I imagine I’m not really one to be a musical critic. Typically that would go to someone that enjoys music of many varieties, though unfortunately those sorts are also the people that most easily like the biggest slop. My own tastes are primarily driven by a joy in Heavy Metal, but even then I am aggravated beyond comprehensible speech by just how damned stupid most of the genre has become.

I don’t mean just in America, either, as is often my leaning. The biggest metal bands of the States lack any sense of musical talent, focusing on heavy distortion, double bass pedals and horrific singing voices. You are basically stuck with a sub-genre of Disturbed or of Slipknot. Gone are the days of clean vocals and variety such as found in Judas Priest or Iron Maiden. That is, unless you go offshore to Europe, except the only band anyone pays attention to is Dragonforce.

I cannot help myself. My father and brother introduced me to two drastically different styles of music, and I yearn for a perfect fusion of the two. My Old Man passed down bands such as Yes, Kansas, Boston, Chicago and Electric Light Orchestra. These bands were very melodious and harmonic, creating artful and soothing tunes (well, not so much Boston). When I grew older, in late High School and during College, I found myself expanding these sensibilities to include Styx and Journey (because who doesn’t like Journey?).

My sibling, on the other hand, passed down upon me a taste for heavy metal. He also tried Grunge Rock, but while some songs by bands like Sound Garden appealed to me, none made lasting impressions such as Ozzy Ozbourne, Megadeth and Metallica. It was alive and energetic, with a kinetic fire that burned with each struck chord. Especially Metallica, who for the longest time would be my greatest musical love. I enjoyed all of their albums, and even then I never agreed that the 80’s albums were their best.

Unfortunately, the evolution of the musical scene degraded. My brother loves to look at the 90’s as being this great time, and in some ways it was, but I view it as the death of music. The 90’s removed any sense of writing good music and made it all about writing for demographics. Yes, this stuff existed before. No one can deny that Elvis Presley’s fame with young men and women set the stage for bands like The Beatles and The Monkees to come in and spit out their youthful garbage, lacking in life and vision. Yet at some point even The Beatles grew up and found a purpose beyond high school walls whereas Blink 182 has never left the locker room.

To drive my point further, when the 90’s began we saw Metallica release The Black Album, where they defined their own sound and transformed the sound of metal. The Grunge Rock movement began and, though so many of those bands sounded alike, there was a sense of trying to redefine rock music from what it had been in years previous. There was artistry and creativity. At the end of the 90’s, as the Y2K bug creeped around corners, metal was defined by Linkin Park, the combination of heavy metal, rap and screaming.

Eugh.

So what does this have to do with power metal and a band no one has ever heard of? Well, back in middle school I, too, foolishly fell in love with Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory. I found it to be one of the greatest things ever. Then, somewhere around the year 2000, between my sophomore and junior year, my brother revealed a song to me entitled Mirror, Mirror. It was hard and heavy, containing all the frantic energy and wailing life of metal, yet possessed an epic choir of melody and harmony as heard from my father’s music. It was unlike anything I had ever known. Even if my brother had shared Iron Maiden with me at a young age, it wouldn’t have prepared me for this.

“What is this band?” I had asked him.

“They’re called Blind Guardian. The song is based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.”

“How old are they?” I couldn’t fathom a band singing so melodiously in recent years. They had to be from the 80’s at the latest, though knowing when bands like Yes and Kansas had arisen I imagined the 70’s.

“I think the album came out around ‘98,” my brother replied.

So the gateway to power metal had been opened up to me. I spent several weeks borrowing my brother’s CD listening to nothing but Mirror, Mirror before I finally gave up and purchased the album Nightfall in Middle-Earth for myself. I said I’d finally listen to the entire CD, from first track to last, but then I heard that album opening Into the Storm and found myself looping yet another track repeatedly.

Unfortunately, Nightfall In Middle-Earth was an album to deliver unreasonably high standards of the genre. For starters, Blind Guardian had been a decade old and successful as a band, so they could afford a lot more production than other bands could. Second, it is possibly their second best album ever, capturing an essence of opera with metal in a fashion still incomparable. The only album to best it is the following Night at the Opera, which was criticized by many for the very reasons it was great. Fans complained there were too many guitar parts. Too many vocal parts. None of the songs sounded like their old stuff, nothing that you could really bang your head to.

I’m all for the funny irony there is to metal, one of the reasons I’ve fallen in love with Brutal Legend. However, I do not believe it should get in the way of writing good music. A genre should be nothing more than a vehicle, the base skeleton that provides the outline. On the whole you should have the goal of writing good music. To me, this is what has been lost since the 80’s and early 90’s, over taken by having dozens of bands replicate the same sounds in a desperate attempt to sell albums.

