Blind Guardian

La nouvelle vidéo de Blind Guardian est enfin disponible : "Another Stranger Me". L'album "A Twist in the Myth" sera disponible dans nos belles contrées dès le 04 Septembre chez Nuclear Blast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQUL6AGFk-4

BLIND GUARDIAN Guitarist MARCUS SIEPEN - "I Don’t Mind People Saying They Don’t Like An Album As Long As It’s Constructive (Criticism)"

Rocksomething.com recently spoke to BLIND GUARDIAN guitarist Marcus Siepen. The following is a brief excerpt from the story:

The Blind Guardian sound is quite hard to define; the band has gone from near-enough speed metal in the earlier days to the bombastic theatrics of 2002’s A Night At The Opera – an album that many fans felt was one elaborate step too far. Certainly, the last record was a complicated release – one song, 'And Then There Was Silence…' comprised of 200 studio tracks!

“On A Night At The Opera there were people that thought it was too complex, but I don’t mind people saying they don’t like an album as long as it’s constructive – I can accept that. I just hate the pure bashing, like when someone comes up to me and says 'you guys suck', I’m like, 'well… thanks,'" the guitarist chuckles, “But we’ve had very positive feedback from people that have heard the new album so far. And that’s great because it’s impossible to please all our fans. Some old fans want us to play speed metal and some new fans want everything to sound like Nightfall In Middle Earth but we have to be happy with it too. And so far all the feedback has been good from everyone and it’s very overwhelming. But what’s cool is that we’ve been together twenty years and we still see the same people that have stuck with us all these years as well as a lot of young fans too.”

Perhaps one of the main reasons that so many fans have chosen to stick with BG all these years is simply because until early 2005 the band’s line-up hadn’t changed since their formation in the mid eighties. It’s a quality in bands that is becoming all but lost. But when Thomen Stauch, the band’s drummer, chose to leave the band last April, it ended two decades of seemingly unshakable unity.

“It was difficult – we had the same line-up for twenty years – and I don’t know of many bands that have done that,” the guitarist reflects, “We had different music views, contract ideas and business views and we just couldn’t agree. We realised it didn’t make sense to carry on and it was his idea to leave. I hope he’s happy with his new project, but it was the correct decision as it would have been wrong to carry on in that situation. But it became harder and harder because of the big myth around us and how long we’d been together. People would always ask us what the secret to being in the same line-up for so long was, but in the end it just didn’t make sense to stay together.”

Prior to this, one of the only tremors in Blind Guardian’s stability was when Siepen broke his leg in five places whilst skateboarding with his son. Thankfully the accident happened during the writing process for the new album and not when the band were about to start the next tour, but at the time the guitarist probably didn’t feel so fortunate!

“It was the most stupid accident ever,” admits the guitarist, “I’d never been skateboarding, but I thought I’d take my son out for fun. We’d been out for a couple of hours and it was just at the moment that I said perhaps we should go home now that the accident happened and I stumbled and broke my leg in five places. But I’ll tell you what, it was two weeks after – when they let me go home that the metal in my leg became infected. First it hurt and in three hours it was so fucking painful – it went fire red and hurt like hell. So I went back to the doctor and they said that it was a weekend and I’d have to come back on Monday! But I learnt my lesson – I’ll never skate again! [laughs].”

To read the entire story go to this location. http://www.rocksomething.com/features/FeatureBlindGuardian.html

la pochette :

BLIND GUARDIAN's Hansi Kürsch Describes Songwriting Method

MrRock.net ( www.mrrock.net ) has issued a new interview with BLIND GUARDIAN singer Hansi Kürsch. The following is an excerpt:

Q: How was the songwriting process for the new album, compared to say (the band's previous album) A Night At The Opera?

A: "A Night At The Opera was an attempt to get away from the Nightfall In Middle Earth writing style and what we had done before. We established a partly new songwriting method. Ever since the early nineties, we would do a multi-track type of recording and consider that to be songwriting so Andre (BG guitarist Andre Olbrich) would put down his ideas and deliver them to me, I would do my vocals, and we would have the song. At a certain time, we would get together with the band, try to improve the song even further. But basically it's Andre and I that do the songwriting and that hasn't changed ever since the days of Tales From The Twilight World. But with A Night At The Opera, we started working with more precise subjects. There was just a small way of defining things before we'd get to the studio. When we finished the songwriting for A Twist In The Myth, everything was defined 100%, which was really good because it saved time in the studio. For the songwriting itself, we start at point zero and have nothing but the whole world in front of us. Then, all of a sudden, we have pieces that we consider to be attractive enough to work on. Then we build it up like a jigsaw puzzle - we define one piece, and then go on to the next piece, and then we have accomplished the whole song. Sometimes, we go further down the road without having a chorus, so we design the whole song and have all of the elements in there, and we continue to check out different choruses. If we can not find one right away, we continue writing the song until it's done, except for the chorus, so then we fish for the right chorus."

