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NetherFog
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 11:28 am
Posts: 85
PostPosted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 6:55 am 
 

tahu157 wrote:
Are all of these songs about books? At least three of them are.

Secrets of the American Gods - American Gods (obviously)
Damnation - The Kingkiller Chronicle
Blood of the Elves - The Witcher


Yup they are,

Got this from the Wiki:

"Deliver Us from Evil" is about Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.
"Damnation" is about The Kingkiller Chronicle, a fantasy series written by Patrick Rothfuss.
"Secrets of the American Gods" references Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel American Gods.
"Violent Shadows" is about Kaladin Stormblessed and his life as a bridgeman in Brandon Sanderson's fantasy novel series The Stormlight Archives.
"Life Beyond the Spheres" is about the creation of the universe, (The Big Bang specifically) the first moments after the beginning of everything, and the evolution of space and time.
"Architects of Doom" references the science fiction franchise Battlestar Galactica.
"Let It Be No More" deals with the death of frontman Hansi Kürsch's mother, as well as The Leftovers.
"Blood of the Elves" references the first novel in The Witcher series, Blood of Elves, written by Andrzej Sapkowski.
"Destiny" is inspired by the tale The Ice-Maiden written by Hans Christian Andersen.

As a fantasy fan was happy to see Hansi using the recent series (Stormlight) for inspiration. Damn cool

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 4:25 pm 
 

After several listens I'm not sure any of these songs are real classics, but it's compulsively listenable because of the shorter length and the energy level's always high. The ballad is just OK and the final song might still have to grow on me, and "Damnation" has cool riffs but is oddly less catchy than you'd think for this band. I really like the other longer tunes on here. "Deliver Us from Evil" is really addictive as an opener - just one of those cool high energy PM belters.
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Rodman
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Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:15 am
Posts: 976
Location: Sydney, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:46 pm 
 

It's taken a few listens but I'm also on-board with this new album.

It obviously can't touch the Follow the Blind-Imaginations... era but it's a more than respectable effort from a band of this vintage. 'Deliver Us from Evil' is indeed a catchy opener and I'm also really digging the old-school 'Violent Shadows'. I've even come around on 'Secrets of the American Gods'.

It's almost certainly among the top 3 albums of the post-Nightfall... era, which is probably as much as we could have hoped for.

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Sestren
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2014 2:23 pm
Posts: 218
PostPosted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 8:07 pm 
 

Been playing quite a bit since release and definitely like this a bit better than At the Edge of Time, which has been my favorite after Imaginations. I don't think it will match Imaginations in the end but comes right next to it. Where I believe Imaginations is a 95, The God Machine is like a 90.

I also kinda wished The American Gods should have opened the album. The song has really grown on me and like it more than when it was releases as a single. Great stuff! They finally rekindle the fire for me with this album.

Some of these songs could really fit in Imaginations. I think my top favorites are Violent Shadows and Architects of Doom. Can't pick either as my favorite track.

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draconiondevil
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Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:21 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 4:46 pm 
 

My first impression was that this album wasn't as good as Beyond the Red Mirror, but after several more listens I think it's at least on par with that one and may eventually surpass it.
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CannibalCorpse
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Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:55 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 2022 8:25 am 
 

I've been through this album only once so far but who would have thought they'd release something this great late in their career?

No weak songs, tons of variation and some of this stuff is as fury and flames as their early material, but with a meaty, modern production that doesn't suck the life out of it.

I have a feeling that this one will grow on me even more.
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interstellar_medium
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Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2020 9:41 am
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:43 am 
 

mjollnir wrote:
PurpleDoom wrote:
... I'm big on Beyond the Red Mirror and I don't think I like this one as much as that...

It's on par with BtRM....which I thought was perfect so if you loved that, you'll love this even though it is more stripped down.


Yes, an absolutely perfect follow-up to the perfection that BtRM was. I only miss the concept storyline in the lyrics, but, well, The Witcher one kinda makes up for it. Here's to Herr Kürsch reading the whole saga eventually and giving us many more of his brilliant reinterpretations!

PurpleDoom wrote:
...the decision to strip out the orchestral elements was a good, interesting move and resulted in an album with a very coherent sound...


Secrets does work better as the "full" version with the orchestra in, though, doesn't it?


CoffeeCat wrote:
By the way, anyone notice the production seems a bit fuller compared to the singles? It might be placebo, but I'm almost positive the drums have been punched up a bit.


Depends on which singles - Secrets is definitely a different mix, and it must've been mastered separately... the other ones are basically album tracks.

