Band:	Blind Guardian
Album:	Battalions Of Fear
Style:	Power metal, Speed metal
Release date:	May 18, 1988
Guest review by:	hottercraft

01. Majesty
02. Guardian Of The Blind
03. Trial By The Archon
04. Wizard's Crown
05. Run For The Night
06. The Martyr
07. Battalions Of Fear
08. By The Gate Of Moria
09. Gandalf's Rebirth [bonus]

This was the first album of the successful German Metal band Blind Guardian, and what an album!! Believe me: you won't see a more mature debut album as this. Blind Guardian worked in some of the songs written under their first name, Lucifer's Heritage, which were released in a demo CD. After that they changed their name to their current name, Blind Guardian, and here is where story begins. They took some songs of their previous CD and they made some others. The result: a wonderful album.

First, they tried to make a sound similar to Helloween, Speed/Power Metal or something similar. But in my opinion they didn't create Power Metal because their first releases, included "Battalions Of Fear", weren't Power Metal, they were SPEED Metal. Power Metal has melodies, and these first albums didn't have melodies, so that the sound of this album is, definitely, Speed Metal.

In this release we can find three very good Metal hymns. First, "Majesty" is the classical song of this CD and the song that every Blind Guardian fan wants to see live. Its beginning is really special and the song is even more special, it hasn't any melody but the chorus is extremely catchy; you'll remember this song as the true hymn of this CD. The second great song is "Guardian Of The Blind." It has a great starting riff and an amazing solo, the song in general is awesome. "Battalions Of Fear" is the third amazing song, it has great guitars along all the song, riffs are especially good, and it has a catchy chorus, too.

Unfortunately, this album has a weak point: "The Martyr." The song is really a bit long, but it's such a boring song that when I listen to it I think it's eternal, it never finishes, it's a nightmare. Poor riffs, poor guitars, poor rhythms, poor... SONG. But a shitty song doesn't make a shitty album, because this album is really a masterpiece, but, of course, this song is a very weak point.

In conclusion, they made a great masterpiece with this debut album, and probably, if "The Martyr" weren't of this album, it would probably receive a better score. If we forgot it, it would have my 100%, but unfortunately the song is in this album and I must rate it. The sound of this CD was only the beginning of an incredible evolution, and if then they were great, later they would be one of the best German Metal bands ever.