Metal Reviews

It isn't that they sound like Rhapsody, it is that they, like Rhapsody use a bunch of crap they don't need when they obviously have the talent to make good Heavy Metal.

This may be true. It certainly is of Rhapsody these days and A Night at the Opera could have been great if not for how utterly overblown it all was (yes, yes, I know this is contended). I know it must be very tempting for bands as they progress to keep adding more and more, but sometimes they really ought to take a step back before they lose sight of the shore completely.

Luca Turilli, for example, has gone from an awesome lead guitarist to a pretentious would-be composer more interested in creating film soundtracks. Which is very sad.

I think Rhapsody tend to go a little overboard, but Blind Guardian do not. They do exactly what suits the music well. Let's not pretend like the early Blind Guardian albums are anything mindblowing here. Sure, they're heavier, more aggressive and faster, but at the end of the day they were also pretty run-of-the-mill Euro-thrash albums. The band started to shine when they began incorporating that symphonic quality into their music, more melody, a bigger sound. Sure, ANATO may be a bit much for even those that like the symphonic shit as it was really symphonic, but the rest of their albums have beem mild in comparison and not nearly to the point of Rhapsody excessiveness.

I think bands need to change if they want to stay honest, you know? Fans, of course, want it both ways. They want the bands to change and not do the same thing all the time, but they also don't want them to change. The traits of all music fans is like split personalities that don't know the other exists.

I think Nightfall was their best so far. ANATO was ok, but I still prefer Nightfall. Anyway, I'm back at college now where my apartment is internet-less and I'm sneakin behind my lecturer's back to post this. So I guess I'l wait till the album is out here and get it. But thanks for hyping me up guys, now I'm so excited I think I'm gonna have a heart attack.

I'm sure they have the talent to make good polka also, but that's not the path they've chosen to take their music. And how do you determine what their needs are? If they plan to create the kind of music they are now creating then they do need all that "bunch of crap".

Which albums do you refer to by "early"? BOF was anything but "run-of-the-mill Euro-thrash album", it's actually one of the best speed metal albums ever produced. It's a pretty mindblowing debut, if you ask me.
While I agree that their thrashy experiment FTB isn't that special, they pretty much established their trademark sound with TFTTW, and consolidated it with SFB and IFTOS. I wouldn't call those albums symphonic, and they shone allright, in fact TFTTW and IFTOS should be considered milestones for metal.

The idea is I don't think they need any symphonic dimension to shine. There's nothing symphonic in the main riff from Time What Is Time, and man what a song that is. The first one I ever heard from them and it instantly converted me into a fan. Without any symphonic or overblown shit.

I can't really listen to ANATO, I get bored after a few songs. But PRecious Jerusalem is awesome!

Look, because I am such a big Blind Guardian fan, I felt I owed it to them to listen to it. I was even a little excited. But, man, they've strayed so far from the path. Nightfall was soo fucking awesome...too bad they ran that formula into the ground. What the fuck is wrong with playing thrashier music with less effects. Why is that so difficult for them. Hopefully they;ll realize this. Probably not though, so many fan boys will buy the album and say its the best thing ever. But hey, those are opinions. Production doesnt make up for song writing, I hope they havent forgotten that. There is still hope for them. ANATO had two really awesome songs on it: The Soulforged and And then there was Silence. This release doesnt have a single good one on it.

run of the mill compared to what else out there back then? Paragon? Gamma Ray? Iron Saviour? Crimson Glory? There wasn't a whole lot back then. Now it is easy to look back and say baaaaaaaah, they just played standard german HM, but back then with gurnge and all of that other faggy HM stuff bands like BG were a rarity. Now everything is oversaturated.

Besides some of us like good Euro true Heavy Metal and that is what blows our mind, not what is basically fake soundtrack music made in a studio with no heart.

Therion is one of the only bands I ever heard that could do that type of pretensious stuff and not sound gay or full of shit. I think because at the heart of it CJ never forgets he plays HM plus he has the musical genious to pull it off.

Yeah, but I get to choose what I want to hear and what I think makes Heavy Metal good, and IMO their music is shit. My opinion, talented guys (despite a castarated singer) who could make good HM if they choose too but instead lost it. You like that kind of shit, more power to you.

I thought you were talking about their needs as a band and not your own taste in music, but I guess you changed your mind.

My need, is for a band like BG, with that much talent to make true Heavy Metal is for them to fucking make it and not this BS studio fake stuff. I can respect it and all that, but it isn't what I want from a band that gave me Nightfall and songs like the Will of the Wand and Time stands still (on the Iron Hill).

He's right. it doesnt even sound like humans are playing the guitars. They are so over produced and generic, it sounds like a computer is doing it. And Hansi's vocals are so annoying now. Ever verse is layered millions of times, and the choruses don't really stand out any more. The melodies are boring and the chorus is indistinguishable from the verse. Bah!

ugh i'm not even gonna bother downloading it.