Okay, now you got my attention

You're not the only one

Is it actually happening? Now people can finally stop asking, lol. To be honest, though, I hope this is gonna be a whole lot better than the orchestration on the previous album.

My body is ready for this.

Written by Pazu on 31.03.2019 at 20:06

Is it actually happening? Now people can finally stop asking, lol. To be honest, though, I hope this is gonna be a whole lot better than the orchestration on the previous album.

What was wrong with it? It's hard to imaging something even more orchestral. Will it be metal?

First single released!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksrZXuWbuVA

I was already very skeptical of BG making an orchestral album, but this track is so fucking boring it's almost funny. Shame they're wasting their time on this; they've always been one of the few PM bands that I liked.

Written by Irritable Ted on 07.09.2019 at 15:08

If you bunged in some guitars and drums it would be much better.

Most likely. I guess it's my own fault. I like BG because they're a metal band, so I don't know what I was expecting with this orchestral stuff.

Marcus Siepen - guitars
André Olbrich - guitars

In what way??

Written by blindg on 01.10.2019 at 11:31

Marcus Siepen - guitars
André Olbrich - guitars

In what way??

They performed on the album but were muted.

Written by blindg on 01.10.2019 at 11:31

Marcus Siepen - guitars
André Olbrich - guitars

In what way??

Probably acoustic guitar parts.

I actually liked it, the melody's nice and Hansi's singing is good as always.
Still, it does sound like BG minus the guitars... and sadly I'm sure they would have added a lot to the song...

Written by Darkside Momo on 02.10.2019 at 00:53

I had to laugh at that saying you have in your profile about the madness taking a toll - thanks for that.

Written by frequenzangriff on 05.10.2019 at 03:54

I had to laugh at that saying you have in your profile about the madness taking a toll - thanks for that.

hah thanks

Written by Darkside Momo on 02.10.2019 at 00:53

I actually liked it, the melody's nice and Hansi's singing is good as always.
Still, it does sound like BG minus the guitars... and sadly I'm sure they would have added a lot to the song...

Let's see... They have stated since 24 years ago that's a ENTIRELY ORCHESTRAL project. Not a metal sounding album, but ENTIRELY ORCHESTRAL, I repeat. Anyone awaiting something related to metal will be really disappointed. And sadly as I see many people around this website don't know to appreciate music if is not metal

Written by mikeprado30 on 11.10.2019 at 05:34

Written by Darkside Momo on 02.10.2019 at 00:53

I actually liked it, the melody's nice and Hansi's singing is good as always.
Still, it does sound like BG minus the guitars... and sadly I'm sure they would have added a lot to the song...

Let's see... They have stated since 24 years ago that's a ENTIRELY ORCHESTRAL project. Not a metal sounding album, but ENTIRELY ORCHESTRAL, I repeat. Anyone awaiting something related to metal will be really disappointed. And sadly as I see many people around this website don't know to appreciate music if is not metal

I know all you wrote already. And I liked the song, but I'll re-phrase my thoughts: to me, "Point Of No Return" sounds like a BG song written with guitar lines in mind, but they just decided not to record those. And that's why I feel something's lacking.
Once again, my perception

This shouldn't be called a Blind Guardian album. It is more correctly a Hansi Kürsch solo album. Here's the lineup:

Hansi Kürsch - vocals

The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra - orchestration

While my favorite genres are metal and progressive rock, this album fits into neither but is excellent. They give it enough power in the symphonic elements that most of the compositions have a heavy "near metal" sound. My hat's off to the band. I purchased the album in 44.1 / 24 hi res, and it sounds terrific. It's worth the price of admission.

Well the album is out now! It's actually much better than I expected after that rubbish This Storm song they posted. The production is still pretty ass throughout the album though, especially when songs start to get bombastic and loud. Hansi's performance is fantastic! i will say that this album is best listened to straight through. It needs the interludes and build-up for songs to really come together.

Highlights: In The Red Dwarfs Tower, War Feeds War and Dark Clouds Rising

Nice album, but not the bombastic and overwhelming experience they did hype so much time, and as a HIGH fan from them, I feel a bit disappointed. But never mind, maybe with more listens it will grow on me

If you go symphonic there's always risk that you end up just pathetic. And this project looks like some kind of artistic masturbation like Dream Theater's Astonishing for example.

I understand this was their intention for decades, but I can't help but think how some of these songs would sound if beside the orchestra (beside, not instead), they would have their "normal" instruments. I am someone who loves metal albums recorded with orchestra (like Dimmu Borgir, Nightwish, Therion, Rhapsody, Blind Guardian themselves...) but I'm not being able to get into this in the same way. Then, it's also the lyrics. Story is good, lyrics are not, imo.

I like it. Hansi's vocals are really great on this one. With an album like this I expect to get a story and be taken on a journey. It does that pretty well imo.

I can see why some will like this album a lot the way it is and why others might be disappointed by the lack of metal music.

Honestly, I am fine with either. Like I said I enjoyed listening to this record. And if they had done this with guitars and drums I would most likely have enjoyed it as well. If they had done that I feel like it would have been closer in sound to At The Edge Of Time than to Beyond The Red Mirror.

Absolutely not my cup of tea, although I consider Mirror the be the lowest of lows in BG disco so there's pretty much little hope left for anything good.

I think a superb follow up to this album would be a live album version played in its entirety and put to Blind Guardian's classic metal sound. It would be similar to what ELP did with Pictures at an Exhibition. I gave the album an 8/10 as is, if it was put to metal, I would bump it up to a 9 or 9.5. It would rival some of BG's best works.

I guess it's ok for a soundtrack. Does every track need its own intro?

This record could have easily been the best Blind Guardian release since "Nightfall in Middle Earth", if only the electric guitars entered in the equation. Without that crutial element, it´s still a very good orchestral álbum, but not a mastepiece. And this one had almost all the elements to become a Masterpiece, in my book.

Well it is what it is...

Not missing the guitars/[metal] instruments, not one bit.
Why would I?
Guitar music is all around yet this kind of music is very rear.
So, why would I care for [not having] guitars?
Could not care less about them.
Go listen to new Nile, plenty of guitars & double bass there...

Legacy Of The Dark Lands?
So darn refreshing!

Now I'm imagining this songs in 3 different versions similar to what Virgin Black did with Requiem. A "Fortíssimo" with metal instruments and orchestra; "Mezzo Forte" like they did here and the "Pianissimo" being the only instrumental version. They did 2 of 3, and I would love to hear the third, as the compositions are top notch, among the best of their entire discography.

Disappointing