Biography
The German metal group from Krefeld is called Power Metal Pioneer, although the sound of the team often goes beyond the framework of the genre. But the musicians "Blind Guardian" are accustomed to amazing and shocking the public with non-standard moves. The history of the Group's creation is a winding path from Lucifer's Heritage (the first name of the team) to the lyrics, which are based on the Gospel and the plots of Tolkien's bestsellers, King and Goethe.The history of creation and composition
The team is called unique due to the stability of the "Blind Guardian" composition, which has not changed since the year of creation until 2005.
Embed from getty imagesIn 1984, in the town of Krefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia, musicians-like-minded people gathered, formed a group with the formidable name "Lucifer's Heritage". 18-year-old guitarist, vocalist and bass guitarist Hansey Kürsh and the 17-year-old guitarist Andre Olbrich made up the bones of the team. Soon they were joined by guitarist Markus Dork and the drummer Tomen Stuff, but after a year of collaboration went. Their places were taken (also for a year) Christoph Tiissen and Hans-Peter Fry.
Embed from getty imagesIn 1987, the musicians were waiting for change again. Tiisen and Frya replaced the newcomer Marcus Zipen and returned stool. The gloomy name was changed: "Lucifer's Heritage", which gives Satanism, turned into a "Blind Guardian" oxumor, and literally translated "Blind Guard". But the interpretation of musicians is somewhat different and sounds like "blind guide." The name has taken place with the easy hand of the author's texts, whose song "Guardian of The Blind" entered the repertoire of the group.
Embed from getty imagesThe semantic load invested in the new name of the collective, explained Hanxi:
"In my imagination" blind guide "is a person who is responsible for other people leading. Which surpasses others, despite its physical injury. "Hansey, at first I just played on the bass guitar, I had to become a vocalist: the invited Thomas Kellelners did not fit in the "Blind Guardian".
There were no money for the promotion of the guys, so they willingly accepted the help of grandmother Andre Olbrich, who gave the funds to record the first demo. The musicians invested in two debut songs all their strength, and the fruits were not forced to wait: Studio No Remorse Records offered musicians to sign a contract.
Embed from getty imagesIn the "Gold Composition", the team existed until 2005. This year, the straightech changed Frederick Emch, who took the drum sticks.
From time to time, invited participants acted as part of the group, among which the BAS-guitarist Oliver Holzvart, the backbone of Kai Hansen and Rolf Keler. The cause of leaving the "Blind Guardian" last served death in 2007.
Music
The debut album of the collective was released in 1988. He alone consisted of the compositions of the mini-album "Battalions of Fear", therefore was called the same way. Temptuous music lovers immediately determined the impact on the music of the AIDS-Metal Style Group inherent in the German Power Metal Group "Helloween".The popularity of the team brought the second album called "Follow The Blind" and released a year after the first disk. A heavier trash came to replace the AID-Metall. The song "Valhalla" was the most successful. To record the new Album "Blind Guardian" invited Kaya Hansen, who spoke back vocalist and the third guitarist.
The wave of fame covered the team in the early 1990s, when the presentation of the 3rd album was held, called "Tales from the Twilight World". The "BG" fans noted that choral parties and the "epic" mood "epic" appeared in the group's sound, soon became a signature sign of German metals.
At the beginning of the path on the work of metal-collective, the influence of folk music was affected. The compositions of the first albums are made in the folk-rock style, the ballads are executed in the folk arrangement. The repertoire consists of songs, the plots for which the musicians were drawn from fantastic works, mythology, medieval epos and mystical legends. There are references to Christian texts, but the artists still avoided the "Christian Rock" label.
The fourth album "BG" appeared in 1992, after signing the contract with Virgin Records. "Somehwere Far Beyond" came out a circulation of 130 thousand copies and was instantly excavated. The creativity of "BG" had to soul music lovers of the rising sun. Especially for fans from Japan, the group in 1993 recorded the Tokyo Tales concert drive. The European listeners had to do the Bard's Song ballad with Christian vocals Hanzi Kürsh.
