Monday 9 February 2015

Album Review: Blind Guardian-Beyond the Red Mirror


Blind Guardian release their 10th studio album Beyond the Red Mirror. We ask our metal writer, Gary Lee, to take a look!














German power metal act Blind Guardian are back after a 5 year break with the suitably epic Beyond The Red Mirror. The album comes five years after their previous work At The Edge of Time (2010) and is conceptually the sequel to Imaginations From The Otherside (1995). Singer Hansi Kürsch has described the album as a story that exists somewhere between science fiction and fantasy. The production of this album has been vast; working with choirs from Budapest, Prague and Boston along with 2 orchestras with over 90 people in each. The result is a larger than life album that takes the bold move of bridging two albums together and it does so with magical music.

The opening track, The Ninth Wave, makes good use of the aforementioned production extras to create a captivating intro which is accompanied by Hansi's piercing and powerful vocals that tease with emotions like a sculptor with clay. The distorted guitar riffing adds to the building tension, reaching a pleasant crescendo at the chorus "sail on 'till we reach the promised land/we all drown in the fifth dimension" which I feel is a great lyrical motif for the song to build towards through each successive verse. At nearly 10 minutes long and with almost every second spent in grandeur, the scope of this song is perhaps too large for me to sum up here. However, it builds, peaks and falls well time and time again. This does more than enough to keep me interested and is masterfully executed. It is indeed a strong intro track and without a doubt one of the highlights on the album.

The following track, Twilight of The Gods, is the single from this album and as such, while it keeps the usual "epic" Blind Guardian feel, it is carried on the back of a much more tried and tested metal chassis. The chorus is still the epic power pose opportunity, carried by those powerful vocals once again. But the song in general sees much more double kick and guitar soloing than the previous song. It creates a great call and answer effect with the album; track 1 offers up atmospheric, almost cinematic Blind Guardian, while track 2 knocks it out of the park with metal "Twist in The Myth" Blind Guardian.

At the Edge of Time bridges these two broad methods of delivery. Beginning with a moody and teasing orchestral piece that sounds like it could have been in the Fantasia soundtrack, which is equally matched by Hansi's vocals, this time delivered with just the right amount of wonder. This slowly builds to become a wonderful metal track that again encapsulates everything about Blind Guardian and the majesty of the power metal genre. I also want to give a small mention to Ashes of Eternity for having one of the best intro riffs on this whole album.

The Holy Grail opens in a threatening and pulsating metal manner and Hansi's vocals being backed by the choir provides a haunting highlight. The guitar that comes in around 1:55 is nicely done and is underpinned by a galloping drum section that pretty much illustrates the pace of this track, which never lets up. The song certainly strays very little from the usual formula, but does it's job well! The Throne is majesty in full effect, the choirs and orchestra pair up with Blind Guardian again here, to create a spanning and vast piece of music much in the vein of The Ninth Wave. The guitar work around the 4:30 mark is also damn nice to listen to.

Miracle Machine is a beautiful melodic ballad. However, the chorus is very catchy and the song stands at a very radio friendly 3:03. The majority of the song is piano lead, which makes it refreshing after all the guitar riffs and double kicks. If this album had a second single, I would love it to be this. It compliments the metal stylings of Twilight of the Gods very well and is one of my favourite moments on the album.

In summation, I feel that this album is a very solid offering, beautifully crafted and has some great production and additional elements as I have already discussed. However, it is Blind Guardian being Blind Guardian and as such, nothing about this album sticks out as striking or memorable. What they have added compliments the old patterns and formula well, rather than reinventing it. Yet there remains a lot to like here, for fans of the band and the genre.  

Article by Gary Lee (@thewheelbear)



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