I was also afraid that At the Edge of Time, Blind Guardian’s latest album (released in America on August 24th, 2010) would be a major disappointment. Four years ago they released A Twist in the Myth, an album full of variety as well as some heavier, grittier songs and guitar chords, yet fans still bitched and moaned that it didn’t sound enough like Battalions of Fear, Follow the Blind or Tales From the Twilight Hall. All of which being their weakest albums, save for having some of the songs that work best for a Live Show. Which is what I fear most metal heads want. They don’t care for listening to music for its artistry. They want something they can go to a concert, get drunk or high to and then bang heads and jump into each other over.

Hey, you want to do that, fine. Go ahead. There are plenty of bands for that. However, Blind Guardian is not one of them, and as samples of the album had been released I feared deeply that this is the route Blind Guardian was going to attempt to go. Catering first to the dumb shits that cared nothing for music, just bashing into each other shirtless as double bass filled a concert hall. Blind Guardian are too good for such a crowd.

Yet I am glad to admit my fears were unfounded. No, At the Edge of Time is not their best work. I cannot really compare it with A Twist in the Myth, either, as there are too many differences as well as similarities. However, it certainly does not measure up to Night at the Opera or Nightfall in Middle-Earth. That does not, however, mean that it is bad music. While heavy metal themes are very prominent in the album, there is still a lot of good harmony and melody to be found in addition to frantic and pulsing rhythm and bass.

Sacred Worlds

The opening track of the album sets an excellent tone for the album as a whole, and especially works as a signature epic piece that deserves to be listened to laying back in an easy chair, eyes closed with the chords and vocals flowing from a top dollar sound system as a torrential waterfall. The song was originally written for the game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, but has been extended for the album to provide a fully symphonic introduction and outro, as well as replacing all synth parts with actual instruments.

To those familiar with the track already, the song will have a couple jarring changes, particularly between the final verse and chorus. I hated it at first, feeling it had no place, but after reading the lyrics and giving it more listens it provides a sort of additional energy that sets up the closing vocals. However, getting used to it doesn’t stop the fact that it is, in truth, an awkward addition. It doesn’t really belong with the rest of the song. Otherwise, the revised guitar solo and symphonic attachments are nothing but butter on bread. Delicious.

Tanelorn (Into the Void), Ride Into Obsession, A Voice in the Dark

This trio of high octane tracks minimizing in synthesizers and overlaying vocals are clearly the choice Live songs for when the band goes on tour, there to please the head bangers and pit moshers. For many, they are a fantastic “return to form” for the band. For me, all but Ride Into Obsession took some getting used to.

I originally felt a love/hate relationship with A Voice in the Dark, the chosen single for the album. The beginning sounds too desperately raw, as if Blind Guardian is trying too hard to be metal. However, once that first chorus hits the song feels like it takes off. I had this same feeling the first time I heard the original version of Sacred Worlds in fact. Yet in truth, Blind Guardian chose that “raw” sound for a reason. Sound and lyrics are meant to go together, and in the context of the Game of Thrones inspired words those songs fit perfectly.

Yet I still favor Tanelorn (Into the Void) and Ride Into Obsession over it. Not that they are necessarily better songs, but they seem to flow better. Were it me, Ride Into Obsession would have been the albums title track. The energy and live potential is no different, but there’s a bit of a catchier life to it that makes it perfect for radio. The introduction is fast and heavy, setting the pace, but the first vocals are epic and melodious, sucking you right in from the start. This is something both other high tempo tracks lack that causes Ride Into Obsession to stick in the head better.

Road of No Release

The most interesting of tracks, and most easily disliked. It is not a bad song by any means, but there seems to be a major inconsistency despite the reoccurring themes. Yet, once more, it must be stated that Blind Guardian writes their music to go hand-in-hand with the lyrics. It’s part of writing good music. The instruments provide the emotion of the words, not some background filler. It’s a different sort of poetry. In fact, Blind Guardian’s lyrics often enough do not rhyme. They flow in a different manner aside from forcing an A-B-A-B formula as most other bands do.

In the case of Road of No Release, however, it is less poetry. The real case here more resembles Peter and the Wolf, where each character was represented by a different instrument and theme. Road of No Release is a tale of many characters, and for each one the music changes. With some characters the sound is much softer, melancholy. With others it carries harsh rhythms and intent. This keeps the song constantly changing and lacking a familiar consistency.

The song is most easily enjoyed if you can read the lyrics along with it or follow it. Otherwise it does a poor job of occupying a simple amount of background brain space, urging the mind to keep thinking and reflecting on what it hears rather than just going with the flow. It is truly an artistic piece, and as such is most easily cast aside by the masses in favor of simple brain candy.

Curse My Name, War of the Thrones

Blind Guardian’s made a habit of writing ballads with a bit of an old bardic style to them. They are incredibly good at it, and a lot of times these sorts of tracks make for excellent listening. It began with Lord of the Rings and became tradition with The Bard’s Song (In the Forest). As usual, Blind Guardian writes to such songs to break up the typical ferocity found in their music.

Of the two I very much prefer Curse My Name, though I cannot fully explain why. Each song is excellent, but there is just some greater sense of emotion I get from the former. Maybe it’s because War of the Thrones is completely acoustic, but I think it has more to do with the words and vocals than anything else.

