Blind Guardian is a German speed/power metal band that was formed in 1985 and released their debut album, Battalions of Fear in 1988. Blind Guardian have, simply put, had quite an impressive career. Ten studio albums later and they show no signs of slowing down. Known for their melodic music and their fantasy styled lyrics, Blind Guardian has acquired the honored title of metal bards. Over the past twenty years the band has had only one line up change. That change was new drummer Frederik Ehmke, who also contributed to the band’s latest album by recording flutes and bagpipe tracks.
At The Edge of Time is the tenth studio album release from Blind Guardian. The album surprisingly debuted in the U.S. Billboard Top 200 charts at #108 and reached #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. Not too bad for a band that gets little radio air play. There’s no doubt that the accelerated popularity of the band is a correlation with the fact that it is the best work from the band since their 1998 album Nightfall In Middle-Earth. In many ways At The Edge of Time has a lot of the same musical elements as the classic Nightfall In Middle-Earth and their explosive 1995 album Imaginations From The Other Side. Every track on Time has literally everything you would expect from a Blind Guardian release, from the speed-metal driven riffs to the symphonic orchestral melodies. This time around there is no symphonic keyboards like in the band’s previous releases. Instead, most of the orchestral elements are done by the FILMharmonic Orchestra. Who says an orchestra has no place in metal? The orchestra brings out the feel of the style of music they are known for.
At The Edge Of Time is a mythical joy ride from start to finish. The first song, "Sacred Worlds," is an extended and reworked version of the infamous “Sacred” video (search youtube for “Blind Guardian Sacred 2 Concert”) from the 2008 video game Sacred 2: Fallin Angel. The song is the most powerful track on the disc and is a great way to open up this thrill ride of an album. Beginning with a moving opening orchestral section, the song soon builds into an epic and towering metal composition. Each song on Time is outstanding and only shows how talented these songwriting krauts are. From the 210 bpm (beats per minute) “Ride Into Obsession,” the medieval bard's song "Curse My Name," the epic piano track "War of Thrones," all the way up to the multitude of instruments used on the orchestra backed "Wheel Of Time," this album is a perfect example of what fantasy metal is. If you have a love for melodic fantasy driven power metal then At The Edge Of Time is definitely worth checking into. And, like all of Bind Guardian's work, the newest release is just a taste of what’s to come.
"At the Edge of Time" is on sale August 24, 2010 from Nuclear Blast.