Either way I'm insanely happy to see Charlie Bauerfeind relegated to minimum input; it's a huge step towards good sound. This time even the mastering engineer is another person - Jaakko Viitalähde, who happens to be the same dude who worked on the latest release of my other top favourite band, Ajattara!

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Zelkiiro
Pounding the world with a fish of steel

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:30 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 12:12 pm 
 

"Secrets of the American Gods" is strange.

As a single: Meh. Boring and off-putting. What even is this?
When you stick two songs in front of it: One of the album's highlights! A triumphant epic! Addictive and powerful!

How did it do this?!
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PurpleDoom
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Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:39 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 6:56 pm 
 

interstellar_medium wrote:
PurpleDoom wrote:
...the decision to strip out the orchestral elements was a good, interesting move and resulted in an album with a very coherent sound...


Secrets does work better as the "full" version with the orchestra in, though, doesn't it?

I honestly found the orchestral outro a bit superfluous. I'm hardly annoyed by it or anything but I think it would've been just as cool to hear it go straight from "You better save yourself!" to the... well, violent opening riff of the next song. (The intro is fine, going straight into the guitar part like the single version did is jarring.)

Overall another great album from my favorite band with a nice mix of their different eras. You've got the old-school aggression with "Blood of the Elves", more modern, streamlined uptempo tracks like "Deliver Us from Evil", Beyond the Red Mirror-esque contributions like "Life Beyond the Spheres" - even a bit of blending them all together, as in "Architects of Doom". I even hear a bit of Legacy of the Dark Lands in the way the closer is arranged. In the end I was always going to like it but there were still some pleasant surprises along the way.

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Masterschiief
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 8:06 pm 
 

I just listened to the solo section in "Secrets of the American Gods" and I really, REALLY like it. Damn, this album kicks ass!
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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 8:47 am 
 

Zelkiiro wrote:
"Secrets of the American Gods" is strange.

As a single: Meh. Boring and off-putting. What even is this?
When you stick two songs in front of it: One of the album's highlights! A triumphant epic! Addictive and powerful!

How did it do this?!


This is how "Deliver Us from Evil" was for me, an OK single but somehow it's a great blast of caffeine-energy to kick off the whole album.
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thrashinbatman
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:31 pm
Posts: 1533
PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 9:52 am 
 

Zelkiiro wrote:
"Secrets of the American Gods" is strange.

As a single: Meh. Boring and off-putting. What even is this?
When you stick two songs in front of it: One of the album's highlights! A triumphant epic! Addictive and powerful!

How did it do this?!

when it came on in my first listen through, my very first thought was, "this song suddenly makes infinitely more sense than it did as a single". it just slotted in perfectly!


with more time spent with this record, my only complaint is that it could use a Bard's Song/Lord of the Rings/A Past and Future Secret. just a short little acoustic ballad to give some flavor to the speed metal. that being said, i'm not gonna ding the album for it because it totally works just fine without one. the speed metal still kicks ass.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 12:43 pm 
 

I agree with that. The record is phenomenal but can still feel a bit samey at times; could have indeed been kicked up a notch with the inclusion of a classic BG interlude.
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KaiKasparek
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 2:02 pm 
 

It took me way too long to get a hold of this. Goddamn.

I kinda like that there is no "Bard's Song" like there's been on every album, even though I like most of those songs.

Upon first listen, it feels like an 7-8 across the board. Every track felt good but not great (with one exception). I was marvelling more at little interludes in some of the longer pieces. Life Beyond The Speheres and Architects of Doom come to mind. I have loved the fury of Violent Shadows since I first heard it at the virtual Wacken show over two years ago. I miss the orchestral epics of Blind Guardian beating Nightwish at their own game like Wheel of Time and Grand Parade. I'm glad the album is not over an hour. The album is exactly the length it needs to be. I hope it will improve upon subsequent listens.
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~Guest 171512
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 3:26 pm 
 

As a longtime fan of Blind Guardian, I was strangely apathetic about a new album from them. I don't know why, since I love 'Beyond the Red Mirror'. In any case, I was wrong not to care, because this album rules. I'm amazed at how refreshed they sound; it doesn't come across as the band just catering to the old fans. This is at least an 8/10 for me, maybe a 9/10. Incredible.

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Rodman
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Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:15 am
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Location: Sydney, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 6:05 am 
 

Is it fair to say that 'Deliver Us from Evil' is their best song since 'Mirror Mirror'?

The only other nominee, IMO, is 'Tanelorn (Into the Void)'.

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Metal_Detector
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 6:26 am 
 

Rodman wrote:
Is it fair to say that 'Deliver Us from Evil' is their best song since 'Mirror Mirror'?

