Review Summary: Blind Guardian takes on a new style, and creates a grandiose successor to "Tales From the Twilight World."
1992 was a very good year for Heavy Metal. Countdown to Extinction was released, and is considered to be one of Megadeth’s best albums, along with Iced Earth’s Night of the Stormrider; which was their second step into the Thrash Metal limelight. Images and Words, by Dream Theater, helped create Progressive Metal, and, last but definitely not least, Somewhere Far Beyond by Blind Guardian brought a completely new style to both Blind Guardian and Power Metal.
Somewhere Far Beyond contains a much more melodic sound than any of the band’s previous albums, straying further away from the formula from songs like “Run For the Night” or “Damned For All Time.” The fast shredding appears multiple times throughout this album; especially on “Ashes to Ashes” and “Journey Through the Dark;” the fastest and most aggressive song the band has made after Tales From the Twilight World. The extremely fast pace serves as a good wake-up call for old fans who feared the worst for the band, and is a fantastic piece of Power and Speed Metals.
Of course, the new style is why you would listen to this album. “Time What is Time” and “Theater of Pain” experiment with symphonic elements, layered vocals and more progressive song structures; flowing extremely well with the calm and the heavy of the many songs. The harmonies make the sing-along choruses more pronounced and clear; further pushing the Power Metal sound that the band has been crawling towards on the previous LP. “The Bard’s Song – In the Forest” is the second experiment with a ballad by the Bards, and exhibits such a Power Metal sound. Admired by the fans, the song is sang along by legions of concert attendees, from the vocals to the instrumentals, and is considered to be the essential Blind Guardian ballad.
The longest songs on the album, “Ashes to Ashes” and “Somewhere Far Beyond,” are easily two of the best songs the band has ever made. Featuring almost choral singing (“Drink the poison/Feel that this is life/Hallowed be thy game.”) combined with Speed Metal riffs, the songs are the perfect combination of old and new Blind Guardian. Both songs contain career-best executions from each and every member of the band, from Hansi Kursch’s emotional vocals to the dual shredding of Andre Olbrich and Marcus Siepan; especially displayed in the last few minutes of the album’s title song.
As awesome as the album is, there are some unfortunate low-points. “The Quest for Tanelorn” is rather boring by Blind Guardian standards; with a chorus melody that just does not meld with the boring verses. The two intermission tracks, “Black Chamber” and “The Piper’s Calling,” are unnecessary and cringe-worthy (especially the minute of unnecessary bagpipe playing). I can understand that this is a band trying something new, but these combined two minutes really take away from the final effort presented; with these songs removed, the album would be an easy classic.
Somewhere Far Beyond, just as the title indicates, is Blind Guardian’s leap to a new direction. Though not immediately abandoning Speed Metal, the band has combined the sound with a much cleaner combination of Power and Progressive Metals. Many of the songs deserve to be beloved by many fans of these genres; and the album as a whole is an essential purchase for anyone who wishes to listen to, or already listens to, Blind Guardian.
