BLIND GUARDIAN — At The Edge Of Time (review)

BLIND GUARDIAN — At The Edge Of Time album cover

Album · 2010 · Power Metal

4.5/5 · 2010-11-07
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At the Edge of Time is Blind Guardian’s first album in four years, following 2006’s A Twist in the Myth. Here Blind Guardian have both continued to evolve their sound and pay tribute to their speed metal roots. The mix of influences and styles for songs here reminds me of the Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations from the Other Side era, while adding in their more recent progressive tendencies for good measure. There is also an occasional symphonic element here, especially in the first track Sacred Worlds and album closer Wheel of Time.

Sacred Worlds previous appeared as the song Sacred for the RPG Sacred 2: Fallen Angel computer game. At the time Blind Guardian had been known to state that it would be released as a bonus track when they did another album. Evidently something has changed since then, since Sacred Worlds is like Sacred 2.0, longer, better and with an orchestral intro and outro which is an extremely epic way of starting the album. It makes me really look forward to the orchestral project that the band has been going on about for some time, something that I was previously apprehensive about. Sacred Worlds last for over nine minutes but despite its length it never bores. The way the traditional metal instruments blend into it as the intro is coming to an end is done to perfection. It’s symphonic, it’s progressive and it’s powerful, definitely the right choice for an opening track. Blind Guardian made a good decision here to not just shove Scared in as a bonus track.

Speaking of progressive influence, progressive metal is something that Blind Guardian can definitely be identified with these days. This is not only evident with Sacred Worlds but also other songs, especially Road of no Release, which is the albums third track. At first listen it may not sound progressive but then you get deeper into it, and you hear that’s there’s a lot more going on here, from the piano led intro to the epic chorus and somewhat crazy solo, it’s definitely another highlight.

Blind Guardian have brought some speed metal influence back with At the Edge of Time, something which becomes evident early on with the second track, Tanelorn (Into the Void) and then again with Ride into Obsession and A Voice in the Dark (the lead single from the album). They’re not as speed influenced as their older songs, even ones such as I’m Alive from Imaginations from the Other Side, but that’s okay since they’re very solid songs and provide some good variety between the album’s shifting moods. Ride Into Obsession is definitely the best of the speed metal influenced songs, and it also has a very progressive feel to it when it suddenly loses pace and builds up again, done in such a way that just gives it more impact. This, along with ballad War of the Thrones is one of the shorter songs on the album, though it doesn’t fall far short of five minutes. It’s a song that has real punch to it. A future live favourite? I’d put money on it.

Taking things down a notch Blind Guardian have also included a couple of extremely folksy songs, namely Curse My Name and War of the Thrones. The former of these has the same sort of quality as A past and Future Secret from Imaginations from the Other Side. I once remarked of this song as Blind Guardian with their lutes in the tavern with Hansi the Bard entertaining the patrons, and Curse My Name is definitely on that same set list. Even though it’s not a metal song I’ll certainly be considering it a highlight of At the Edge of Time. As for War of the Thrones you may have heard this one on the A Voice in the Dark single, but branded as an acoustic version in contrast to this, the piano version. Don’t expect a full piano version though because it’s only piano led, many elements of the song are the same between the two versions, especially in the fact that it has no less an atmosphere as the acoustic version (acoustic guitars are also still present). Which is better? Well I must say that personally I think the acoustic version has a slight edge of the piano version, not much of one but that’s probably the only fault real on the album.

Other tracks such as Valkyries blend styles. For the most part this one feels very much power metal but a folk influence has crept it and crops up every so often. A bit of speed creeps in to. Despite the range of styles in it it’s one of the least progressive songs the album has to offer. Following Valkyries is Control the Divine, a solid song but not a highlight. In fact it gets my vote as weakest from At the Edge of Time, not because it’s weak, it’s not but for some reason it just doesn’t jump out at me or make the same impact as the others.

They save what is probably the most innovative track to last though: Wheel of Time. Bringing back those symphonic leanings from Sacred Worlds it goes further into experimental and progressive territory, this song has a very prominent Middle Eastern feel to it. Folksy in an entirely different way to the folk songs Curse my Name and War of the Thrones. It’s another highlight and a great way to end the album. It’s like all influences come together here, power, prog, speed, symphonic folk; Wheel of Time has it all. Hansi’s vocals in this song hark back to A Night at the Opera as well, epic indeed.

Lyrically themes on this album are pretty typical for Blind Guardian, most of them being fantasy, in particular The Wheel of Time by the late Robert Jordan and currently being concluded by author Brandon Sanderson (Rise Into Obsession and Wheel of Time), and George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (War of the Thrones and A Voice in the Dark). Those who do not read fantasy books may however already be familiar with Tanelorn, since The Quest for Tanelorn was a song on Somewhere Far Beyond. They do stray out of fantasy however, being influenced by the work of John Milton for the songs Curse My Name and Control the Divine. Also Valkyries is based on, you guessed it, Norse Mythology.

So is At the Edge of Time any good? Hell yes, I think it’s the best thing they’ve done since Imaginations from the Other Side. But one thing I will say about it, it’s a grower. At first I was slightly disappointed by the album, but as I listened to it more and more, I began to get into more and only then did I truly realise what a gem of an album At the Edge of Time is. It is an album to rival their classics from the speed metal days. I don’t think it tops them, but it gives them a run for their money. Highly recommended.

But that’s just the main album. At the Edge of Time has also been released as a 2CD with extra tracks. The following content has no bearing on the album’s score as it is bonus material but is covered here to provide insight to the complete package.

First up is a different version of Sacred Worlds, shorter, cutting the orchestral intro, though it is not the original Sacred song. Branded as a pre-production version it is actually pretty safe to safe that this version is almost pointless when the main version is so epic.

Next we get an alternate version of Wheel of Time. While promoted here as an Orchestral Version it would be more accurate to called it an Instrumental version, since the metal instruments are still present in this version, only Hansi’s vocals have been removed. Much as I like Hansi’s voice this is probably the highlight of the bonus CD, showcases what I deem to be symphonic metal at its finest. This is a style which is actually more epic without vocals.

A version of You’re the Voice, a cover song which appeared on the A Voice in the Dark single also appears, though it’s shortened as a radio edit from that version. Disappointing that they didn't include the full version, but I’m not overly fond of this cover to be honest, so not a big loss.

The remainder of the bonus disc’s audio content is demo versions of the songs Tanelorn (Into the Void), Curse My Name and A Voice in the Dark. You can also download a demo version of Valkyries if you take advantage of a promotional code that comes in the album (please note that I do not know if this only comes in the special edition or both editions), among others things, such as the video content which also appears on the bonus disc, a picture gallery and some wallpapers for your desktops.

But onto those songs on the disc. Musically they aren’t dissimilar, though different standards in production terms can be instantly heard. No, what is most different about the demos is what they feature many different lyrically lines, even though Hansi deliveries them in the same way as the final versions. Quite rightly the lyrics in these versions are very much inferior to those the band choose for the final versions. Some lines remain, others are similar. Of the three Curse My Name is probably the closest to its final version, though it’s over a minute shorter. Lyrically references in A Voice in the Dark make me think that this version is actually based on The Wheel of Time and Not a Song of Ice and Fire, while Tanelorn (Into the Void) I don’t think even mentions Tanelorn in this version. In fact I think these too songs are titled as such as reference to the final versions. They likely had different titles as this stage.

(Review originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)