Blind Guardian

At The Edge Of Time

Price: 13.25

Review / Notes: After a near four year hiatus (their last studio album ‘A Twist In The Myth’ emerged in the summer of 2006) Blind Guardian, elder statesmen of the Teutonic symphonic / power metal scene return to the fray once again with their latest magnum opus ‘At The Edge Of Time’. From their humble power / thrash metal beginnings in the late 80’s with ‘Battalions Of Fear’ and ‘Follow The Blind’, Blind Guardian have gradually morphed into one of the most distinctive and influential bands the German metal scene has ever produced. One of the first bands to bring together thrash / speed metal riffing (a la Accept and Helloween), epic orchestration and soaring choral harmonies (Queen), Blind Guardian have continually refined and then redefined the boundaries at which this particularly bombastic branch of metal can operate ... for the uninitiated this might be a tad hard to swallow at first, but once you get bitten by the Blind Guardian bug, you’ll wonder how you lived life without ‘em! Produced by the band in conjunction with Charlie Bauerfiend, the complex, multifaceted sound on ‘At The Edge Of Time’ is absolutely cavernous. Balancing inherently stark brutality with a sense of epic melodrama which would even make Tolkien sit up and take notice, the complex web of light and shade the band weave runs from terrifying to exhilarating and back again at a pace that will take your head clean off your shoulders if you’re not careful. If you browse through the Blind Guardian back catalogue, you’ll find elements from most of their post ‘Tales From The Twilight World’ watershed cropping up at one point or another throughout ‘At The Edge Of Time’, a potent mix of angst and majesty within a baroque framework, all set against a backdrop of storytelling of epic proportions. Kicking off with the mighty ‘Sacred Worlds’ (a gargantuan masterpiece clocking in well over nine minutes), the albums twists and turns its way through a breathtaking sonic landscape the likes of which we’ve not seen since … well, the last Blind Guardian album! What’s more, if you invest a little extra into the lavishly packaged special edition version, you get a second disc filled with alternative versions and mixes, plus access to exclusive web content (video clips, unreleased tracks, etc.) For me their best effort since 98’s simmering ‘Nightfall In Middle Earth’ opus, ‘At The Edge Of Time’ is a masterpiece of heroic metal ... gentlemen, welcome back! (D.Cockett)