* En anglais uniquement
Blind Guardian emerged from western Germany in the mid-'80s with a style that fused gothic- and fantasy-tinged European power metal with the velocity and technical precision of speed metal. Since debuting in 1988 with the thrashy and raw
Battalions of Fear, the band has become an institution in power, progressive, and neo-classical metal circles, delivering genre classics
Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998),
A Night at the Opera (2002), and
A Twist in the Myth (2006), plus orchestral works such as
Legacy of the Dark Lands (2019) that skillfully pair fantastical narratives with ace musicianship.
Forming in the small German town of Krefeld, members
Hansi Kürsch (vocals, bass),
Marcus Siepen (guitar),
André Olbrich (guitar), and
Thomen Stauch (drums) initially called themselves Lucifer's Heritage, but elected to change it when a 1986 demo tape began to achieve underground popularity. They signed with the No Remorse label and issued the thrash-heavy
Battalions of Fear in 1988, following it with the like-minded
Follow the Blind a year later, which helped make a name for the band in Japan. Released in 1990, the still speedy but decidedly more power metal-influenced
Tales from the Twilight World became an underground hit in Germany and led to a deal with that country's division of Virgin Records. Their major-label debut,
Somewhere Far Beyond, was released in 1992, and helped create the nickname "bards" -- taken from the two-part "Bard's Song" -- for the group's fans. After 1993's live
Tokyo Tales,
Blind Guardian hooked up with former
Metallica producer
Flemming Rasmussen for 1995's acclaimed
Imaginations from the Other Side. Issued in 1996,
The Forgotten Tales was a collection of covers and alternate versions, setting the stage for 1998's breakout hit
Nightfall in Middle-Earth, a grandiose,
Tolkien-inspired concept album and the band's first American release.
Century Media began reissuing portions of the band's back catalog in the U.S. the following year, and in 2002, the group released
A Night at the Opera, their most progressive and sonically opulent outing to date. 2006's
A Twist in the Myth followed suit, administering copious amounts of guitarmonies and symphonic flourishes, and drawing lyrical inspiration from the likes of Stephen King's Dark Tower series and and Dante Alighieri's Inferno. They issued their ninth studio album,
At the Edge of Time, in 2010, followed by a compilation of re-recorded and remixed songs called Memories of a Time to Come in 2012. In 2015, the band returned with their tenth studio long-player,
Beyond the Red Mirror, a concept album and sequel to 1995's
Imaginations from the Other Side. Around the time of the recording of
Nightfall in Middle-Earth, guitarist
André Olbrich and vocalist
Hansi Kürsch began discussing how they could parlay their newfound power metal momentum into something a bit more ornate. The resulting
Legacy of the Dark Lands, an ambitious and all-orchestral double album, was released in 2019 under the amended moniker
Blind Guardian's Twilight Orchestra. ~ Steve Huey