Check out the interview at this location.
http://www.mrrock.net/hansikursch.htm

BLIND GUARDIAN - Hansi Kürsch Clears Up Bonus Track Confusion

Fans of German power metallers BLIND GUARDIAN are confused, wondering how much money they will need to part with, in order to secure all the extra songs and formats for the soon to be released A Twist In The Myth.

In addition to the usual Japanese bonus, there is a dual vinyl package, containing interviews and demo cuts, as well as an expanded, digi... the list goes on.

Here's what frontman Hansi Kürsch told BW&BK about the trio of bonus tracks floating around: "'Market Square' is (musically the same as album track) 'Straight Through The Mirror'. It's a demo track, with ghost lyrics. When I sang that, it had that feeling and I sing those words in the chorus, so we called it 'Market Square'. I couldn't come up with a medieval concept for that song. It's not musically in that direction, so we skipped it. It has working lyrics. Some make sense, some don't, but you can see the direction I was trying to get.

'Dead Sound Of Misery' is the alternate version of 'Fly'. I think it's more Gothic, darkish, showing how much potential the song has. I refer to 'Fly' as a bright song, a positive song, whereas that is very devastating, an almost Armageddon-like feeling, apocalyptic vision that is dealt with, in the lyrics.

'All The Kings Horses' I was fighting for, to be on the regular album, but we didn't need another ballad. That's why it didn't make it. It will appear on the Japanese version, but we're also going to use it for the second single, as a B-side. It's about King Arthur's final battle, so it's mythologic, fantasy-based lyrics, but also questioning war. So it relates to reality. It sounds like a mix of Marillion, Blind Guardian and Mike Oldfield."

Watch for a full discussion with Blind Guardian in an upcoming issue of BW&BK

BLIND GUARDIAN Launch MySpace Page

BLIND GUARDIAN have launched a MySpace page at MySpace.com/blindguardian http://www.nuclearblast-musicshop.de/album_info.php?album_id=136442 . As previously reported, samples of every song from the band's forthcoming album, A Twist In The Myth, are available for streaming on the Nuclear Blast homepage. Go to this location to check them out. These tracks will be made available for purchase at the same location as of September 1st.

The track list for the A Twist In The Myth is as follows:
'This Will Never End',
'Otherland',
'Turn The Page',
'Fly',
'Carry The Blessed Home',
'Another Stranger Me',
'Straight Through The Mirror',
'Lionheart',
'Skalds And Shadows',
'The Edge',
'The New Order'.

BLIND GUARDIAN Guitarist Talks About Latest Album, Orchestral Project

In an interview with Metal Asylum the day before BLIND GUARDIAN hosted a listening party at the Lit Lounge in New York City, guitarist Andre Olbrich talked about their forthcoming release, A Twist In The Myth, due out September 5th via Nuclear Blast, as well as a future orchestral album.

Metalasylum: Were there any older Blind Guardian shows recorded, maybe ones with Hansi (Kürsch) on bass, professionally shot that will see release on DVD?
Olbrich: "I have about 200 tapes where we started recording as far back as 1993 and we may do a special Blind Guardian history DVD and would include some of that footage. Right now its not in the plans as we have the new album out, this orchestral project and tour dates but when we get time its something we would like to put together."

Metalasylum: What's that you said - an orchestral album?
Olbrich: "Yes this is something Hansi and I have been working on since 1998 and the songwriting is almost done. We just need time to record it in the proper way which is difficult because we have never worked with a real orchestra before and everything works completely different. When we finish this tour behind “A Twist in the Mist” which is in about a year we want to start production and maybe release it in 2008."

Metalasylum: Are a lot of people still asking for the older style of Blind Guardian to be part of the new music?
Olbrich: "Yeah always, they say this or that album are my favorites and why can't you do an album like this again but you know we are a band and have to progress. Of course the spirit changes every year and we have to do what we like. You have to play music you are comfortable with at the time and for us we don't want to sound like an 80's band. Time moves on and I really think we found a nice balance between our roots and some new ideas. We have to keep it interesting for our fans and ourselves. It keeps it fresh too when coming up with a setlist for the shows. When you play live and add some new songs I think the fans appreciate that. I mean this music is not easy listening they just need some time to get into it."

You can read the entire interview here. http://www.metalasylum.net/interviews/int0625.html

AOL Music Debuts BLIND GUARDIAN's A Twist In The Myth


BW&BK has received the following press release:

In the first listening party partnership between Nuclear Blast Records and AOL Music, BLIND GUARDIAN's new release, A Twist In The Myth, will be available for streaming in its entirety for seven days beginning Monday, September 4th at 12 Midnight Pacific / 3 a.m. Eastern by clicking here http://www.nuclearblast.de/events/gibson/bg-usa.html .

