Blind Guardian's 'At the Edge of Time' is another solid effort from the German speed metallers

CD Review:
Blind Guardian
At the Edge of Time
8 out of 10

Symphonic metal is a genre bordering between being breathtakingly awesome and incredibly cheesy.

Bands like Therion and Nightwish helped formulate the style of music by combining heavy metal riffs with operatic sounds. Since then, there have been many bands, mainly from Europe and countries outside of the US, who have further explored this genre.

Blind Guardian started out as a straightforward speed metal band in 1984, then added a heavy dose of folk to create a dynamic sound that would be at home within The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

However, Blind Guardian is one of the few groups that can pull this off without inducing too much cringing, mainly because its members are so damn talented (Hansi Kursch is one of the best touring vocalists out there today).

2002’s A Night at the Opera saw the band taking on a more progressive symphonic direction, which continued on 2006’s A Twist in the Myth and the latest release At the Edge of Time.

The direction wasn’t really a surprise for Blind Guardian’s devout fan base, but every stylistic change comes with criticism.

The good news is, At the Edge of Time successfully combines Blind Guardian’s operatic sound, with its speed metal roots. The songs on the album are at times reminiscent of 1995’s Imaginations From the Otherside and most fit well into the band’s catalog of nine studio albums, although there are still a few issues holding it back from being a truly great album.

Blind Guardian release awesome new song, with slightly cheesy video

This isn't the first time I've logged in to The Official Metal Show Metal Blog to geek out on Blind Guardian. In a previous post, I even claimed the group is one of the best metal bands of all time (you can check that out here.

However, this time around, I'm just going to let the new track, "A Voice in the Dark," do the talking for itself. This song sounds like something off Somewhere Far Beyond and the new short-haired Hansi still delivers one of the best vocal performances around.

Blind Guardian's new disc, At the Edge of Time, is set for an August 24 release in the U.S.

Watch the video below and enjoy!

Geek Out with a Blind Guardian Studio Preview

Blind Guardian is one of the greatest metal bands of all time. There is no denying it. If you do, then you shouldn't be listening to metal, or you must have had one terrible experience at a medieval festival while the band's music was playing.

The band combines the sounds of power and thrash metal into an epic sound, full of unique guitar harmonies and soaring vocals. Hell, I'll even go as far to say that vocalist Hansi Kursch is one of the best metal vocalists too (and he is the only man that can legitimately pull off Queen covers in my book).

I could hype up the band all day, but it's better if I just post some clips. One heavy, one acoustic, and one previewing the new album, which the band is currently in the studio recording.

Badass!

Wizards, Dragons and Blind Guardian!

Blind Guardian is one of the most atmospheric, epic and awesome bands in the whole metal realm. These guys can write about some of the cheesiest stuff and still make it badass.

"A Twist in the Myth" was the band's last release and it was solid. I think the new one could have potential to be better though. In fact the band just finished recording eight new tracks in the studio.

Here's what Hansi Kursch had to say:

"What can I say about these songs? They rule, of course. You want a more precise description? Impossible. All I can say is that each and every song is 100% BLIND GUARDIAN, which, naturally, means there is a wild bunch of different things going on from time to time (always?)."

Kursch is the man and has one of the most unique voices in metal.

Check out the epic sounding track "Sacred" below, which will appear on the new album when it eventually comes out (probably not until later in the year). Yes I know it looks like a trailer for a videogame, that's because it is. Like I said, only certain bands like Blind Guardian can get away with stuff like this!