In the mid-1990s, the discography of the German group was replenished with the 5th album "Imaginations from the Other Side", which contained the Star Arrangement "Bright Eyes". The disk is called the most "heavy" sound from the Heritage of "Blind Guardian". Here it is clearly traced to the bias in the trash metal. Clips appeared on BRIGHT EYES and Born in A Mourning Hall hits. As in the previous plates, in the fifth musicians turn to the themes of Christianity and Fantasy.
A year later, the "BG" presented the fans a collection with acoustic and orchestral versions of old songs and covers for songs of other popular performers. Caver on the composition "Mr. Sandman "came out a separate single, and a video was recorded on it, in which the group participants reincarnated in evil clowns coming to a boy who could not fall asleep.
In 1998, a conceptual album appeared, which was based on the Book of Tolkina Silmarillion. Here, "BG" used folk-rock elements and choral vocals, remotely resembling some of the compositions of the legendary Queen. Musical critics and group fans are called the album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" diamond in her heritage. This is the first disk "BG", published in the United States. It entered the golden hits "Mirror Mirror" and "Nightfall".
In the 2000s, the "Blind Guardian" has changed and the management and sound. In 2002, the team introduced the 7th disk, giving him the name "A Night At The Opera" in honor of the album "Queen". The legend group was chosen not only in the tribute to respect, but also as the one that influenced the creativity of "BG".
In the sound of the album, fans determined the unusual elements of progressive metal, and the theme of the songs first turned out to be emphasized by the real Persons of Nietzsche, Galilee, Jesus Christ. Previously, the group chose the heroes of the compositions of only fantastic characters. After the presentation of the Album "Blind Guardian" went on tour. The world tour was crowned with a concert in Düsseldorf, who visited over 6 thousand spectators.
During the tour tour, the team recorded the second concert album, calling it "Live". He came out in 2003. And a year later, the group broke up with a label Virgin and concluded a contract with the German studio Nuclear Blast. In 2005, "BG" presented the fan of the 8th album, the international release of which was held at the beginning of the fall of 2006.
After a considerable break, the musicians "Blind Guardian" began to record a new disk, which came out in the 2010th called "At the Edge of Time". Melomanany and long-standing team fans noted that "BG" returned to fantasy again.
In early 2012, the Group presented a collection, which collected the best compositions for a quarter of a century. It is made up of 3 disks. One of them entered the hit "Sacred Worlds". In the same year, the team, completing the world tour, took a break, declaring that concerts would not be until the fall of 2014. The intermission was not required for recreation, but for studio work.
At the beginning of 2015, "BG" presented a fan of the "Beyond The Red Mirror" album. In the same year, German Metalists went on tour to Russia, in June, giving concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Blind Guardian is known not only by copyright compositions, but also a huge number of camp versions on the hits of star rock collectives. In their repertoire of the song "Queen", "Uriah Heep", "Deep Purple" and others. "BG" does not fulfill the cable at concerts and does not include in license albums, but participates in the recording of tribute collections.
"Blind Guardian" now
The legendary team has pages in "Instagram", Facebook and Twitter, where musicians are regularly divided with subscribers with fresh information, photos and plans for the future.
In March 2019, Blind Guardian presented a teaser to the musical epic "Heritage of Dark Lands", which was based on the Roman-bestseller Marcus Haica "Dark Lands". The yield of the orchestral album is announced for November 2019. The idea of its creation arose from Andre Olbrich and Hanxi Kürsha in the 1990s, and they began to implement it now.
Discography
- 1988 - "Battalions of Fear"
- 1989 - "FOLLOW THE BLIND"
- 1990 - "Tales from the Twilight World"
- 1992 - "SOMEWHERE FAR BEYOND"
- 1995 - "Imaginations from the Other Side"
- 1998 - "Nightfall in Middle-Earth"
- 2002 - "A NIGHT AT THE OPERA"
- 2006 - "A TWIST IN THE MYTH"
- 2010 - "AT The Edge of Time"
- 2015 - "BEYOND THE RED MIRROR"
Clips
- 1995 - "Born in a Mourning Hall"
- 1996 - "Mr. Sandman »
- 1996 - "BRIGHT EYES"
- 1998 - Mirror Mirror
- 2003 - "Bard's Song in the Forest"
- 2006 - "ANOTHER STRANGER ME"
- 2008 - "SACRED WORLDS"
- 2010 - "A Voice In The Dark"