11/07/2014 23:25

Blind Guardian

Blind Guardian's new album 'Beyond the Red Mirror' out in Jan/Feb 2015

'Beyond the Red Mirror' will be the title of the highly-anticipated tenth studio album by Germany's favorite sons and metal's most epic storytellers Blind Guardian. Prepare to have your senses overwhelmed.

Four-and-a-half years in the making, the follow-up to 2010's 'At the Edge of Time' (which debuted at #2 on the German album charts and at #1 on the American Billboard Heatseekers chart & #108 on the American Billboard Top 200 Albums chart) is scheduled for release in Europe on January 30th, 2015 and February 3rd, 2015 in North America.

Recorded at Twilight Hall Studio in Grefrath, Germany and produced by Charlie Bauerfeind (Saxon, Hammerfall, Helloween), 'Beyond the Red Mirror' showcases Blind Guardian's long-awaited collaborative work with three different classical choirs: one from the Czech Republic (Prague), one from Hungary (Budapest), and one from the United States (Boston). Two grand orchestras - each featuring 90 musicians – also lend their brilliant talents to the new recordings with absolutely spellbinding results.

Transporting listeners via a mysteriously powerful red mirror into an otherworldly dimension that includes tyrants, gods, and the Holy Grail, the ten songs comprising 'Beyond the Red Mirror's story lines revolve around the young protagonist we first met twenty years ago in the 1995 tracks 'Bright Eyes' and 'And the Story Ends'.

"A story between science fiction and fantasy," explains Blind Guardian vocalist & lyricist Hansi Kürsch. "The story begins with our 1995 album, 'Imaginations from the Other Side'. The two worlds described therein have changed dramatically for the worse since then. While there used to be several passages between the worlds, there is only one gate left now: The Red Mirror. It has to be found at any cost."

Asked to describe the band's guiding principles for the creation of this new release, Blind Guardian guitarist André Olbrich shares: "We want to surprise and impress with our music. Nowadays, music tends to be arbitrary and predictable. But we want to keep developing our music."

Opening with a tidal wave of surging emotion courtesy of a spine-tingling choir, 'Beyond the Red Mirror' unleashes its first gem, 'Ninth Wave', a consciousness-expanding palette of landscapes and moods bearing the message of an urgent mission still seeking resolution. Closing with an explosion of heroic harmonies & choral glories with a nine-and-a-half minute, self-contained saga 'Grand Parade' (called "the best song we have ever written" by Olbrich), the grandiose, uplifting, and ingenious storytelling in 'Beyond the Red Mirror' is guaranteed to leave you breathless.

Come 2015, you will soon experience why Blind Guardian is so influential in their genre and without equal in the pantheon of heavy metal music.

Blue cover: standard artwork and red cover: earbook/ digipak & digibook artwork.

Featuring artwork by long-time collaborator Felipe Machado, 'Beyond the Red Mirror' will be available in the following formats:
• jewel case (10 songs)
• limited edition digipak / digibook (11 songs)
• double LP gatefold vinyl (11 songs)
• earbook (12 songs plus illustrations, photos, and liner notes)
• exclusive limited edition NB mail-order earbook (12 songs plus illustrations, photos, liner notes + bonus 10")

The track listing for 'Beyond the Red Mirror' is as follows:

01. Ninth Wave
02. Twilight of the Gods
03. Prophecies
04. At the Edge of Time
05. Ashes of Eternity
06. Distant Memories (bonus track on limited editions + vinyl)
07. Holy Grail
08. The Throne
09. Sacred Mind
10. Miracle Machine
11. Grand Parade

Hansi calls the album's first single, 'Twilight of the Gods', "A neck breaker... The pure definition of all that the band stands for: it is innovative, melodic and brutal." The mini-CD single includes two live tracks recorded at 2011's Wacken Open Air festival in Germany and can be pre-ordered as a digipak or in blue or white vinyl from this location: http://smarturl.it/BLIND-GUARDIAN-Gods

'The Twilight of the Gods' mini-CD track listing is:

01. Twilight of the Gods
02. Time Stands still (At the Iron Hill) - live at Wacken 2011
03. The Bard's Song (In the Forest) - live at Wacken 2011

Blind Guardian will be performing on this year's 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise in January 2015 before launching their headlining tour through nine European countries this upcoming April and May. A very special hometown show at the Mitsubishi Electric Halle in Düsseldorf, Germany will take place on April 25th; four dates in the Russian Federation are planned for June.

Tour dates & pre-sale ticket links are available on the band's official Facebook page.

Visit Blind Guardian online at http://www.BLIND-GUARDIAN.com.

Like - http://www.facebook.com/BLINDGUARDIAN
Follow - twitter.com/BLIND_GUARDIAN
Watch - http://www.youtube.com/BLINDGUARDIAN

(source: Nuclear Blast Records)