(CD/LP, Nuclear Blast, 2022)
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, BLIND GUARDIAN have been a consistent band putting together high-quality Power Metal albums, which brings metalheads together to sing along. Really, I cannot recall a single BLIND GUARDIAN show during which I did not strain my voice, not wanting to miss any opportunity to sing with Hansi. Aside from that, I have to credit the Germans for introducing me to the amazing world of heroic fantasy literature, which I have been revisiting even now and then, with more grey hairs on my head... Even though the last studio album felt like the lost soundtrack for “Lord Of The Rings”, I cannot claim I spent a lot of listening time. In hindsight, “Twilight Orchestra: Legacy Of The Dark Lands” seems to have saturated the band’s appetite for symphonic elements and made the German legends to take a step back. This resulted in “The God Machine” that has me glued to my earphones to catch everything.
No, this is not a “return to the roots” album, and it would be unfair to approach it as such. Sure, the press release talks about “closing the ranks between past and present,” but this should not be perceived as choosing something over something else. At least, the way I understand this (while spinning the album to oblivion) is that BLIND GUARDIAN reverted to the recipes with more guitars and simpler structures to get the listener hooked. The result is “The God Machine”, an album that roams across the entire BLING GUARDIAN back-catalogue with a bit more focus on the guitar-based songwriting. You can feel this in the up-tempo opener “Deliver Us From Evil” with the in-your-face guitars and Hansi’s higher-pitched singing. Yes, the vocals do breathe some “Tales From The Twilight World” air and, for that, put a massive smile on my face. The riffs are amazing and carry the catchy melodies that you must chant-along (but you really cannot). The icing on this Power Metal cake are the drums and the massive double-bass drumming with the BLIND GUARDIAN trademark “oooohs” at the end, dropping the curtain in a grand way. The cinematic layers with keyboards and orchestral finishing touches are still here, but are carefully portioned to keep the guitars on the spotlight. “Damnation” follows this path, and it’s perfectly normal if you get a “Into The Storm” kind of vibe in the pre-chorus and solo. This is an epic headbanger and you should brace yourself during the song’s second half, with the double-bass drumming, winking at the ‘90s. The album’s flow is kind of disrupted with the orchestral start of “Secrets Of The American Gods”; first of all, one cannot ignore the node to Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods” novel and therefore going through the lyrics is unavoidable. The introductory dramatics and - what I’ll describe as a cameo of the “Raised By Wolves” theme song; really, this is a 4s segment and may as well be just my ears - are some of the things begging for multiple replays. The way the orchestrations work with the guitars is a BLIND GUARDIAN trademark, and during its first part, you will get a “Night At The Opera” flavor. The catchy chorus is as epic as they come, particularly in the way the multiple vocals (backing and leading) are brought together in the mix. Of course, such an epic song requires a dramatic ending, and this is exactly what the band delivers before letting the orchestration to fade the stage light out - perfect. “Violent Shadows” is the strong chaser with riffs and drums straight out of the old-days and massive drums to keep the blood flowing.
After the headbanging break comes Hansi and his evilest of voices to lay down this enigmatic lyric line: “meanwhile the void is bearing space”. Is this Sci-Fi, Horror or even better, both? Regardless of the style, this is a complex and at the same catchy song, highlighting the songwriting approach the band followed. There is a modern finishing touch on the guitars or maybe those are in place to feed the Sci-Fi atmosphere; no matter what, they work, and maybe you should listen with headphones to notice the choirs closer to the end. Speaking of Sci-Fi, BLIND GUARDIAN visit Battlestar Galactica with “Architects Of Doom” and enter the Thrash zone with riffs and vocals from the “Follow The Blind” days. If you listen closely, you will notice the ACCEPT-stylized double-guitar action being in perfect harmony with the song’s overall complexity. I rarely agree with the (usually) overhyped press releases, but in this case, BLIND GUARDIAN have indeed “unified past, present, and future”.
The borderline power-ballad “Let It Be No More” will be perfect in concert, and “Blood Of The Elves” will fuel the mosh-pit, especially during the dramatic “black, white, black, white” part. Make sure to (also) sing along during the chorus… Too much? Well, this is BLIND GUARDIAN after all, and this is why you need to be spending lots of time spinning this beauty. There is a dark atmosphere omnipresent throughout the album that gets stronger whenever Hansi wants to, or when the lyrics ask for. Feel this in “Destiny”, although the guitars play an important role here too, and please, pay extra attention to the sad melodies served after the guitar solo while Hansi is wailing his way “It's not as cruel as it may seem”.
I am not a new BLIND GUARDIAN fan and, in fact, this is the reason for having high expectations from every album with their logo on the cover. After all, they have set the bar high, and I am over the moon happy to report that “The God Machine” have passed all the quality control checks with flying colors. I do not want to downplay the previous studio efforts, but it’s true: “The God Machine” is massive, and hopefully it will see the live action it deserves.
10/10
Links:
www.Blind-Guardian.Com
www.FaceBook.Com/BlindGuardian
www.Instagram.Com/BlindGuardian
Tracklist:
01. Deliver Us From Evil
02. Damnation
03. Secrets Of The American Gods
04. Violent Shadows
05. Life Beyond The Spheres
06. Architects Of Doom
07. Let It Be No More
08. Blood Of The Elves
09. Destiny
Lineup:
Hansi Kürsch - Vocals
André Olbrich - Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Rhythm Guitar
Marcus Siepen - Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Frederik Ehmke - Drums