Valkyries, Control the Divine

These two softer songs hold that special place in a Blind Guardian album. They somehow feel less noteworthy compared to the remaining album. That doesn’t mean that they are, it just means something about them makes them stand out less. This happened to songs like Thorn and Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns) on Nightfall in Middle-Earth, Age of False Innocence on Night at the Opera and Lionheart and New World Order on A Twist in the Myth.

These songs tend to be the sort that seem rather plain in context of the remaining album, but once placed against the songs of other bands and albums truly shine. Still, Valkyries, like Road of No Release, lacks a consistent sound and energy. Control the Divine, on the other hand, has a way of getting stuck in one’s head after a while. Yet just as the inconsistency of Valkyries is its own weakness, so is the consistency of Control the Divine. To make matters worse, the songs are of such similar tempos and styles that placing them right next to each other only further blurs them into a mist of gray if you’re not paying attention.

Wheel of Time

Blind Guardian has many talents, one of the reasons they are my favored band. One of them is their skill with opening and closing tracks. The first is always energetic while preparing the audience for the album. Into the Storm was a perfect introduction for Nightfall in Middle-Earth, translating the heavy energy and epic classical inspired melodies into a metal opera, the sound of their first and thus far only concept album. Precious Jerusalem was drastically different from the usual songs of the band, most fitting for a drastically different album. In addition, its religious theme set the tone for lyrics more inspired by philosophy and faith than sword and sorcery. This Will Never End let fans know that A Twist in the Myth would be a return to heavier form while still being different than any work preceding.

In conjunction, Nightfall ended with the prideful and energetic A Dark Passage, giving the sense that the story was not over yet (which it isn’t, there’s a good more of The Silmarillion left to cover). And Then There Was Silence was a fourteen minute epic that gave the impression of going on an epic journey, that as the song fades up you should be out of breath from a day’s travel yourself even though it was all emotional and within your mind. New World Order gives the sense that one way of life has ended, but another new one shall begin tomorrow.

Wheel of Time seeks to recapture the feeling brought upon by And Then There Was Silence, of an epic journey come to an end, but unfortunately just doesn’t measure up. In fact, for the second epic track of the album, it hardly measures up to Sacred Worlds. The track simply sounds too subdued. For the longest time I couldn’t quite place it. There are plenty of epic choirs, there is a strong symphonic presence, it’s all there.

It strikes me, however, that despite the orchestra and despite the vocals, the song is still written so that it may be played in a live setting. There are few overlapping vocals and few guitar parts. It is an epic being played for a stage, and that just doesn’t work. What makes a concert feel so energetic and alive is the very presence of it. Being in a crowded space with other fans, singing along with the band as they perform, that’s where the energy and intensity comes from. When writing for a recording, that energy dies. It’s one of the reasons people hated Night at the Opera. Recorded, the album is fantastic. All of those guitar, synth and vocal parts sound amazing when played in a home theater. Yet when played in a concert hall, where you are limited in your vocalists and instruments, the songs sound God awful. I know because I have both the Live CD and DVD. Listening to the Live version of The Soulforged or Under the Ice just doesn’t work compared to the original recordings.

And so Wheel of Time‘s great weakness is that it sounds as if it was written for a live setting when it should have been purely written with no intent of being performed for a crowd. Sacred Worlds is clearly written in such a manner, and thus it feels much more a lively go-to epic. Which is a shame because, as much as I liked Sacred 2, the very subject matter shouldn’t compare to Wheel of Time.

Overall

Yes, my longest blog in years, and I finally come to my conclusion. My worries about Blind Guardian trying too desperately to write good metal instead of good music were unfounded. However, it is still a bit of a disappointment to think I waited four years for this album. It is good, yes, but at the same time it lacks a lot of the great elements of previous albums. It blends too much together like Imaginations From the Other Side. Even A Twist in the Myth had a greater sense of variety, with the extremely happy sounding Turn the Page or the up-beat Fly. Yet every song on At the Edge of Time sounds like the same frustrated melancholy.

The best I can describe it is that I tend to think of certain palettes of color when I listen to a song. Sometimes these are influenced by the album art, other times by the music video. However, it is sure that I shall see different colors for every song. For example, This Will Never End is a palette of wastelands, the eclipse and outer space. Fly is the color of an old theater, gold and brown. Lionheart is still the color of red and crimson, while The Edge is the dark green of the album cover.

Yet every track of At the Edge of Time brings to mind the palette of a forest at night, possibly bloodied, maybe not, with the exception of Road of No Release (a swamp or bog comes to mind for that song) and Wheel of Time (desert epics).

It is certainly a good album, but if you have never heard of Blind Guardian before then this is not an album I would begin with. Instead, I would merely go back and pick up A Night at the Opera. If you start with anything, may as well be their best.

Discuss this album, or metal in general, on the forums.