Blind Guardian "Nightfall In Middle-Earth (2007 Reissue, Remastered, Germany, Virgin Records, 0946 3 96520 2 0)"

Nightfall in Middle-Earth is the sixth studio album by the German power metal band Blind Guardian. It was released on 28 April 1998 through Virgin Records. It is a concept album based on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a book of tales from the First Age of Middle-earth, recounting the troubled history of Beleriand as the Elves battle with the Dark Lord Morgoth. The album contains not only songs but also spoken parts narrating parts of the story. The cover depicts a scene from The Silmarillion, the elf Lúthien dancing in front of the Dark Lord Morgoth.

Nightfall in Middle-Earth is widely regarded as one of Blind Guardian's best-known and best-received albums in their discography. It is also the first album with Oliver Holzwarth as guest musician, playing bass guitar instead of Hansi Kürsch.

It was the first album by Blind Guardian to be released in the United States. The sales encouraged Century Media to release their entire back catalog in the US in 2007, at which point it was remastered and re-released, with a bonus track.

The album has been described as "grandiose" and influenced by progressive rock. It has been compared to Queen's operatic approach with "dense choir-like vocal harmonies set against swirling multi-part guitar lines." Music critics have noted the fast, melodic guitar-work and the use of folk instruments, flutes, violins, and other instruments. The album's songs are varied, with "quick-paced numbers", ballads, and operatic pieces. Metal Hammer described it as "a banquet of medieval/folk, speed/power metal, and Queen-esque vocal twists, complete with interludes to illustrate the plot."

The album retells the events in The Silmarillion, beginning with an episode at the end:

• In "War of Wrath", Sauron advises his master Morgoth to flee the triumphant Valar in the War of Wrath. Morgoth sends him away and reflects on the events leading up to his defeat.
• In "Into the Storm", Morgoth and Ungoliant, fleeing from Valinor after having destroyed the Two Trees, struggle for the possession of the Silmarils.
• "Lammoth" is Morgoth's scream of fear. It summons his Balrogs to his aid to fight off Ungoliant.
• In "Nightfall", Fëanor and his seven sons mourn the destruction wrought by Morgoth, including the slaying of Finwë, Fëanor's father, and swear to get revenge on him, in spite of the Valar's disapproval.
• "The Minstrel" is most likely about Maglor, son of Fëanor, who composed the song "The Fall of the Noldor" based on the Kinslaying.
• In "The Curse of Fëanor", Fëanor expresses his wrath and anger and relates the misdeeds he commits, especially the Kinslaying, in pursuit of Morgoth.
• In "Captured", Morgoth addresses the captive Maedhros, Fëanor's son, and chains him to the Thangorodrim mountains.
• In "Blood Tears", Maedhros relates the horrors of his captivity and his deliverance by Fingon.
• "Mirror Mirror" recounts how Turgon, in view of inevitable defeat, builds the city of Gondolin, aided by Ulmo ("The Lord of Water").
• In "Face the Truth", Fingolfin reflects about the destiny of the Noldor.
• In "Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)", Fingolfin recounts his Noldor army's passage from the icy waste of Helcaraxë and the prophecy by Mandos about the Noldor's fate; he reflects on his own and his people's guilt and foreshadows their ultimate defeat.
• "The Battle of Sudden Flame" refers to the battle in which Morgoth breaks the Siege of Angband using his Balrogs and dragons. The lyrics tell of how Barahir of the House of Bëor, with great loss to his own company, saved the life of the Elven king Finrod Felagund, and in return Finrod swore an oath of friendship to Barahir and all of his kin.
• "Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill)" is about Fingolfin riding to the gates of Angband to challenge Morgoth to a duel. Fingolfin wounds Morgoth seven times but is eventually killed.
• "The Dark Elf" refers to Eöl who seduced Turgon's sister and fathered Maeglin, who would eventually betray Gondolin.
• "Thorn" is a song describing Maeglin's captivity in Angband and Morgoth trying to convert Maeglin to his side with threats and lies. The title of the song refers to the thorn bushes that hid the outer gates of Gondolin.
• "The Eldar" is Elven king Finrod Felagund's farewell to his people, dying from wounds sustained by saving his human friend Beren from a werewolf, thereby fulfilling his oath to the House of Bëor.
• In "Nom the Wise", Beren mourns his friend Finrod. Nóm means "wise" and was the name given to Finrod by Beren's forefather Bëor.
• In "When Sorrow Sang", Beren sings about his love to the Elven princess Lúthien and his death at the teeth of Morgoth's wolf Carcharoth. Last part is about Mandos listening to Luthien's song about their grief experienced by being different in kin.
• "Out on the Water" refers to the last dwelling-place of Beren and Lúthien.
• In "The Steadfast", Morgoth curses his captive Húrin (known in Elvish as the Steadfast) who refused to reveal the secret of Gondolin.
• In "A Dark Passage", Morgoth ponders his triumph in the fifth battle. The song also relates the origins of the kindred of men and Morgoth's curse on Húrin to be witness to his children's tragic fate.
• "Final Chapter (Thus Ends ...)" concludes the album, speaking of Morgoth's victory by the "treachery of man" but also of the hope for a new day.
• "Harvest of Sorrow" is a bonus track on the 2007 and 2018 remastered versions of the album. Túrin mourns the loss of his sister Niënor.
• "Doom" is a bonus track on the 2018 remastered version of the album. The track shows a more detailed account of Húrin being cursed by Morgoth. A slightly rewritten version appears on a limited edition of Beyond the Red Mirror as an epilogue chapter.
• "The Tides of War" is a bonus track on the 2018 remastered version of the album. The track tells of the rebellious Noldor arriving in Beleriand to face Morgoth, thinking also about the burning of the Teleri ships at Losgar and the Oath of Fëanor.

