Irina Shayk in “Na Natureza Selvagem” by Giampaolo Sgura for Vogue Brazil, August 2014
Wednesday, April 18: Blind Guardian, “Time What is Time”
Somewhere Far Beyond was the major-label breakthrough that introduced Blind Guardian to larger European and Japanese audience, crystallized the band’s musical and lyrical concerns, and bridged the gap between the straight-line thrash of their first three records and the near-symphonic bombast that would soon follow. “Time What is Time” opened the album in suitably dramatic fashion, placing Thomas Stauch’s percussive throttle high in the mix and stacking enough Hansi Kürsch vocal tracks to fill an entire studio. Andre Olbrich and Marcus Siepen actually had to fight to be heard over all the grandiloquence, as Kalle Trapp’s production wasn’t quite equipped to handle all of the vocal and percussive layers, but for the most part everything cohered well enough to render “Time What is Time” an excellent pre-Imaginations from the Other Side anthem. If anything, although Blind Guardian would remain a power metal band through and through, they would never again sound this frenzied, even though the song was arguably less intense than what that came before.
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