This event is a chance for die-hard Blind Guardian fans to get a sneak preview of the band's first studio album in four years, which is scheduled for North American release on September 5th.

AOL Music's Blind Guardian premiere comes on the heels of a successful promotional trip for A Twist In The Myth in New York City which included lead-singer Hansi Kürsch's helicopter ride over Manhattan with a Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles journalist in honor of their hit single 'Fly'. The trip was capped off with a packed night at New York's Lit Lounge where fans had the chance to meet the power metal legends and get their first taste of A Twist In The Myth.

To celebrate Blind Guardian's new album and their upcoming North American tour with LEAVES EYES (which launches November 8th), Nuclear Blast Records has teamed up with Gibson Guitars to give away a black Les Paul autographed by the band members. Enter the contest by clicking here. Deadline for entries is November 30th, 2006.

The band recently completed a video for 'Another Stranger Me'. When asked about the different sound and style of that particular track, vocalist Kürsch responded:

"Perhaps there are one or two choruses in there that still have the vocal layers, and André's solo is pretty much Blind Guardian, but leaving that out, it delivers a completely new style. I was anxious to see the reaction of the people, and surprisingly enough, a good amount of people consider that song to be one of the strongest songs on the album. I'm happy that this is the case and I hope that the more 'traditionalist' types of fans will find some attraction to this song as well. We feel it has a lot of potential, and I think it's one of the most mainstream songs at the same time."

The video can be viewed at this location. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=5907838&blogID=150552450&MyToken=fa49cb57-439d-4ab6-9755-23fb90bc2f40

Greatly inspired by life experience, world myths, and legends, Blind Guardian was founded in 1984 in Krefeld, Germany. Known for combining majestic orchestral sequences with quieter, Renaissance-styled acoustic arrangements, the merits of the band's emotion-packed music quickly spread via word-of-mouth and laid the foundation for a very rabid fan base that has continued to support the band throughout their career. This year alone, Blind Guardian's 'Fly' single charted #1 in Japan, #4 in Spain & Hungary, #29 in Sweden, #32 in Germany, #34 in Italy, #52 in Austria, and #94 in Switzerland. Selling over one million copies of their discography worldwide, it's no surprise that Blind Guardian has been crowned one of the most successful bands in the modern power metal movement.

BLIND GUARDIAN Hit The Billboard Charts

First week sales of BLIND GUARDIAN's A Twist In The Myth in the US have generated the following activity for the band: #21 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart and #288 on Billboard's Top Albums chart. As reported earlier today, A Twist In The Myth has earned the following worldwide chart positions:

Germany - #4
Sweden - #10 (Rock Charts - #2)
Austria - #19
Japan - #21 Japan (International Album Charts - #11)
Switzerland - #27
Finland - #30
UK - #33 (Indie Albums Charts)
Italy - #9 (Media World Charts)
Norway - #38

BLIND GUARDIAN Contest Now Running

The following has been posted at the BLIND GUARDIAN website:

"Recently launching a North American tour with LEAVES' EYES in support of A Twist In The Myth, their Billboard-charting album (#21 on the Top Independent Albums chart and #288 on Billboard's Top Albums chart), Blind Guardian's German roots are never far behind. Featured in the "Betcha Can't Play This" section on page 34 of the Holiday 2006 issue of Guitar World and on the DVD insert, guitarist André Olbrich explains how being exposed to classical music during childhood has made a definite impression on him as an adult musician, but not everything is composed with classically-tinged trills.

Eager to demonstrate the age-old adage of "All work and no play makes jack a dull boy," vocalist Hansi Kürsch and Olbrich stopped by the Revolver Magazine offices in August to record an impromptu song in two hours. To hear their resulting 40-second opus, go to http://www.revolvermag.com/theunit/index.html and scrolll down to "Click below to hear the entire song!" Additional information is available on page 44 in the current issue of Revolver.

In honor of Blind Guardian's Adventures of 'The Unit' feature, Nuclear Blast is giving away Hansi's handwritten autographed lyrics and André's guitar pick used in the creation of the 'Snake Of Destruction' MP3.

For more information on how to enter the contest, go to this location.

BLIND GUARDIAN Live In Philadelphia - BW&BK Photo Gallery Available


A BW&BK Photo Gallery of BLIND GUARDIAN caught live in Philadelphia, PA at the Trocadero on December 2nd can be viewed here. According to BW&BK's Mark Gromen, "the band was amazed by the reaction, including soccer chants between songs! As the North American tour winds down, Blind Guardian is encouraged, as attendance is up almost 50% over their first journey. Singer Hansi Kursch reports that following 2007 European summer festivals, the band will return to these shores."