Band:	Blind Guardian
Album:	Imaginations From The Other Side
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	April 05, 1995
Guest review by:	Pazu

01. Imaginations From The Other Side
02. I'm Alive
03. A Past And Future Secret
04. The Script For My Requiem
05. Mordred's Song
06. Born In A Mourning Hall
07. Bright Eyes
08. Another Holy War
09. And The Story Ends
10. The Wizard [Uriah Heep cover] [Japanese bonus]
11. The Script For My Requiem [demo] [Japanese bonus]
12. I'm A Alive [demo] [Japanese bonus]
13. Imaginations From The Other Side [demo] [Japanese bonus]
14. A Past And Future Secret [demo] [Japanese bonus]
15. A Past And Future Secret [demo] [2007 re-release bonus]
16. Imaginations From The Other Side [demo] [2007 re-release bonus]
17. The Script For My Requiem [demo] [2007 re-release bonus]
+ Bright Eyes [video] [2007 re-release bonus]
+ Born In A Morning Hall [video] [2007 re-release bonus]

This is it, Blind Guardian's best effort and the very definition of Power metal. Imaginations From The Other Side has everything the genre needs: heavy drums, perfect guitar play and both beautifully calm and powerful vocals culminating in choruses that you'll recognize even ages after you last heard them.

If we take a look at the history of the band and their previous releases, we can see that this album is the product of a decade of improving. What Battalions Of Fear had started with speed and Somewhere Far Beyond added with more emotional elements, Imaginations perfected. Well, almost at least. The lyrical themes are not quite inspired enough to reach the perfect score and "I'm Alive" feels just a little weaker than the rest of the album, mostly because it lacks its recognizable sound that all the other seven tracks have without a doubt. However, I'm complaining on the highest level here. The lyrics are still far from the typical European cheerful and cheesy style and there are many people out there who love "I'm Alive," I just don't happen to be one of them.

Anyway, it is kind of funny though, how Blind Guardian arranged their songs on this record. It starts off with the title track, which is arguably the heaviest one, focused especially strong on Thomas' drums and Hansi's powerful shouts. What follows are both the fastest and the slowest song on the record: the already mentioned "I'm Alive" and the beautiful "A Past And Future Secret." After showing off those three very distinct sort of styles, the band lets us enter a phase of over 25 minutes in which those different elements fuse into masterpieces such as "Mordred's Song" or my personal favorite "Bright Eyes." Also among them is "The Script For My Reqiem," that has a chorus you'll never forget. After listening to all this so many times, it's almost as if the band said: "Here's what we have, and this is what we can do with it now." Maybe that composition isn't apparent to anyone, but that's how I feel about it. Lastly, "And the Story Ends" finishes the album on a slower note, so that you're able to realize the marvel you just witnessed.

My musical knowledge is probably not sufficient for exactly explaning why this is the definite Blind Guardian album, but I tried my best. None of them come without excellent tracks, this one however features next to nothing but those kind of songs. Imaginations From The Other Side is worth checking out for every metal fan and a must-have if you're into Power. It is rivaled only by few in the genre and right up there with Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II.