The only other nominee, IMO, is 'Tanelorn (Into the Void)'.


Ehh, for me, nah. It's very good, don't get me wrong, but it's not one of my favorite songs from the album. I'd say I enjoy many tracks from the years between even more, "Under the Ice," "Precious Jerusalem," "Fly," and "The Holy Grail" in particular.
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Masterschiief
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Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2021 5:15 am
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 7:11 am 
 

Metal_Detector wrote:
Rodman wrote:
Is it fair to say that 'Deliver Us from Evil' is their best song since 'Mirror Mirror'?

The only other nominee, IMO, is 'Tanelorn (Into the Void)'.


Ehh, for me, nah. It's very good, don't get me wrong, but it's not one of my favorite songs from the album. I'd say I enjoy many tracks from the years between even more, "Under the Ice," "Precious Jerusalem," "Fly," and "The Holy Grail" in particular.


Yeah, I agree. It's a good song, but far from the best on the album IMO.
Regarding best songs: "Precious Jerusalem" and "Fly" are two of my favorites as well, and I honestly think that "A Voice in the Dark" and "The Throne" are really good as well. I haven't heard the new album enough to definitely call my favorite song from it, so far I tend to "Secrets of the American Gods" or "Violent Shadows".
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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 7:45 am 
 

Best track for their newer days for me would be "At the Edge of Time" the song, or "Ashes of Eternity." Maybe "Holy Grail" or "The Throne" too. That middle part of BTRM smokes so hard.
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Rodman
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 8:06 am 
 

There are certainly some greats songs on A Night at the Opera, however the live versions are so undisputedly superior that it feels a bit weird to nominate anything from that album when talking career highlights. 'Fly' is a lot of fun but its shameless poppyness renders it more of a guilty pleasure for me rather than a serious contender for best BG track of the past 25 years.

I'll have to revisit some of the other tracks mentioned, particularly 'The Throne' (I agree that 'Holy Grail' is a banger).

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thrashinbatman
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Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:31 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 9:32 am 
 

im not even sure id rank Deliver Us From Evil as the best song on this album. i think id put at least Blood of the Elves above it. id also put Battlefield, And Then There Was Silence, Tanelorn, Wheel of Time, and The Holy Grail up there too. there's been some killer stuff in the time between Nightfall and now.

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Reid
Metalhead

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2022 1:57 pm 
 

Wasn't that into this album based on the pre-release singles and my first full listen, but I'm digging it a lot more now. I still think I prefer At the Edge of Time and Beyond the Red Mirror by a hair, but this is still an exceptionally solid effort. Deliver Us From Evil, Secrets of the American Gods (so much better in the context of the album than by itself), and Life Beyond the Spheres are the highlights for me. Better production than Beyond the Red Mirror for sure, though.

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Benedict Donald
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2022 11:22 pm 
 

It’s only been a few months, but after the luster wore off, and the core of the album has shown through, we’re left with some solid, but unspectacular, music which is sullied by one of the worst vocal performances of the year. Hansi’s always been an acquired taste, but this is beyond the pale.

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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 1:15 am 
 

Huh, really, he sounds great to me. Never really thought of him as an acquired taste either.
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KaiKasparek
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 1:16 am 
 

Benedict Donald wrote:
It’s only been a few months, but after the luster wore off, and the core of the album has shown through, we’re left with some solid, but unspectacular, music which is sullied by one of the worst vocal performances of the year. Hansi’s always been an acquired taste, but this is beyond the pale.


Now this is a stupid take. Hansi sounds like always sounds.
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CannibalCorpse
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 5:48 am 
 

Don't get that take either and I hate MANY power metal vocalist a fair bit ^^

Also, it's been a few months and I can safely say that this new BG album is in my top 10 this year.

Life Beyond the Spheres <3
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lordcatfish
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 6:34 am 
 

I listen to quite a lot of power metal, and can certainly understand the idea of Hansi being an acquired taste. He was definitely a roadblock for me listening to them when I first heard them, and I can't say I'm 100% on board years later either.
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des91
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 12:32 pm 
 

I don’t mind Power Metal vocals at all really, but Hansi kinda does have a “different” voice to me. I like it now but at first it was kinda jarring. He’s kinda “raspy” sounding or something? It almost sounds like he’s slightly straining, though I’m sure he’s technically not, just sounds that way to me. But there’s no doubt he’s great just kinda different then what I was used to, coming from a non-Power Metal background.

