Okay, I’ve had it with melodic death metal and other subgenres I don’t enjoy. Time to indulge my own preferences, so let’s have a power metal band. In fact, let’s have
the German Power Metal band, of whose work I have heard precisely nothing but who come highly recommended and are acknowledged as one of the premier movers in the German Power Metal scene, and one of the most important bands in the history of that subgenre in that country.
Nightfall in Middle Earth --- Blind Guardian --- 1998 (Virgin)
Like I say, Blind Guardian are supposedly the best Power Metal band I never heard. And I should be totally into them, with their love of Tolkien and all things fantasy; in fact, this album is a concept based around “The Silmarillion”, precursor to the epic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the inspiration for the name of my second-favourite prog rock icons, Marillion, so all the pieces would appear to be here and if I had to bet on my enjoying this album, I’d be plonking down a big wedge of cash at Paddy Power. If I had a big wedge of cash. Which I don’t. Not even a small one. But this should be good.
Edit: Holy Crap!
Twenty-two tracks! That’s gotta go down as the longest album I’ve done in quite a while, though on balance there are apparently spoken passages on the album, which average out at less than a minute each. Still, running time overall --- meh, just over an hour. Not too bad really. And if it’s as good as I think it will be then it won’t matter how long it is. Just hope it doesn’t disappoint.
With the sounds of a climactic battle we open on “War of wrath”, as Sauron speaks to his master Morgoth (look, if you didn’t read the book you’re not going to know, or want to know, so I’ll keep it brief but we need context here) and advises him to flee after being defeated, which the dark lord refuses to do, preferring instead to ruminate upon what went wrong for him. It’s a short piece, backed by the sounds of battle and the voices of the narrator. Norman Eshley takes the role of Sauron while Douglas Fielding plays Morgoth, the interchange between the two like watching a movie it’s so powerful and realistic. Morgoth sends Sauron away, into hiding, but goes himself to try to take the fabled Silmarils, the ageless jewels of Middle Earth, leading into the first song proper, the appropriately-titled “Into the storm”.
With a real sense of urgency and haste, the song explodes across the canvas of the storyline with excited guitars, rolling drums and a passionate vocal from Hansi Kürsch, who also wrote all the lyrics on the album. With the aid of the huge black spider Ungoliant Morgoth steals the Silmarils, taking them to his dread castle where he sets them in his iron crown, denying their light to the world. A backing choir helps load the song with a sense of drama and epicity, and we move into “Lammoth”, which is another very short track (less than thirty seconds) as Morgoth, thinking to cheat Ungoliant, is trapped by her but lets out an awful scream which brings his Balrogs to his rescue.
“Nightfall” is the first chance to catch our breath, a minstrel-like ballad that soon shows its teeth as Feanor and his seven sons mourn the theft of the Silmarils and swear revenge on Morgoth. it is, not surprisingly, a song of lamenting mingled with a cold desire for revenge and retribution, with the choir often putting me in mind of Queen. The song certainly gets more intense as it goes on, the need for revenge almost overwhelming the need to grieve in the recently bereaved family. Another uber-short piece is next, “The Minstrel” taking a look inside the head of a bard who is not sure what to sing next. It’s accompanied for its brief, thirty-two-second run by acoustic guitar and flute and then we hear how the creator of the Silmarils takes his revenge in “The curse of Feanor”.
There’s a galloping, almost insane rush to the song as Feanor charges out into Middle Earth to exact revenge for the theft of his creation and the death of his father. There are softer passages within the song too, but they’re quickly subsumed by the faster, more frenetic ones as the fury of Feanor explodes across the world. Great performance from Kürsch as the maddened craftsman, and the choir add their own power to the track too. Super fretburning solo from André Olbrich, then the song begins to slow a little as Feanor realises what he has done, but by now it’s much too late. The voice of Morgoth gloats “You are now my guest, forever!” and we move on into “Blood tears”, where Feanor’s brother laments his capture and imprisonment at the hands of Morgath.
