Band:	Blind Guardian
Album:	Beyond The Red Mirror
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	January 30, 2015
A review by:	R'Vannith

01. The Ninth Wave
02. Twilight Of The Gods
03. Prophecies
04. At The Edge Of Time
05. Ashes Of Eternity
06. Distant Memories [limited and earbook edition bonus]
07. The Holy Grail
08. The Throne
09. Sacred Mind
10. Miracle Machine
11. Grand Parade
12. Doom [earbook edition bonus]

It was hinted At The Edge Of Time. A new symphonic focus and refinement that would bring Blind Guardian's sound fully into modern times. Production has never been as important in showcasing yet another distinctive album experience in their pioneering style of power metal. What lies beyond is assurance as much as surprise.

Beyond The Red Mirror is a new level of symphonic involvement, founded in the kind of orchestral placement that made At The Edge Of Time such an improvement over the questionable and seemingly self-allusiveA Twist In The Myth. From its majestic opening in "The Ninth Wave," the continuation of the band's recent aims are determined in an effort four-and-a-half years in the making. As such, listeners can rest assured that they are in for another album experience that has been crafted with attention down to the detail.

A wholly cohesive and organised structure is this album's greatest strength, the driving force in what emphasises consistency in a manner unlike any of Blind Guardian's preceding records; an impressive feat considering their tendency to avoid inconsistency. A number of tracks are of a prevailingly up-tempo delivery that harkens to the band's speed metal origins with their irresistible drive and situated within an album best demonstrating Blind Guardian's symphonically enhanced modern sound, such as those occupying the album's centre in "Ashes Of Eternity" and "The Holy Grail," as the rhythm section dominates and urges the track-list onward. A majority of the record, however, seeks close arrangement with the orchestral component to form and maintain denser compositions with a tight unison between band and the enlisted grand orchestras and choirs (two and three, respectively). The purpose of this album is to cement such a uniformity in the style Blind Guardian have come to define over their thirty year journey, spearheading the power metal genre in a fashion entirely their own, ever seeking to enhance themselves to deliver fresh and engaging material, of which Beyond The Red Mirror is no exception.

Track development is significantly longer on average than what listeners may expect, the orchestral accompaniment extending song progression across the board to limits unforeseen in Blind Guardian's discography, housed within the two equally enveloping nine-and-a-half minute tracks neatly arranged and situated at the album's beginning and conclusion. Despite obvious track differentiation, a drawback from this more extensive approach is the reduction in the rhythmic variance typical of Blind Guardian, as the pace often becomes fixed at higher tempo within the context of a number of tracks. In some ways, though, this would spur the track-list on with notable energy and consistency, sustaining an engaging delivery overall, as the band's trademark vocal arrangements forwarded by Hansi Kürsch are well layered in the mix with added bolstering from the aforementioned choirs, and the rhythm section operating effectively on its own or operating upon the orchestral swell.

The record's unbroken nature provides ample grounds for refining a new focus that is all the more impressively arranged leading on from 2010's At The Edge Of Time, and is herein more wholesomely written into the songs. Beyond The Red Mirror is another carefully constructed album experience, and adds further distinctive enhancement to Blind Guardian's catalogue.