For this band horrible album artwork

Written by Bad English on 16.05.2022 at 10:10

For this band horrible album artwork

Agreed, the EP looks to have better art than their actual album.

At first glance I thought it was the spear of longinus on the cover

Written by Bad English on 16.05.2022 at 10:10

For this band horrible album artwork

Maybe not great, but still miles better than many of the previous ones.

This is the most shameless image ripoff I've ever seen. They literaly just cropped a well known image.

Written by Roman Doez on 16.05.2022 at 18:54

At first glance I thought it was the spear of longinus on the cover

Well, the drawing artist said he was inspired by Evangelion when he did this drawing.

With BG I've never felt the need to dive into their discography, I found everything I wanted on two albums. Still gonna check this out when it comes.

First listening, quite a lackluster album... yeah it's faster and heavier but zero exciting melodies, or epic chorus...
Lacks the emotion of other albums.

...I do hope it gets better after a few spins

Written by Callisto on 01.09.2022 at 18:20

First listening, quite a lackluster album... yeah it's faster and heavier but zero exciting melodies, or epic chorus...
Lacks the emotion of other albums.

...I do hope it gets better after a few spins

Have to somewhat agree here. While it seems heavier, I dont know why, but I cant feel this one

I feel like once again the guitars are buried in the mix and... I never thought I'ld say this, but I feel like Hansi cant shut up on this one, it's like his vocals are suffocating the music

Maybe it'll grow on me, but I'm a bit disappoint

I'm loving it. Have spun it 4 times...each time better and better

I'm actually slightly surprised at how good this is. Somewhere between 7 and 8 for me at the moment and I have a feeling I'll like it more when I listen to it again first thing tomorrow morning. The Bards have still got it

Plain and simple. Their best work in the period after Nightfall till now. Nothing New but something really Great. Melodies, riffing, fast paces, mid-tempos, and some of the greatest melodic-epic and straightforward choruses for the last 20-plus years. Songs such as SECRETS OF THE AMERICAN GODS and BLOOD OF THE ELVES are all-time classics and could easily be in the track listing of their 90s legendary albums.
This time they use brilliantly the greatest elements from their past.

After a few spins I would have to say I'm quite impressed by this, it's much better than I expected it to be. The tempo and heaviness is obviously back to their roots, and I would even go far as to say this could well be one of their heaviest albums to date, which is strange after all these years. Hansi's vocals are as energetic as ever, not his best vocal performance, but I never expected it to be, his still done a good enough job.

As far as songwriting goes I was disappointed at first, it does lack that initial spark of magic from their golden era. The melodies and riffs are somehow more simplified, the riffs are catchy but don't have that fantasy feel. I would have definitely liked to hear more synth work and orchestral moments, that is what I really admired most about their early work, they used to capture your imagination more. Some of the choruses however are brilliant, they've maintained that epicness especially on "Secrets of the American Gods".

I can't say I'm impressed by the album as a whole as there are some tracks that I can't quite fully sink in, "Destiny" for instance is a huge disappointment, as I expected a far better closer than that. "Secrets of the American Gods", "Life Beyond the Spheres" and "Blood of the Elves" are the main stand outs for me.

Wow, 7 years since the last one, didn't realise it had been so long.
I'm about halfway through and it sounds pretty okay. Probably not something I'd revisit often but better than Beyond The Red Mirror without a shred of doubt.

First few listens, not overly impressed. But it's good!

Great fucking comeback!!!! Haven't enjoyed a BG album like this since At the Edge of TIme, and this one edges out that one IMO. Woooo happy Friday!!

This is pretty good not the biggest power metal fan but I always like Blind Guardian great album.

Three spins in to the album and I feel something is off. It is heavier and faster, well played and sung. However, it doesn't grasp my attention like the past platters from the bards. The album feels less melodic: meandering verses with choruses not so grand and it has no song that immediately commands my interest (e.g. The "Holy Grail" from the last album was love at first listen).

I should be drawn to the faster/ more aggressive songs, but surprisingly the only ones that made any impression thus far have been the slower ones .." American Gods", "Let it be no more" and "Life beyond the spheres"." Blood of Elves" and "Deliver us from evil" has parts that pique my interest, but overall I am just not feeling this album. The songs just seem to blend into one another without any defining traits.

