is another kickass release by what probably is the world’s most consistent supplier of ingenious pieces of music. Not once have they delivered a poor CD, and all fans of the band will most certainly love this one too. It does show the band from a bit of a different side; it’s far from as complex as A Night At The Opera and as mentioned there’s some stuff in here that is quite so different from most of their back catalogue, but this does not matter as long as it sounds as dead cool as it does on A Twist In The Myth.