The cover art for the album features Lúthien dancing before Morgoth, from The Tale of Beren and Lúthien.

The album has drawn universally positive critical acclaim since its release. Writing for Sputnikmusic, Kyle Ward said that on this album "Blind Guardian laid down their finest instrumental performance to date. Everything goes hand in hand with each other, the guitars being nearly always furiously paced and extremely melodic, but not over-the-top and cheesy like many other power metal bands out there." He singled out Hansi Kürsch's vocals for particular praise, writing that "In every aspect and mood, Blind Guardian delivers in the vocal department. Whether the song is amazingly fast and melodic, like "Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill)" or whether the mood is somber and slow ("The Eldar") you are sure to be hit in the face with a simply remarkable feat in terms of vocal achievement, one of the finest vocal performances I have ever seen on a metal album."

AllMusic's Vincent Jeffries gave a similarly glowing assessment of the album, describing the album as "complete with anthemic choruses, spoken word story lines, and plenty of bombastic power metal punctuating every dramatic turn" and "perhaps Blind Guardian's most triumphant effort."

In a volume edited by Tolkien scholar Bradford Lee Eden, Amy H. Sturgis writes that "although one can assume that Tolkien was not a headbanger", she finds that in the opinion of her students, the "driving energy" of the power metal sound is appropriate for the stories: "The music conveys rage and despair, which fits lyrics such as 'The doom of the Noldor drew near/ The words of a banished king, “I swear revenge!”'" Sturgis adds that this facilitates discussion of Tolkien's Christian view of the fall of man.

Metal Hammer named it in its lists "The 10 Essential Symphonic Metal Albums" and in "The 10 Essential Power Metal Albums". ThoughtCo named it one of the essential power metal albums.

Grimdark Magazine's C.T. Phipps called it one of his "favorite power metal band's greatest works". He states that it is told from the point of view of the Dark Lord Morgoth, with the story told both in the songs and in "little vignettes" in between. He describes the music as "not just your traditional power metal sound but there’s quite a bit of melodious, folksy Medieval sounding tunes spread between the fast guitar work."

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Hansi Kürsch; all music is composed by André Olbrich and Hansi Kürsch except where noted.

1. "War of Wrath" 1:50
2. "Into the Storm" 4:24
3. "Lammoth" 0:28
4. "Nightfall" 5:34
5. "The Minstrel" 0:32
6. "The Curse of Fëanor" (Olbrich, Kürsch, Thomas "Thomen" Stauch and Marcus Siepen) 5:41
7. "Captured" 0:26
8. "Blood Tears" 5:24
9. "Mirror Mirror" 5:06
10. "Face the Truth" 0:24
11. "Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)" 6:51
12. "Battle of Sudden Flame" 0:44
13. "Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)" 4:53
14. "The Dark Elf" 0:23
15. "Thorn" 6:19
16. "The Eldar" (Olbrich, Kürsch, Michael Schüren) 3:39
17. "Nom the Wise" 0:33
18. "When Sorrow Sang" 4:25
19. "Out on the Water" 0:44
20. "The Steadfast" 0:21
21. "A Dark Passage" 6:01
22. "Final Chapter (Thus Ends...)" 0:48
23. "Harvest of Sorrow" 03:39  

Time:    01:09:06  

Originally released in 1998.

