Blind Guardian - Fly

[Liu]

Blind Guardian - Fly
Nuclear Blast

[I'm gonna go against standard reviewing procedure here and will not give this a numbered score as this is just a 3 song EP and not enough to really judge it against a 10 point scale.]

There are few bands whose release of a new album is something of an event to me. Blind Guardian is one such band, second only to Iron Maiden in fact. Its been over four years since the release of A Night Of The Opera, and finally the band is going to grace us all with a new album, tentatively titled A Twist In The Myth. As was with the last album, the band has decided to release a sampler of sorts, an EP to satisfy the hunger of a rabid fanbase and to give a rough idea of the direction of the upcoming album. And I'm sure, after hearing the Fly EP, every Blind Guardian fan should a little to worry about.

Red flags start flying at the very beginning of the opening title track. With a rythmic drum beat and electronic effects, you begin to wonder if there was a mistake and you're listening to some dance club cd instead. Any such doubts are silenced once the guitars and drums kick in and vocalist Hansi Kursch sings the first lines of the song, going into a more traditional territory. There's no doubt it being a Blind Guardian song now. But it seems really off. The song has some very great moments, the pre-chorus and solo for example, but my one gripe is how it destroys its own momentum and it does it often. I can tell that the band wants to try something different, as they should, but the song stumbles under its own weight with varying ideas that shift back and forth, some clearly stronger than others. The result is something that wants to go at various directions, but really ends up nowhere. Worth noting is new drummer Frederick Ehmke, who replaces the very underrated Thomas Stauch. "The Omen" left some very big shoes to fill, but Frederick is up to the task. Its almost as if Stauch never left, though its hard to really judge how well Frederick stacks up from just 3 songs.

Second song here is the acoustic version of a song set to appear on A Twist In The Myth, Skalds And Shadows. It totally has a vibe similiar to The Bard's Song - In The Forest, which I imagine will go across well as a sing-along in the live setting. Last but not least is a cover of Iron Butterfly's In A Gadda Da Vida. It is in a way an oddball choice for the band to cover, simply because the song itself is not an oddball song. The song is very energetic and maintains its pace throughout unlike the title track. Of note is that the band once again chooses to use those electronic effects like before, sounding completely out of place. I have to admit to being annoyed by the addition of these effects. In the band's 20 year history they have never used them, nor did their music ever need them. I have no idea why they'd start incorporating them now, but I just hope I'm blowing things out of proportion and is not a sign of things to come.

Despite my slightly negative stance regarding this EP, my anticipation for A Twist In The Myth is not any less diminished. Fact remains, this is the only new Blind Guardian material in over 4 years and it'll have to do until the new album is released. I've already easily played this EP 20 times since getting it earlier in the week (I've avergaed 5 plays per day at the time of this writing) and I'll probably give it 50 more until the band unleashes their next beast upon us. And I can't wait.


01. Fly
02. Skalds And Shadows (acoustic version)
03. In A Gadda Da Vida

Score: N/A

[Liu]

The song has actually grown a great deal on me, though I'm more interested in Skalds And Shadows, which is said to be more orchestral on the upcoming album.