Year : 2020
Style : Melodic Power Metal
Country : Germany
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 180 mb
Bio:
Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in Krefeld, West Germany.They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres.Nine musicians have been a part of the band's line-up in its history, which has consisted of singer Hansi Kürsch, guitarists André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen, and drummer Frederik Ehmke since 2005.Blind Guardian is a part of the German heavy metal scene that emerged in the mid-1980s. They formed in 1984 as Lucifer's Heritage by Kürsch (then also bass guitarist), Olbrich, other guitarist Markus Dörk and drummer Thomas Stauch. Dörk and Stauch both left the following year, and were replaced by Christof Theißen and Hans-Peter Frey respectively, who left as well before the end of the year. In 1987, Siepen joined and Stauch returned; under this line-up, which lasted 18 years (the longest in the band's history), the band changed their name to Blind Guardian and released their first album, Battalions of Fear, in 1988.Over the releases, Blind Guardian established themselves as a notable successful band and as pioneers of the power metal movement. In 1996, Kürsch stopped acting as the band's bass guitarist to focus on vocals. Various session members replaced him, mainly Oliver Holzwarth. However in 2005, Stauch left the band, disapproving of Blind Guardian's transition into a more complex progressive sound with a heavy use of backing vocals, and was replaced by Ehmke.Most of Blind Guardian's albums were well received by fans and critics alike: Somewhere Far Beyond (1992), Imaginations from the Other Side (1995), and Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998), are especially seen as influential works. The music is mostly composed by Kürsch and Olbrich together, and the lyrics, written by Kürsch, are mostly inspired by the fiction of fantasy authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Robert Jordan, Stephen King and George R. R. Martin as well as traditional legends and epics.Over the years a theme has developed which personifies the band members as travelling storytellers, leading fans to refer to the band affectionately as "The Bards".
Album:
There may be people out there who don't regard BLIND GUARDIAN's "Imaginations From The Other Side" as a classic heavy metal record, but those people are wrong and deserve to be publicly scorned for their foolishness. "Imaginations…" remains a lot of fans' favorite album by the Germans, not least because it seemed to confidently define the band's sound at a point when melodic bombast and theatricality were, with mainstream rock and metal folk, about as popular as genital warts. Hansi Kürsch knew differently then, and 25 years later, this triple-disc celebration of a seminal masterpiece feels like vindication on a huge scale. BLIND GUARDIAN raced to the front of the pack when this was originally released in 1995, and they remain the undisputed champions of this stuff. Listening to this deluxe extravaganza's first disc, a complete performance of the album captured in Oberhausen, Germany, in 2016, the timeless nature of the material and the diehard ethos that has propelled Kürsch's crew forward for three decades are abundantly apparent. There's still plenty of fire in the band's collective belly, and they play these revered songs as if their lives depend on it, with their leader, as ever, in the finest of voices.The second disc comprises the album itself, in its 2012 remixed and remastered form. Turbo-nerds will doubtless pore over the details and, in many cases, declare the original to be superior, but frankly the latter version sounds utterly incredible and noticeably more vital and vivid than that first draft. And of course, as many artists have pointed out over the years, the original version does still exist. You can have both. It's cool.BLIND GUARDIAN are plainly catering for the true devotees here, however, because this lavish set's third disc is a definite obsessives-only affair. With instrumental versions of the whole album and a smattering of demos, it's aimed squarely at the BG completist. Weirdly, a terrific orchestral version of "A Past and Future Secret" is chucked in at the very end, seemingly as an afterthought. Meanwhile, the very notion of listening to a Kürsch-free BLIND GUARDIAN may seem preposterous, but if you have an ear for finer details, instrumental versions of "I'm Alive", "Mordred's Song" and the rest are subtly revealing and further evidence of this band's inherent classiness. But if it's primal heavy metal thrills you crave, a Blu-Ray boasting a film of the entire "Live in Oberhausen" set completes the picture, with the undeniably exhilarating sight of masters at work, in front of a psychotically enthusiastic crowd.Not every re-packaged classic gets the treatment it deserves, but this is about as comprehensive and megafan-friendly as it gets. A lovingly crafted piece of highbrow heavy metal art, "Imaginations From The Other Side" hasn't aged a bit.
Line Up:
Hansi Kürsch - Bass (1986-1995), Vocals (1986-present) - See also: Demons & Wizards, ex-Lucifer's Heritage, ex-Executor
André Olbrich - Guitars (lead) (1986-present) - See also: ex-Lucifer's Heritage, ex-European, ex-Zero Fault
Marcus Siepen - Guitars (rhythm) (1987-present) - See also: Sinbreed
Frederik Ehmke - Drums (2005-present) - See also: Sinbreed, ex-Schattentantz, ex-Neoshine
Tracklist:
01. Imaginations from the Other Side (Live) (08:26)
02. I'm Alive (Live) (05:40)
03. A Past and Future Secret (Live) (04:13)
04. The Script for My Requiem (Live) (06:32)
05. Mordred's Song (Live) (05:20)
06. Born in a Mourning Hall (Live) (05:37)
07. Bright Eyes (Live) (05:41)
08. Another Holy War (Live) (05:02)
09. And the Story Ends (Live) (07:27)
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