Track 23, "Harvest of Sorrow", is a bonus track.

Concept album, based on J.R.R Tolkien's "The Silmarillion."

A video was made for (an edited version of) "Mirror Mirror".

Recording information:

Recorded at Twilight Hall Studios, Krefeld, Karo Musik Studios, Breckel (HH, Germany) and Sweet Silence Studios (Copenhagen, Denmark), from September 1997 through March 1998, except Piano recorded at Vox Studios, HH, Germany in January 1998.

Mixed at Sweet Silence Studios (Copenhagen, Denmark).

Blind Guardian – producers

Flemming Rasmussen – mixing

Charlie Bauerfeind – mixing of interludes

Flemming Rasmussen, Charlie Bauerfeind and Piet Sielck – mixing engineers

Charlie Bauerfeind – recording and engineering of drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals, bass guitars, piano and interludes

Piet Sielck – recording and engineering of lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars, keyboards and orchestral effects

Flemming Rasmussen – recording and engineering of vocals

Cuny – recording and engineering of flutes, alto-flutes and vocals

Andreas Marshall – cover and story paintings

Thorsten Eichhorst – photos

Blind Guardian "Imaginations From The Other Side (Japan, Victor Entertainment, VICP-5519)"

Imaginations from the Other Side is the fifth studio album by Blind Guardian that was released in 1995. The atmosphere of this album is darker in comparison to their earlier works, such as Battalions of Fear, which had a relatively light tone. This album also marks the first since Battalions of Fear in which Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray) did not guest on vocals or guitar, and the last album to feature vocalist Hansi Kürsch as bassist. It was also their first album to spawn off any singles, in the form of "A Past and Future Secret" and "Bright Eyes". It was remastered and re-released on 15 June 2007, with bonus tracks and videos.

Having experienced much success from their previous releases, Somewhere Far Beyond and Tokyo Tales (their first live album), the band was optimistic as they began writing for a new album once again. They soon noted how slow the process was advancing in comparison to previous writing sessions. For these new songs, personal standards were raised for which parts should make the cut, and ideas that weren't satisfactory were therefore scrapped. However, after the first two songs, "Imaginations from the Other Side" and "The Script for my Requiem", were demoed, the bandmembers were pleased by their exceptional quality, and once the next two songs, "I'm Alive" and "A Past and Future Secret", were written and added to the demo tape, they were confident in moving forward. Having not been satisfied with the production on their last two releases, Somewhere Far Beyond and Tokyo Tales (both produced by Kalle Trapp), Kürsch and Olbrich soon began searching for a new producer whilst traveling around Europe.

At their first stop, Denmark, they met producer Flemming Rasmussen, who had previously worked with bands Rainbow, Pretty Maids, and Metallica (a predominant influence on the band's style). After visiting other studios throughout the summer, even ones in which albums of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were recorded, the two felt that Rasmussen, who had been noticeably impressed by the demo tape, was the obvious choice. Despite him expecting more out of the band than they were previously accustomed to with Trapp (specifically in rhythm guitar and vocal performances), there was a noticeable chemistry between Rasmussen and the band. Rhythm guitarist Marcus Siepen would later reflect that he "took [them] to a completely different level, in any aspect."

Following the footsteps of the band's previous albums, Imaginations continued to stray from purely speed metal tendencies. In addition to fast guitar riffing, high-pitch distorted singing and extreme drumming (signature of speed metal) came catchy chord progressions and clean singing - components reminiscent of classic European folk music. Two tracks, "A Past and Future Secret" and "Mordred's Song" (comparable to their previous album's "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)" by similar use of acoustic guitar), could even be considered to be a "ballad" and "power ballad", respectively.

In 2005, Imaginations from the Other Side was ranked number 373 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.

Loudwire named the album at second in their list "Top 25 Power Metal Albums of All Time" and Metal Hammer ranked it at third in a similar list.

Track listing

All songs written by Hansi Kürsch and André Olbrich, except for where noted.

1. Imaginations from the Other Side 07:19
2. I'm Alive 05:31
3. A Past and Future Secret 03:48   
4. The Script for My Requiem 06:09   
5. Mordred's Song 05:28
6. Born in a Mourning Hall 05:14
7. Bright Eyes 05:16  
8. Another Holy War 04:32   
9. And the Story Ends 06:00   
10. The Wizard  (Uriah Heep cover) 03:17
11. The Script For My Requiem (Extended Demo Version) 07:01  

Time:  59:35

The lyrics are mostly based on Arthurian legends and general Camelot folklore, a subject Hansi Kürsch had been reading extensively about just prior to the writing sessions for the album.