I feel like I am listening to the album out of obligation, out of respect for the band rather than for my enjoyment. Refraining from rating the album until I give it a few more listens to see if t will change my mind.

Edit : Subsequent spins did help - I can appreciate "Damnation" , " Blood of Elves" and "Deliver us from evil" a lot more. Still feel the slower songs are way better written, with "American Gods" being my favorite. This album is at most a 7 for me.

Well, so many different viewpoints about this album. I really loved each single since first listening, and I understand some criticism around here about issues like not enough melody or not much magic in comparison to previous efforts. I really don't care so much about it, because I was expecting an amazing performance of those guys, and really they did it. Not any PM band gives you such speed like the one felt in Blood of the Elves.

What I can't really understand is the criticism about Hansi's performance, when he's having one of the best moments on his entire career (listening him at the last live dates of the band singing the entire Somewhere Far Beyond is a grateful proof of that), and the emotional touch is still here from him.

I could listen it from 2 weeks ago since I'm a reviewer for a Latin American webzine, and I thank God and the life for this great return in form of Blind Guardian. This one has become my second favorite album (taking that place formerly worn by A Night at the Opera in my personal taste).

My favorite song ever from this gem is Secrets of the American Gods (funny fact, when it was released as a single didn't impress me so much, but now listening the album as a whole did become my most beloved one out of them all).

These guys haven't released anything worth listening to since the 90s.

Written by A Real Mönkey on 03.09.2022 at 03:06

These guys haven't released anything worth listening to since the 90s.

And Metallica have sold themselves since No Life Til' Leather demos

Can't ever understand what the hell people wants in music

Written by mikeprado30 on 03.09.2022 at 06:11

Written by A Real Mönkey on 03.09.2022 at 03:06

These guys haven't released anything worth listening to since the 90s.

And Metallica have sold themselves since No Life Til' Leather demos

strawman argument here
It's just his opinion, why do you even get mad? If you disagree, make a better argument.

Mediocre album ,nothing too interesting ,nothing new .Sure more guitar driven, with less orchestral parts but somehow it sounds the same for me start to finish.

No. Full stop No!!! In Poland we got description for this kind of "music": festyn which translates somewhere along the village fete/carnival line.

Written by [user id=124046] on 03.09.2022 at 17:06

No. Full stop No!!! In Poland we got description for this kind of "music": festyn which translates somewhere along the village fete/carnival line.

Wow, so you didn't like the style and gave the album a 1. Trolls like you really ruin all kinds of ratings.

Written by [user id=124046] on 03.09.2022 at 17:06

No. Full stop No!!! In Poland we got description for this kind of "music": festyn which translates somewhere along the village fete/carnival line.

Thank God the vast majority of the world doesn't run on whatever Poland thinks .

Written by John_Doe on 03.09.2022 at 10:45

Written by mikeprado30 on 03.09.2022 at 06:11

Written by A Real Mönkey on 03.09.2022 at 03:06

These guys haven't released anything worth listening to since the 90s.

And Metallica have sold themselves since No Life Til' Leather demos

strawman argument here
It's just his opinion, why do you even get mad? If you disagree, make a better argument.

Who's getting mad?

Just making a joke about an absurd argument as it is to say those guys "haven't released anything worth since 90's". For myself is as absurd as the thing I answered.

Written by John_Doe on 03.09.2022 at 10:45

Written by mikeprado30 on 03.09.2022 at 06:11

Written by A Real Mönkey on 03.09.2022 at 03:06

These guys haven't released anything worth listening to since the 90s.

And Metallica have sold themselves since No Life Til' Leather demos

strawman argument here
It's just his opinion, why do you even get mad? If you disagree, make a better argument.

It's also not a very good argument against someone who thinks Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning are the only good Metallica albums.

Probably their best album in 20 years.

Written by mikeprado30 on 03.09.2022 at 01:33


My favorite song ever from this gem is Secrets of the American Gods (funny fact, when it was released as a single didn't impress me so much, but now listening the album as a whole did become my most beloved one out of them all).

Same feeling here, great song and great album (but ANATO still second in my list, this one is third)