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VaderCrush
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Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:05 am
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 11:15 pm 
 

Empyreal wrote:
Huh, really, he sounds great to me. Never really thought of him as an acquired taste either.


same. blind guardian has been having some problems with iffy song structures and bad production for a few albums now (I think this is the best they've had in years in both respects) but hansi has always been very consistent

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KaiKasparek
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 11:45 pm 
 

The only thing iffy to me about Blind Guardian is they leaned a little too much towards musical theater during their breakthrough period of 95-07, moreso on Nightfall In Middle Earth than anything else. If Blind Guardian ever wormed their way on to Ozzfest during the late 90s, its hard for me to say how well they would have gone down.
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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:38 am 
 

VaderCrush wrote:
Empyreal wrote:
Huh, really, he sounds great to me. Never really thought of him as an acquired taste either.


same. blind guardian has been having some problems with iffy song structures and bad production for a few albums now (I think this is the best they've had in years in both respects) but hansi has always been very consistent


He sounded slightly weak on At the Edge of Time (album) but then came roaring back on Red Mirror - a seriously pissed-off, visceral performance compared to his other recent works. That one and then this new one seem to see the band becoming more comfortable and nailing all the aspects of the sound - though God Machine, I'd say, really loses steam with the final couple of songs.
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KaiKasparek
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:33 am 
 

Blood of the Elves is great, but Destiny is the weakest song on the album. It would have been better if a Wheel Of Time/Sacred Worlds/Grand Parade type of song was there.
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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:38 am 
 

"Blood of the Elves" is pretty killer, yeah - it's just sort of hamstrung by being bookended by the weak ballad and "Destiny" which is OK but never really gets off the ground.
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BastardHead
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:46 am 
 

I haven't commented here yet but I figure now's as good a time as any to say that I, unsurprisingly, like this quite a bit. I'm self-aware enough to know that I've treated the last three albums now like they were a stunning effort, best since Imaginations for sure, and then just never really listen to them anymore once the new year turns beyond a few listens for my scattered favorite tracks from them. So there's a very high chance that if you ask me what I think of this new one in nine months I might have to stutter a bit before remembering which songs I liked.

But the real reason this resonates so much with me is that it ignites a white-hot nostalgia for a memory in a timeline that never existed and can only be arrived at by following my obviously-not-fully-sober train of thought into a liminal z-axis of hypotheticals. This sounds like the version of Blind Guardian that Persuader was always trying to emulate. Like, this album could and should have been released in 1998. Not because it's better than Nightfall or because it's a good point in their evolution to release something that's both as fast and epic as this or anything, but because it logically needed to exist before Persuader started releasing music because in Timeline Prime where we exist currently Persuader cobbled together tons of influences, of which early 90s Blind Guardian was merely the primary one, but in Timeline of Steel where The God Machine is temporally shuffled back where it should be, Persuader heard this album in specific and said fuck everything else dude we are going to use this one album exclusively as a springboard to write everything we were going to write in Timeline Prime anyway. The subtle thrash coloring, the tasteful thickness of it, oh my god it even has a ballad that sounds like Blind Guardian would have written if they weren't good at ballads. It Marty McFly'd itself into ensuring its own creation simply by virtue of being what it is within the context in which it exists. The God Machine is the Proto-Persuader released 25 years after Persuader's career started. Blind Guardian and Persuader were two of my favorite bands in high school and whenever I listen to them there's always at least one small part of me that reminisces about the pre-mortgage days when trouble was a fake idea and vindaloo didn't hurt. That miniscule hit of nostalgia I always get when I listen to Blind Guardian caught onto the jetstream of energy connected to the infinitely recursive gigaloop of self-influence and wound up penetrating whatever part of my brain controls wistfulness with so much gusto that I could only rationalize it with whatever the fuck this paragraph said.

Yes I know that's a lot of words to say "Blind Guardian kinda sounds like their most notable imitator instead of themselves" but I mean it as a positive I swear
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Quacksha
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 2:09 pm 
 

Empyreal wrote:
He sounded slightly weak on At the Edge of Time (album)


No, he did not. Hansi sounded as good as ever on those "making of" videos, but the production killed the vocals for sure.

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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 2:21 pm 
 

Quacksha wrote:
Empyreal wrote:
He sounded slightly weak on At the Edge of Time (album)


No, he did not. Hansi sounded as good as ever on those "making of" videos, but the production killed the vocals for sure.


Maybe - it's been a while since I heard it and you're probably right about the production. In general it's no big deal - as someone else just said, he's mostly been really consistent over time and has never really sounded glaringly different since he found his style in the 90s.
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Ace_Rimmer
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:58 am 
 

Hansi sound like Hansi and I'm still digging this album. Giving it another spin now.

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