Tomorrow is the big day, the day when "Memories Of A Time to Come", Blind Guardian's first best of CD, is going to be released.
We want to give you a little taste of what to expect and at the same time prove that Blind Guardian and Kai Hansen both still have what it takes to rock with VALHALLA! \m/
It has just arrived, the third episode of the Guardian TV with questions and answers about song selection and remixes for "Memories Of A Time To Come".
The band has posted the following message on its Facebook page:
Today we are started a contest with a very special prize. A very limited number of steel plates were printed with the "Memories Of A Time To Come" cover artwork. We have one and are going to give it to one lucky fan here on Facebook.
All you have to do is the following. Share this post with your friends and everyone on Facebook. Making your share public is important since then we can see that you did it. From all the people that have shared it we will pick one winner at random.
The winner will then be contacted by our webmaster and then you will be sent the steel plate. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, we will send it anywhere.
This contest will run until Wednesday February 15th. A winner be announced soon thereafter.
Good luck and thank you for your support. \m/
So just share this post on your Facebook profile and try to win this artwork!
The fourth episode of the Guardian TV and today, the band responds questions about the re-recorded songs, why they choose these and about the artwork of "Memories Of A Time To Come".
"And Then There Was Silence" is one of the greatest masterpieces of Blind Guardian, a song over 14 minutes on Greek mythology and Hansi consider this song as the best ever written by the group.
Rich and varied, the depicted universe is unique, the atmosphere is captivating and in concert it's a real pleasure when the group sings for us the Trojan War.
We offer an extremely interesting analysis conducted by Clotilde, a student in classics and fan of Blind Guardian and she graciously offered it to en.Blind-Guardian.fr. It's at the bottom of the Interpretations page that the Trojan War begins!
The translation from french has been made by Sébastien.
Blind Guardian will be the guest on the German TV show "Nachtfahrt TV". The show is aired on various German TV stations as shown HERE.
The episode with Blind Guardian will premiere on Friday March 9th and be available online starting Monday March 12th. Below you will find a little teaser for the episode.
As you know, it's Oliver Holzwarth who manned the bass in the band since 1997 (since Hansi stopped this one for keep his focus on vocals). It turns out that Oliver has joined permanently the ranks of Rhapsody Of Fire (since the split into two group with Staropoli in one side and Turilli to the other) and he can no longer play with Blind Guardian .
Barend Courbois
This is a Dutchman named Barend Courbois (Revenge) who takes his place. We don't have a lot of information about him but Hansi says it has the same level as Oliver, we can expect some very very good things!
Michael Schüren has also joined another group permanently, Savage Circus, which also sees Thomen Stauch (former drummer of Blind Guardian) get back in its ranks! The only thing we know is that his replacement is named Peter! If you have additional information about it (full name, old groups, etc ...) please post them in the comments, the news will be updated as appropriate.
Hansi has just posted a message on the band's official website for the end of the current tour and future projects.
He speaks of a collector box soon to be released and whose content will be all albums released by Virgin!
Hi there,
A long (far longer than expected) journey has more or less come to an end. After having had great fun with our Greek and German friends some weeks ago, we are now preparing ourselves for the final show here in Germany. Even though being on the road is always a very enjoyable experience for everyone in the band, it, on the other hand, demands a lot of time and makes it almost impossible for us to really keep our focus on songwriting. It therefore became more and more obvious to us that there had to be a stop to our touring activities to maintain a proper songwriting cycle. It will be a challenging but also a very exciting period for us. Having an album like At The Edge Of Time in our rearview mirror is a curse and blessing at the same time. No matter if we try to finalize the orchestra project or start the songwriting for the next new "regular" Blind Guardian album, it will demand our full attention during the next 24 months or perhaps even more. So, the final chance to see us live will be the Rockharz festival in Ballenstedt, Germany on Friday July 13th. I am absolutely sure that there will not be any Blind Guardian shows before autumn 2014. So, do not miss this one!
Last but not least, some information for those of you that are curious about the collector's box that we've mentioned in some interviews. This box will contain remixed versions of the complete studio album works (based on the original releases) we have done for Virgin. During the next weeks we will provide you with the exact content once it is completely confirmed. There will be tons of material ... I've found it extremely pleasant to revisit the old albums one more time, but mostly I enjoyed Nightfall In Middle-Earth, which for me remains the strongest Blind Guardian release to date. Mostly I was impressed by some of the songs, which we have not played live so far, "Noldor" and "The Curse Of Feanor" in particular. I immediately decided that we have to play one or the other in 2014. So, it truly is something to look forward to. Sounds like a (false) promise, I already made some time ago, doesn't it? :-) History repeats itself, some mean people would say, and that life is a constant "Battlefield" – which reminds me of another great song of ours ...
These times are very quiet Blind Guardian but not for everyone, Hansi lends his voice again for a new album.
It's on the new album of Maegi, the power-progressive metal project of Oganalp Canatan (Hansi knows him very well, he worked with him on the Neverland project) which he appears. Skies Fall, which will be released early next year will see other names in the world of metal such as Chris Boltendahl (Grave Digger), Tim "Ripper" Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen), Zak Stevens (Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Circle II Circle) et Jerry Outlaw (Jon Olivia's Pain).
Tracklist :
News Broadcast
Skies Fall
No Response
Communications Breakdown
Take No Prisoners
Hide And Seek
Those We've Left Behind
A Different Fate
The Resistance
Demise Of Hopes
In Silence
Requiem
Hansi will sing on Those We've Left Behind. You can hear some extracts of Skies Fall and A Different Fate.
A Traveler's Guide To Space And Time!! Here it is finally, the ultimate box for fans of Blind Guardian!l
This box is scheduled for 28 January 2013 and will cost around $125, each one will come with a guitar plectrum and a hand-numbered certificate of authenticity. The number of editions is still unknow. Pre-order on amazon.de is already possible: Pre-order A Traveler's Guide To Space And Time.
Let's see what this monster contains:
The first 7 albums (from Battalions Of Fear to A Night At The Opera) remasterised
The 2 albums live remastered
For the first time, Imaginations Through The Looking Glass is available on CD.
And some surprises ...
And now the CDs:
CD 1 - Battalions Of Fear
CD 2 - Follow The Blind
CD 3 - Tales From The Twilight World
CD 4 - Somewhere Far Beyond
CD 5 - Tokyo Tales
CD 6 - Imaginations From The Other Side
CD 7 - The Forgotten Tales
CD 8 - Nightfall In Middle-Earth
CD 9 - A Night At The Opera
CD 10/CD 11 - Live
CD 12/CD 13 - Imaginations Through The Looking Glass
The CD 14 and 15 contain surprises of this box:
CD 14 - Nightfall In Middle-Earth (Special)
Into the Storm (2012 - Remixed)
Nightfall (Remaster 2012)
The Curse of Feanor (Remaster 2012)
Blood Tears (Vocal Remix)
Mirror, Mirror (2012 Remaster)
Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns) (2012 Remaster)
Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill) (2012 Remaster)
Thorn (2012 Remaster)
The Eldar (2012 Remaster)
When Sorrow Sang (2012 Remaster)
A Dark Passage (2012 Remaster)
CD 15 - An extraordinary tale includes unreleased curiosities
Last year, Marcus joined Frederik in Sinbreed for two dates only (Marcus Siepen will join Sinbreed), today, he confirmed his membership as a full member of the group!
He participated with them ProgPower USA this year, including an excerpt is available below with Reborn: