"The forgotten tales" CD by Blind Guardian

by Markus Wosgien (19.07.2007) The basics were laid in 1985, when Hansi Kürsch joined Andre Olbrich’s school band of that time and they renamed to Lucifer’s Heritage. The sound was heavily Iron Maiden influenced but very distinctive for what soon became Germany’s leading Speed Metal-band. Already back then, Thomen Stauch sat behind the drums, yet left the band in between and didn’t come back until the recordings for "Battalions of fear". The second Lucifer’s Heritage demo, "Battalions of fear" already much more clearly showed the way and contained classics, such as "Majesty", "Run for the night", "Trial by the archon" and the title track. Their talent did not remain undiscovered and provided the band with their first record deal. During the recordings for their first album, "Battalions of fear", they finally renamed to Blind Guardian because they felt the old name was too unfitting and too extreme. The re-release of the legendary Blind Guardian debut now contains the first demo, "Symphonies of doom", while the milestone, "Follow the blind" contains the second demo. "Batallions of fear". With "Tales from the twilight world", the breakthrough of the band became conceivable, and especially "Lord of the rings" became one of the hymns of the band. The re-release furthermore contains demo versions of "Lost in the twilight hall" and the Steven King inspired "Tommyknockers". Their fourth studio album, "Somewhere far beyond" finally brought the big breakthrough. The classic and orchestral component had become stronger also reflecting their liking for acts, like Queen. The album contains the great "The bard’s song" that since then mustn’t be missing on any Blind Guardian live set list. Bonus are two brandnew remixes of "Ashes to ashes" and "Time what is time". "Lord of the rings" is the bonus live track on "Tokyo Tales", while the great "Imaginations from the other side" features three demo versions of "A past and future secret", "The script for my requiem" and the title song as well as the two videos for "Bright eyes" and "Born in a mourning hall". The band presented itself excellently different on "The forgotten tales", featuring cover versions and alternate mixes of the Blind Guardian hymns. The re-release furthermore contains the songs "Hallelujah" (Fleetwood Mac), "Beyond the realms of death" (Judas Priest) and "Don’t talk to strangers" (Dio), as well as the clips for "Mr. Sandman" and "The bard’s Song". The closure of the series is "Nightfall in middle earth" with the bonus track, "Harvest of sorrow". 20 years of Blind Guardian – definitively a reason to celebrate and the lovely re-releases are all worth a recommendation. Not at least because of the two Lucifer’s Heritage demos released on cd for the first time.