A video was made for "Bright Eyes". The band had wanted to make a video for "A Past and Future Secret" instead, but Virgin Records chose the former.

Another, mostly live, video for the song "Born in a Mourning Hall", was included on the "Imaginations Through the Looking Glass" DVD.

The title track references the works of L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, J M Barrie, JRR Tolkien, Michael Moorcock and, like the rest of the album, Arthurian legends.

Recording information:

Recorded, mixed and mastered at Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark, from August to November 1994 and January to March 1995.

Backing vocals recorded at Karo Studio, Brackel, Germany in December 1994.

Andreas Marschall – cover paintings

Ulf Thürmann – photos

Flemming Rasmussen – producing and mixing

Flemming Rasmussen and Piet Sielck – engineering

Henrik Vindeby – assistant engineer

Flemming Rasmussen and Cuni – drum tech

Blind Guardian "The God Machine (Russia, Soyuz Music, SZCD 8464-22)"

The God Machine is the twelfth studio album by the German power metal band Blind Guardian, released on 2 September 2022 through Nuclear Blast. This is the band's first regular studio album in seven years, following Beyond the Red Mirror (2015), marking the longest gap between two Blind Guardian studio albums (although a previous album was released three years earlier under the name "Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra").

The album's cover art was illustrated by American artist Peter Mohrbacher as part of the Angelarium project.

Production of The God Machine took place throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic; however some of the songs were written before 2020. Frontman Hansi Kürsch feared unforeseeable individual and social consequential damage from the pandemic. "For us, however, it was good from a creative point of view because we were able to take our time. We could think: What do we actually want? It has to represent us and it has to represent the time", Kürsch confirms the influence. "For me it could have been even a bit heavier. During the pre-production I was even involved in death metal at times. But the other band members vetoed that."

"We didn't want to rehash our qualities from 1995, but didn't want to continue down this complex path forever either. The God Machine is a new beginning for us. We've set a new course and gone back to certain things that we've neglected a bit on the last few albums", Kürsch told music publications in May 2022.

Marcel Rapp of powermetal.de praised the album, comparing it to 1990s Blind Guardian records: "Is The God Machine the best album after Nightfall in Middle-Earth? Possibly, because you haven't heard the Krefeld band so determined, heavy and direct since 1998."

Travis Green of My Global Mind wrote: "Fans of any of the band's previous works should find a lot to love here, while any fan of the genre who somehow hasn't discovered the band yet would do no better than to start with this album, as it's one of the band's finest efforts to date!"

• "Deliver Us from Evil" is about Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.
• "Damnation" is about The Kingkiller Chronicle, a fantasy series written by Patrick Rothfuss.
• "Secrets of the American Gods" references Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel American Gods.
• "Violent Shadows" is about Kaladin Stormblessed and his life as a bridgeman in Brandon Sanderson's fantasy novel series The Stormlight Archive.
• "Life Beyond the Spheres" is about the creation of the universe, (The Big Bang specifically) the first moments after the beginning of everything, and the evolution of space and time.
• "Architects of Doom" references the science fiction franchise Battlestar Galactica.
• "Let It Be No More" deals with the death of frontman Hansi Kürsch's mother, as well as The Leftovers.
• "Blood of the Elves" references the first novel in The Witcher series, Blood of Elves, written by Andrzej Sapkowski.
• "Destiny" is inspired by the tale The Ice-Maiden written by Hans Christian Andersen.

Track listing

All tracks are written by André Olbrich and Hansi Kürsch.

1. "Deliver Us from Evil" 5:22
2. "Damnation" 5:21
3. "Secrets of the American Gods" 7:29
4. "Violent Shadows" 4:18
5. "Life Beyond the Spheres" 6:03
6. "Architects of Doom" 6:21
7. "Let It Be No More" 4:49
8. "Blood of the Elves" 4:38
9. "Destiny" 6:47

Total length: 51:08

Official music videos:

- Deliver Us from Evil

- Secrets of the American Gods

- Violent Shadows

- Blood of the Elves

- Architects of Doom

- Life Beyond the Spheres

Recording information:

Co-produced by Blind Guardian.

Recorded and engineered from March 2020 to March 2021 at the Twilight Hall Studios, Grefrath-Oedt, Germany.

Mixed in July 2021 at Sandlane Recording Facilities, The Netherlands.

Mastered in August 2021 at Virtalähde Mastering, Finland.