47.BLIND GUARDIANBEYOND THE RED MIRRORSymphonic Power Metalreleased January 30, 2015
via Nuclear Blast
I. THE CLEANSING OF THE PROMISED LAND
1. The Ninth Wave [9:28]
2. Twilight of the Gods [4:50]
II. THE AWAKENING
3. Prophecies [5:26]
4. At the Edge of Time [6:54]
III. DISTURBANCE IN THE HERE AND NOW
5. Ashes of Eternity [5:39]
IV. THE MIRROR SPEAKS
6. Distant Memories* [5:51]
V. DISTURBANCE IN THE HERE AND NOW (REPRISE)
7. The Holy Grail [5:59]
VI. THE DESCENDING OF THE NINE
8. The Throne [7:54]
VII. THE FALLEN AND THE CHOSEN ONE
9. Sacred Mind [6:22]
10. Miracle Machine [3:03]
VIII. BEYOND THE RED MIRROR
11. Grand Parade [9:28]
BEYOND THE RED MIRROR is
Hansi Kürsch (Vocals)
André Olbrich (Lead, rhythm, acoustic guitars)
Marcus Siepen (Rhythm guitars)
Frederik Ehmke (Drums / Percussion)
FEATURING
Baren Courbois (Bass)
Michael Schuren (Piano)
Mattias Ulmer (Keyboards / Piano)
Thomas Hackmann, William “Billy” King, Olaf Senkbeil (Choirs)
WITHHungarian Studio Orchestra Budapest
FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague
Hungarian Studio Choir Budapest
FILMharmonic Choir Prague
Vox Futura Choir Boston This is a concept album based on a song from Blind Guardian’s 1995 album Imaginations Through The Other Side. This album is basically about a boy who enters a portal to another world and helps put the Old Gods back on a throne or something like that, I don’t know, I never paid attention. It’s really not important. Blind Guardian is a band that can make every song sound like an epic journey even if you don’t know what’s going on. It’s just… yeah, epic.
Blind Guardian hasn’t had very good production in the back half of their catalogue; everything after 1995’s Imaginations has had shoddy production, from the super trebley tinny sound of A Night At The Opera to the muddiness of A Twist In The Myth. But as holds true in the 10 Commandments of Power Metal, there are no bad Blind Guardian albums, only various levels of excellent, and so the tradition carries on with their latest album, 2015’s Beyond the Red Mirror. Also, just to have somewhere to put this, I think this album is an exquisite example of how to incorporate an orchestra into metal music. The songs “At the Edge of Time” and “Grand Parade” do this with flying colors. A lot of bands use an orchestra simply to follow in these guys’ footsteps (among others) yet they just don’t know what they’re doing even with a proper arranger.
The pacing on this album is delightful, and for the first time since Imaginations, has no songs I want to skip when I play it. There’s always been some amount of filler from Nightfall in Middle-Earth through At the Edge of Time. I was even lukewarm on this album when it first came out; songs like “At the Edge of Time” sounded like symphonic filler for the sake of being symphonic, and “Miracle Machine” didn’t sound like a Blind Guardian song at all. “Grand Parade” didn’t feel like it earned its level of grandiosity, with multiple orchestras and choirs contributing to a nine-and-a-half minute spectacle. But over time I’ve warmed up to these tracks and they’re all part of the magic of this album.
Beyond the Red Mirror might not be a grower of an album so much as it rewards repeat listening by revealing bits and pieces that were missed before. The album is overflowing with tasty melodic phrasings and little guitar licks that become more apparent on repeat listenings, harmonized vocal parts that reveal themselves differently if you tweak your equalizer settings or even if you just listen with different headphones and/or on different hardware. It’s a dense album with so much going on at any one moment that one song demands to be heard several times before drawing a fair conclusion. Individual tracks play out like miniature adventures, ebbing and flowing into choruses so triumphant and majestic it makes me feel like I’m part of the action. It makes me think of sprawling fields with snowcapped mountains as their backdrop, dragons and hordes of twisted creatures, warriors and cavalry and all that corny goodness.
Special mention to the glorious vocal lines; Hansi and Andre have concocted some truly commanding vocal parts that tend to sneak up on me on this album. The end of “Prophecies” or “Ashes of Eternity.” The power of repetition and swelling the choirs in “Grand Parade” or his bard-like crooning on “Miracle Machine.” He even gives a taste of some of that 90s Guardian might with screams in “Twilight of the Gods” and “The Holy Grail,” and manages to make softer parts sound ominous and dark like on “The Throne” which is a personal favorite of mine. Hansi is the star of the bonus track “Distant Memories” as well, but unfortunately that song isn’t on every edition of the album. I have it on my copy, but at the same time lack the other bonus song, “Doom.”
In Summary: If this album had come out 10 years ago I wouldn’t have even considered this as one of my top 50 albums of all time. But at this point in my life, I’m tired of hearing the ten thousandth standard heavy/power metal album with everything predictable from the first song, boring fucking riffs, boring untalented singers, bad lyrics, no keyboards, every song sounding the same… This album sounds different. Every song has a unique flavor and distinct elements. It’s musically mature, it shows how power metal bands with real creative potential can make sweeping, epic music. And Blind Guardian makes it look easy, although they pour many, many hours into refining each and every second of their albums. Is Precious Jerusalem better than most songs on Beyond the Red Mirror? Sure, I would agree with that. And I largely prefer speed metal-era Guardian. But Beyond the Red Mirror is altogether more consistent, sounds better, and gets my head banging more than any Blind Guardian album in more than two decades, and for that, it’s earned its place right here at 47.
Katt’s Favorites: Prophecies,
Ashes of Eternity,
The Holy Grail,
The Throne