It’s a low-key, melancholic song in sort of acoustic vein with the assistance of the choir, and it kicks up for the midsection as Meadhros sighs
”My mind's in frozen dreams/ The rotten flesh of bitter lies/ Welcome to where time stands still/ No-one leaves and no-one ever will!” A somewhat more optimistic song as the building of the city of Gondolin is related in “Mirror, mirror”, with some celtic influences in the melody and a rattling, rocking beat with an excellent performance by the choir, some sort of Irish jig reeled off (sorry!) by Olbrich on the guitar adding to the celtic feel, then another short spoken passage takes us into “Noldor (Dead winter reigns)”.
A slower, more stately rhythm indicative of a people marching fits this song perfectly as the army of Fingolfin march out of the ice lands. The drama and passion in this track has it occupying the position of standout, so far, for me. The next track is a short minstrel-like lay, followed by a powerful rocker in “Time stands still (at the Iron Hill)", in which the dread Lord Morgoth is challenged to single combat against Fingolfin who, though he wounds him badly, is killed and Morgoth triumphs. Great interplay between vocalist and choir here, with a tremendous hook in the chorus and some excellent soloing. Death and betrayal are the stuff of “Thorn”, when Gondolin is betrayed by Maeglin, son of the Dark Elf. Reflecting the theme, the song is heavier and harder than previous tracks, with a harsh vocal from Kürsch.
A beautiful piano frames “The Eldar”, as the elven king dies and bids farewell to his people, sad song as you would expect, laden with regret and sorrow and other than vocals --- the choir return here to mourn the passing of the ruler of the elves --- the song is completely carried on what I believe to be the grand piano of Michael Schüren, a stunning performance, and after another short spoken passage heads into “When sorrow sang”, the penultimate musical track as Beren lies dying, awaiting the final kiss from his lover. Rather than another sentimental lament, this song is powerful and uptempo, mirroring the defiance of the dying Beren, refusing to die until he has gazed into the eyes of the one he loves once more.
Morgoth revels in his triumph as the armies of men and elves are scattered, defeated, and “A dark passage” marches along victoriously, as the dark lord scorns his foes and takes control of Middle Earth. It’s a powerful, almost operatic ending to the album, with the faint promise of hope leaking through like a weak shaft of sunlight in the all-encompassing darkness as a prophecy is mentioned right at the end, a prophecy we will eventually see come to pass in the three-novel cycle we know as “The Lord of the Rings”.
TRACKLISTING
1. War of wrath
2. Into the storm
3. Lammoth
4. Nightfall
5. The minstrel
6. The curse of Feanor
7. Captured
8. Blood tears
9. Mirror, mirror
10. Face the truth
11. Noldor (Dead winter reigns)
12. Battle of sudden flame
13. Time stands still (at the Iron Hill)
14. The Dark Elf
15. Thorn
16. The Eldar
17. Nom the Wise
18. When sorrow sang
19. Out on the water
20. The steadfast
21. A dark passage
22. Final chapter (Thus ends…)
I apologise if I concentrated more on the story than the music, but I got caught up in it and it is an amazing tale if you haven’t read it. Tough going though, the book. As far as Blind Guardian are concerned, I’m glad I finally got to listen to them because this was excellent. I had some carzy notion that The Batlord disabused me of (he’s not often charged with the reverse!) that their singer was a death growler, and I see of course now that I was completely wrong about that. This is almost the perfect synthesis of the things I like: fantasy, Tolkien, Power Metal, excellent lyrics and a great interpretation of a classic story. Couldn’t ask for more really. Will definitely be checking into some of their other material.
I thought twenty-two tracks was a lot, and it kind of was, but given that a large percentage of those were short, spoken ones or very short musical interludes --- though interestingly, no instrumentals at all, which I would have expected --- the time did not drag but trying to capture the essence of this album in one review is like attempting to distill the basics of LOTR into a few sentences: you can’t do it justice, and I’m sure I failed to get across how great this album is. But take my word for it: if you’re a fan of Tolkien and love metal, you really need to hear this.